I’m on vacation the rest of the week, but the Rangers have confirmed that Petr Nedved will be invited to training camp, saying that there is no commitment on their end to give him a roster spot.

A couple of quick thoughts:

1. Yikes.

2. Are tickets selling that poorly for the Prague games?

3. As long as there really is no commitment to sign him—and we’ll have to see how that part holds up—it probably can’t hurt. Think back to the surreal Dave Scatchard appearance last year at the MSG Training Center. It’s a free look at a guy who might be able to help them. But if it doesn’t, the Rangers can just say no thanks.

Personally, I don’t see where Nedved fits in. But it sounds like he was the one who reached out to the Rangers, and the team is just paying him a courtesy.

More later..

The Rangers announced their pre-season schedule this morning, featuring what seems like far more travel than usual. Among the highlights: a home-and-home with Ottawa beginning Sept. 20, another trip to Tampa Bay on Sept. 23, and of course, the two exhibition games in Bern Switzerland against European clubs SC Bern on Tuesday, September 30 and Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Wednesday, October 1.

Altogether, there are three games at the Garden, and eight games in 12 days. For at least the games in North America, count on Tom Renney using two different units.

And for the record, don’t count on Wade Redden making that first trip to Ottawa. The Rangers avoided a similar scenario when they didn’t have Brendan Shanahan travel to Detroit last year to play the Wings.

More details below:
The Rangers will kick off the 2008 pre-season with a home-and-home set against the Ottawa Senators, travelling to Ottawa on Saturday, September 20, before returning to Madison Square Garden on Monday, September 22. New York will then head to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning on Tuesday, September 23, in the first of back-to-back road games. The Blueshirts will travel to New Jersey to face their Atlantic Division rivals, the Devils, in the second game of the back-to-back road set on Wednesday, September 24. On Thursday, September 25, the Rangers return to The Garden to host the Lightning, their fourth game in four nights. New York will conclude the home portion of their exhibition campaign versus New Jersey on Saturday, September 27, in an afternoon matchup (2:00 p.m.) before travelling to Bern, Switzerland. The Rangers will wrap up their pre-season schedule with a back-to-back set against European clubs SC Bern on Tuesday, September 30 and Metallurg Magnitogorsk on Wednesday, October 1.

Update, 9:30 a.m.: While we’re linking to Newsday blogs, the addictive Watchdog (by way of this blog) mentions the possibility of former Ranger Matthew Barnaby taking over for Barry Melrose as lead hockey analyst at ESPN. Which brings up my post below regarding Brendan Shanahan. Was one of the media jobs turned down by Shanahan the fairly high profile ESPN gig?

Earlier: Zipay chimes in that Fred Sjostrom has officially accepted the Rangers’ one-year qualifying offer of $840,000.

I’m on record saying Sjostrom’s game has a lot of upside, and the Rangers obviously feel the same way. At one point last season Tom Renney said he had to resist the temptation to use Sjostrom in a more prominent role because he wanted to bring in the new acquisition slowly. And yet by the playoffs, Sjostrom was tested out on the Rangers’ second line.

Ideally, the Rangers would still start Sjostrom on an up-tempo third line next season, but they also have the flexibility to move him around.

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In other news, reader Nathan has passed along this link to his Twitter.com feed of Rangers-related updates. I would say this is great news, but I’m in the dark ages when it comes to mobile updates. I’m one of the few remaining journalists who doesn’t use a Blackberry or IPhone (but I do have a birthday coming up…hint, hint), making me one step removed from a quill pen and a carrier pigeon.

Like a crafty goal scorer who refuses to be budged from the front of the net, Brendan Shanahan still hasn’t abandoned his hope of playing for the Rangers next season. This is according to SI’s Michael Farber, who also notes that Shanahan has already declined job offers from various media outlets.

But wait, has he heard my offer about being a guest blogger here? Do you think that will help change his mind at all? We don’t pay in “money” per se, but it looks great on a resume.

And besides, the women!

OK, I made that last part up.  You’ll have to excuse me. My wife is calling….

At yet another crucial crossroads in his his young career, Hugh Jessiman was re-signed by the Rangers.

I have a hard time seeing Jessiman as a serious candidate for an NHL job this year, but one would think he might be a possible call-up during the season. Of course, it all depends on how he fares in camp and beyond.

On an unrelated note, we are venturing into dangerous territory again in the comments section, with a small group of you crossing WAY over the line. I’m of the belief there’s too much good, productive conversation here to allow it to be ruined by a few misguided souls. So if it reaches the point where I need to ban someone, I’ll do so.

Back to Jessiman, here’s parts of the official release below:

Jessiman, 24, skated in 71 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) this past season, registering 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points, along with 154 penalty minutes and a plus-10 rating. He established career-highs in goals, assists, points, penalty minutes, and plus/minus rating. Among all Wolf Pack skaters, he ranked third in penalty minutes (154), eighth in points (42), and tied for fifth in goals (18) and eighth in assists (24). He also posted nine multiple-point games, including one three-point effort on March 29 vs. Springfield (one goal and two assists). Jessiman recorded a career-high, six-game scoring streak from March 15 to March 29, collecting nine points (three goals and six assists) over the span. In addition, Jessiman appeared in five playoff games with Hartford, registering one assist and a team-leading, 21 penalty minutes.

The 6-6, 230-pounder has skated in 166 career AHL games in three seasons with Hartford, registering 32 goals and 42 assists for 74 points, along with 299 penalty minutes. In 2006-07, Jessiman notched his first career multiple-goal game on March 4 at Hershey (two goals), and recorded a three-game, goal-streak from February 24 to February 28 (three goals). On January 21, 2006, he tallied his first career AHL points with a two-point effort vs. Providence (one goal and one assist). In 14 career AHL playoff games with the Wolf Pack, Jessiman has collected one goal and one assist for two points, along with 30 penalty minutes. Additionally, he has also appeared in 45 career games with the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), registering 25 goals and 20 assists for 45 points, along with 108 penalty minutes.

In college, Jessiman skated in 80 career contests with Dartmouth College of the East College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECAC), collecting 40 goals and 42 assists for 82 points, along with 137 penalty minutes. In 2002-03, he set the Dartmouth record for freshman scoring with 47 points (23 goals and 24 assists), capturing the ECAC, Ivy League and New England Hockey Writer’s Association Rookie of the Year honors

Update, 10:30 a.m.: The Rangers have re-signed Greg Moore, ensuring more trips on the Greg Moore Highway. No word yet on terms…

Earlier: One of the side effects of a job covering the Rangers is that when you go to a barbecue or the beach or even a golf tournament, people are likely to ask you about the team’s prospects for the season ahead. Which is fine. I like talking about the Rangers, otherwise writing about them in a blog and a newspaper would become painfully tedious.

But at least a half dozen times this weekend when people asked me what I thought about the team’s offseason moves, I struggled to articulate what exactly they’ve done.

Obviously, I know what they’ve done. I can give you the full list of trades, signings, and departures. But when it comes to assessing whether those moves helped or hurt the team, that’s when things get trickier

So usually I spew something about how they’re expecting to be a little quicker and a little more cohesive without some of their high-maintenance components from last season, and that they’re counting on a handful of new acquisitions to thrive under the spotlight in New York. And right about then is when the red flag should go up in all of your heