Avery: “I just wish I was playing…for obvious reasons.”
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- September
- 25
Gotta love Sean Avery, who said the above words today when asked about last night’s 3 1/2-hour slugfest at the Mauseleum.
Avery said he didn’t think the craziness meant much because it was a preseason game, but he was heard chirping up in the press box during the game.
“I just wish I was playing,” he said.
When asked why, Avery added: “For obvious reasons.”
And what reasons were those?
“As obvious as reasons can get.”
****
OK, so I thought you’d all appreciate that. As for practice, Avery was one of only 11 guys on the ice this morning, joining Shanahan, Drury, Betts, Lassard, Roszival, Pock, Staal, Studwick and goalies not named Lundqvist and Montoya.
As for Steve Valiquette, he practiced today after receiving three stitches for a cut in the palm of his left hand. Valiquette suffered the cut on Saturday morning as he tried to cut his knee pads with a pair of scissors. He didn’t wear a pad to protect the hand (just some dressing) and expects to return to action before the preseason is over.
“As long as I can handle Shanahan’s shot, I think I’m O.K.,” he said.
Valiquette told us a funny story. Turns out this was not NEARLY the worst cut he’s ever sustained. When he played for the Islanders organization, he had an unfortunate incident in the locker room in Springfield. He said the room was tiny and it came back to haunt him. After he got out of the shower barefoot, two guys were wrestling nearby bumped into another teammate, who promptly stepped on the top of Valiquette’s foot with his skate. It tore a bunch of tendons, and  worst of all  prevented the Islanders from calling him up for the end of the season. Instead, DiPietro came up from Chicago and made his NHL debut.
“This is nothing,” Valiquette said.
***
One other quick news item: David Liffiton and Darius Kasparaitis both cleared wavers today. Kaspar was reassigned to Hartford. (Liffiton had already been reassigned there.)
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Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
guess Kasparitis will make a good asst coach.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he signs with some team in the RSL within the next week or so.
Anyone know why Prucha isn’t practicing with the team?
Sam – do you know why Liffiton had to pass through waivers considering he’s younger than Jessiman. Is it that he signed his first professional contract and played in the pro leagues earlier. Also what is your sense as to why he was not claimed. Is he just totally not ready even for a team at the bottom of the NHL (to keep him in the NHL all season).
oc – maybe Prucha is playing in Detroit.
Is Kasper allowed to opt out of his contract if he signs with a european league?
I’m sure even though it doesn’t affect the Rangers there has to be something that won’t let him just leave
Prucha is playing tonight.
The waiver formula is very complicated, having to do with age, length of service, type of contract, blood type, favorite dessert, boxer or briefs, and whether or not you’ve ever been in a Turkish prison. Given all of the above, Liffiton had to clear and Jessiman did not.
favorite desert – nice sam….Liffiton is an ice cream man while i heard hugh is the canoli-type guy…i guess that did it
and i dont wanna know about boxer or brief… lol
and i just spelled dessert as “desert”...nice
sam,
do you know the line combos for tonight?
“The waiver formula is very complicated, having to do with age, length of service, type of contract, blood type, favorite dessert, boxer or briefs, and whether or not you’ve ever been in a Turkish prison. Given all of the above, Liffiton had to clear and Jessiman did not.”
It’s posts like that that makes Sam my favorite Rangers writer.
Derf, Kaspar is not allowed to sign in any league that has signed onto the IIHF transfer agreement while he is under contract in NY. However, since Russia did not sign onto said agreement, he can sign in Russia. If he fails to report, he will be suspended by the team, and his salary comes off of the books. Please see Alexandr Svitov of the Columbus Blue Jackets for more information.
Tverdovsky and Chistov have also signed Russian contracts while under NHL contracts this summer as well.
Good luck to Kaspar. Hope he maintains the good attitude and finds a better option than Hartford. Also, hope he doesn’t get embittered and become a bad influence.
Kaspar
I hear there’s an opening for skating instructor at Chelsea Piers.
BlueClue, he wouldn’t get that job.
HAHAH
But he can get an interview-
True. The best part of the interview is when they ask his salary demand and he responds with “Three million Dollars.”
Don’t wait by the phone, Kaspar.
not funny
tonights game not on center ice online huh?
nope… the only games you can watch online is flyers vs. senators and canes vs. caps.
Its funny because right now the caps game is what is shown on the screen in Washington and it shows how desperate they are tryin to get people to go to tonights game because I guess if you buy a years worth of The New York Times in one of the terminals, they get a FREE signed hockey stick or Caps fleece. That makes me laugh.
http://redwings.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=NHLPage&bcid=int_television
Hoof, that doesnt have a link to view the game
listen live
You should be able to listen here:
http://www.wkrk.com/
Click on “Live on Air: Listen” toward the right at the top.
game at 830 et?
no 7:30
it’s in Detroit should be 1 hour difference
roster for tonight from nhl.com
NEW YORK RANGERS
8 D MAREK MALIK
10 L NIGEL DAWES
17 C MARK SMITH
19 C SCOTT GOMEZ
24 D ANDREW HUTCHINSON
25 C PETR PRUCHA
27 D PAUL MARA
28 R COLTON ORR
44 C RYAN HOLLWEG
46 D DANIEL GIRARDI
48 C BRANDON DUBINSKY
51 D FEDOR TYUTIN
55 C ARTEM ANISIMOV
56 D MICHAEL SAUER
60 R LAURI KORPIKOSKI
68 R JAROMIR JAGR©
81 L MARCEL HOSSA
82 C MARTIN STRAKA (A)
29 G AL MONTOYA
30 G HENRIK LUNDQVIST
Goalies Shots Saves
H. Lundqvist 0 0
Skaters TOI G A +/- SOG PIM
A. Anisimov 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
N. Dawes 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
B. Dubinsky 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
D. Girardi 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
S. Gomez 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
R. Hollweg 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
M. Hossa 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
A. Hutchinson 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
J. Jagr 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
L. Korpikoski 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
M. Malik 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
P. Mara 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
C. Orr 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
P. Prucha 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
M. Sauer 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
M. Smith 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
M. Straka 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
F. Tyutin 00:00 0 0 0 0 0
whoops you beat me to it lawnboy mine was from yahoo
Hoof,
Detroit is the ass-end of the eastern timezone.
1-0 Red Wings. Get this….Hutch and Malik on the same D pairing….HAHAHAHAAH!!!
and of course they were on the ice for the goal against as was Jagr, Straka and Gomez.
Hmmm. 30 nseconds in, down 1-0. Nice.
Someone help me out here…the reason we are not able to see these preseason games is why? Tell me it all points back to Bettman….I mean clearly no national TV contract has to be a factor? Boy how stupid was Bettman for turning down ESPN. Moron.
rangers are on the powerplay
i feel like its always been like this where we didnt get to see away games
2-0 detroit chelios scored
anyone able to listen?
Hutchinson is playing, that is enough proof that Renney is garbage. Horrible Hutchinson gets 3 games, while Liffiton and Baranka are written off after 1 game.
Yenner
evidently Liffiton is not all he’s cracked up to be if no team claimed him. You must not think too high of Baranka if you want him as the 7th or 8th dman. No top prospect will be put in that role.
disease hopefully Renney will be the coach for a long time so you can continue your suffering.
“evidently Liffiton is not all he’s cracked up to be if no team claimed him.”
then why did we trade Barnaby for him?
you mean cullen? that was to clear cap space…youre not asking for a whole lot for a cap space deal
“You must not think too high of Baranka if you want him as the 7th or 8th dman. No top prospect will be put in that role.”
Baranka is not a top prospect, but he is a very good all around defenseman, similar to Pock, but with higher ceiling and better in every way, except offense.
and what does that have to do with my point that Baranka got only 1 game, while pathetic Hutchinson is still here?
like most of the trade deals (see Balej, Immonen among others) we did not get too much value in the Liffiton deal.
4-0 Wings. damn.
Hutch is no bargain we all know that. It seems like you’rre talking out of both sides of your mouth re Baranka. On one hand saying he’s no good and can stay as 7th or 8th dman on the other saying he’s not given a chance.
Because we don’t care what happens to Hutchinson. We can sit him for 30 games in a row without thinking twice about it. He’s garbage. I would’ve taken “future considerations” over Hutchinson and Barnes.
what’s up with henrik? what’s going on? is the d this bad?
“you mean cullen? that was to clear cap space…youre not asking for a whole lot for a cap space deal”
it was obvious I was talking about Liffiton, not Hutchinson.
Hutchinson is being thrown around by GMs like hot potato
“Hutch is no bargain we all know that. It seems like you’rre talking out of both sides of your mouth re Baranka. On one hand saying he’s no good and can stay as 7th or 8th dman on the other saying he’s not given a chance.”
7th defenseman usually gets over 40 games a season, often over 60. If that is the only way Baranka makes the NHL, then I am all for it. I don’t want Hutchinson or Strudwick to play those 40+ games instead. I never said I want him to be 8th defenseman.
What the heck is going on??? 4-0 in the mid of 2nd??? COME ON!!!
“Because we don’t care what happens to Hutchinson. We can sit him for 30 games in a row without thinking twice about it. He’s garbage. I would’ve taken “future considerationsâ€? over Hutchinson and Barnes.”
I would also take future considerations, but I do care what happens to Hutchinson—I don’t want him around the kids in Hartford and I don’t want him on the roster, because that would mean he will play many games.
“What the heck is going on??? 4-0 in the mid of 2nd??? COME ON!!!”
maybe they are tanking it in preseason so in regular seasons they can surprise some teams?
Or maybe they have no motivation for pre-season games.
I’m still waiting for Jagr to show up. At least in the play by play I see Gomez winning every faceoff. Jagr needs to stop sulkking about Nylander and play the game already. And what is wrong with Hank?
where can u see the play by play
Rob -> nhl.com
nhl.com has a print play by play.
Also, if you look at Detroit’s roster, they have their full squad out there, with the exception of MAYBE 2 players and the backup goaltender.
“7th defenseman usually gets over 40 games a season, often over 60”
You’re kidding right? Pock was our 7th defenseman for most of the season and eventually was 6th (once we unloaded Ozolinsh and Kaspar). He still saw only 44 games! A 7th D is lucky if he sees 35.
“Rangers Lite”
Like ive said the last 3 games, Pre season doesnt matter.
But i dont want to get shut out 2 straight times with Jags, Gomer, and Pru in the lineup.
Shanny should have played….it would be nice for him to return to DET, i wonder why he didnt wanna go.
5-0
So, I’m REALLY glad these games dont count!
How’s this?:
1. Lundqvist played the first 30 minutes of the game and gave up all 4 Detroit goals. montoya is in now and with 15 mins left in the 3rd its still 4-0.
2. whoops. As I typed it, 5-0 Detroit.
Obviously pre-season doesn’t count for squat. But it is still disconcerting that Jagr—forget Jagr and Gomez—will be shut out for two straight games.
Tyutin and Girardi rock, no goals against so far.
“You’re kidding right? Pock was our 7th defenseman for most of the season and eventually was 6th (once we unloaded Ozolinsh and Kaspar). He still saw only 44 games! A 7th D is lucky if he sees 35.”
How am I kidding? Pock played as a 7th defenseman 44 games and that is with very few injuries on defense. So usually 7th defenseman plays around 50 games a season. For Baranka’s first season that would be fine.
6-0
Is there any team with as much hype as the Rangers doing as terribly? It’s getting painful to watch and even hear about these games… I feel like all this cup talk is just gonna give us a ninth place finish in the conference.
GOAL!! GOMEZ!
That’s it boys and girls. 6-1 loss. Ahh.
Shots on goal: Wings-28 Rangers-19
Eh at least Gomez and Druury scored.
Im not worried about Hank, but still, im a wee bit nervous.
“Rangers Lite”
I’m not worried…at all. Let them get shut out. Let HANK get fucking roasted right now…the sooner they learn this is not an “easy season” and there is no such thing as an “easy win”...the better. Get all the “banana peels” out of the way now… get your gears lubed and working by November.
They will be fine. I wish they weren’t playing dirty NYI on friday and would put out their full squad soon. Not vs NYI in preseason….not worth the risk of those fucks taking one of our guys out.
I’m worried about Jagr and Gomez line right now… 2 games – 1 goal…. relax stf, relax….
I’m not so concerned because i think that the team for the most part is going through the motions.That said,i i think that it is obviously apparent that sean avery is a vital part of this team.He provides the spark and drive needed by the vets on this team.It is therefore no surprise that the only win so far was when he was in the lineup.I am curious as to how Staal and sauer played tonight.I think it is time now to cut down the team to about 25-26 players and start going full tilt so that they are sharp and ready to go on oct 4.I would leave Mike Sauer,Mark Staal,Dane Byers and Al Montoya.Dubinsky in my opinon should now be considered as having made the team.
I’m not so concerned about the actual losses.
What’s bothering me is the fact that most other teams at this point are dressing their opening day squad while Renney hasn’t figured out squat yet.
We need to be cohesive and play as a unit.
Trim the fat and let’s go!!!
I’m concerned that an NHL team—especially the Rangers—would be going through the motions; the rookies, because they can’t afford to; and the vets, because they should be concerned with getting ready and should never just phone it in.
Buttman isn’t “stupid” for turning down ESPN’s TV deal. He knows what he is doing as “surrogate” NHL commissioner on loan from the NBA. Maybe he will bring back the “wider nets” lobby, like Hillary brought back “Hillary Care.”
I dont think they are phoning it in… I think they are having completely natural and legitimate growing pains. It would not seem right for them to just be killing it off the bat with such an infusion of new players, both young and veteran… and sure it would be nice to see Hank doing it all by himself too… but that’s not how it works… these blunders will pay off….I’d rather get stomped now than cruise through preseason and show up on 10/4 not prepared for the real deal…
I agree that I’d rather get stomped now and I understand growing pains, but just because we get stomped now doesn’t mean everything will fall into place on 10-4, nor does cruising through the pre-season mean everything falls apart on day 1.
The roster needs to be settle and the team should play a couple games as the team they will be on opening day.
Regardless, on 10-4, I hope we kick ass.
Chris, I agree that one does net necessarily mean the other… but I still am not going to sweat it. Even on 10/4, I don’t expect them to be “cup ready”. I’d rather them take their time and figure out what really works, what REALLY works (and who needs to get shipped off), than “settle” for decency. This team is going to be like a muscle and it will need the proper development before it can be fully flexed down the road. There is no rush to win or kill in October… we have been a winning team since the lockout, Our dark days are over…. get ready to watch this thing develop.
By the way did anyone see Callahan’s SNIPE vs NYI? Holy motha…. this kid is going explode. It’s on youtube, someone posted a link of the fights and a few goals
My take on this preseason performance consists of a few observations: First, they are still carrying like 35 players or something ridiculous. Maybe I am off by a few, but it still has a semi split-squad feeling to it like the baseball preseason games do. Basically, they are close to meaningless when Chelios et al are playing and Avery and Shanahan are not. The same can be said of the Isles’ game with Jags and Gomer. Two, to some degree I think Renney wants to give guys a fairer tryout than just saying, “Here is the team, all you rookies pack up and head to the ‘pack.” These kids get more top level hockey experience the longer they stay up here. Third, it’s a long season. Renney wants to mix and match and find the right combinations. We still have not seen one consistent set of lines. How much do the preseason games count towards the Cup? Exactly zero. So why not tweak things, toy with ideas, and give Hollweg a chance on the powerplay in the pre-season? It costs nothing. He actually scored a goal on the PP last night I think? Maybe we’ve found our PP sniper?
If we start the regular season 0-5, I will get upset. Until then, I am not sweating it…..at all.
Some people on ESPN are delirious, talking about the Braves only four games out. But there’s only five left! Given they can tie the Phillies with a sweep, but there’s still another team to catch. Hey, maybe the Braves, Phils, Rockies, and Pads will all be tied for the Wild Card by the time Friday morning rolls around. What fun!!
Wow, I just totally posted on the wrong blog. Quick, delete! Delete!
Tough loss tonight. Though I’m sure Henrik will be fine come opening night. I just don’t get how these games aren’t on TV, its not like MSG has anything better to show. I would have love to see how some of the kids fared tonight.
Friday night, rematch vs the Islanders, anybody think the Islanders dress Simon if we dress Hollweg?
I could understand not airing some preseason games in the past when MSG had the Yankees, then Mets, but now they don’t even have the Liberty, since their season has ended. They are just too cheap to spend the money for traveling to three games.
Rosen probably wasn’t there last week and won’t be there this week for football purposes, if he still does that, rather than vacation.
I believe Rosen still does the Football.
Even if they don’t air it, at least have it on radio. And they wonder why they have low ratings for the NHL. I know its a Pre-Season game, but you might as well show it especially when you don’t give breaks on prices for the games and the game is in Detroit!
Yes, the Islanders were good, but heck Whitesnake was also considered a good band. Point: some things are in the past. The present for the Islanders; a burning inferiority complex towards the Rangers. The facts; the Islanders have not been a force in the division / conference for quite some time and Chris Simon, regardless of where he plays serves very little purpose other than to fight, at best and, at worst to engage in dangerous stickplay. Another inconvenient truth for Islanders fans is that their season’s high points may be reached during the preseason.
Another point to raise with some obviously ignorant, disgruntled, and/or misguided Islanders fans who have posted about the Rangers corporate season ticket holders would be this. An apology: we are sorry we are not owned by a corporation, or officer of a corporation such as the owner of your organization with such a solid reputation for corruption and fraud, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wang. Also, we are very sorry that one of your major sponsors over the past few seasons (please note this one has advertised on your ice surface for the past few years) was not mired in shareholder litigation regarding the privatization of this company and self-dealing on the part of executives in this corporation as well.
Don’t blame your horrible performance and attendance on some nebulous concept such as “MSG is filled with corporate seats�. Not that I’d expect many fishticks fans to have either read this far or really comprehended the last paragraph whatsoever, but stating that the Rangers don’t have true fans is both incorrect at best and utterly hypocritical at worst given your failed attempt at appearing to be a reputable organization.
The Rangers organization and its fans have a storied history and a proud tradition. The Islanders have had a good share of success, but, like bell bottoms, mop tops and the 8-track player, your time is over- so if you want to talk crazy talk, go do it elsewhere Islanders fans.
I guess we’ll see Lessard against the Islanders.
I wonder if Byers is injured, he got hit in the foot with a slapper
Unbelievable that Moore, Bourret, Pyatt, etc. are not going to get a look in any games.
Dawes, Hossa, Dubinski and Korpikoski were the only Rangers who were not in the minus. Lundqvist gave up 11 goals in 2 games, what is up with him?
Anybody see what Downie did to McAmmond? Watch the video on TSN. This Downie guy will not have a very long NHL career if he keeps doing things like that.
Gomez, Mara and Dawes for Jovanovski and Hanzal and this gives us plenty of cap space to play Montoya and makes us one of the top Cup contenders.
hmm, game summary says Dawes had 3 hits very surprising for him, unless it is a mistake.
Bizarro Hoof
Lol give it a fuggin rest already will ya. Enough of the Gomez trade BS, its gonna happen, there is no way. Come back in 7 years, then maybe he might be gone, until then just shut up and live with it. You sound pathetic.
BTW
Maybe the reason why Jovo isnt a Ranger right now, is because him and Avery hate each other. WHo is more important, Avery or Jovo. I dont even have to answer that one.
I hope Montoya makes the team, but still. Obviously he’s better then Vally, but can he come up with the big save against the Heatleys, Hossa’s, Gagne’s, of the world. Who knows
With repect to the lame Islanders and their lamer fans, a point to consider; in hindsight, does anyone in their right mind believe that Bettman or the NHL board of govenors would put a team on Long Island if they had a mulligan. I don’t think so. The team, fans and building are a joke.
NYR how about a new franchise in that hotbed for hockey, downtown drive-by Newark. Buttman really knows his markets, flea that is. He wants to force feed hockey to non-markets & starve real markets, great plan.
“in hindsight, does anyone in their right mind believe that Bettman or the NHL board of govenors would put a team on Long Island if they had a mulligan. I don’t think so. The team, fans and building are a joke.”
This is what I was saying yesterday to that troll, ONCE Bettman is gone and someone with a mind and heart for the game steps in… NYI will be one of the first or second groups of teams to get nixed. They are lucky there are teams like PHX and CBJ to take the focus off them. It’s also unreal how they have had such awful awful uniforms for so long. I seriously think they’ve had about 10 terrible jerseys in the last 12 years….how can that be taken seriously?
The only reason Lawn Gisland got a team is because the NHL and Clarence Campbell wanted to shut the WHA out of the Mausoleum – and it worked. The WHA’s NY team, the Raiders, ended up as the second team at the Garden and it was a disaster. They changed the name and that still didn’t work so they moved the team to Cherry Hill, NJ to play in a dump of an arena. The franchise eventually found itself moving to San Diego.
do you think they are hollweg is gonna have to double team the islanders again to fight b/c he can t do it himself
or may he will attack from behind
oh sean avery is back..what a threat..you guys ripped him a apart not to pay him..what a team that stands behinds its players.
are you guys gonna get swept by us again at MSG…
it must be tough to lose to us so much to us.
what a tool
the islanders will not be taken out of the NHL sorry
like i said we like our barn….
we may have had the fisherman but the pinhead(liberty) jersey is just as bad..
for the person who writes this blog you are incorrect as the annoucers for MSG….so keep putting out the misinformation.—tool box
the rangers may have been around longer and but only have 4 cups and the islanders are more important the NHL history than the rangers….
the like rangers are like the red sox….sad history
i do agree with all of you with Bettman…he should go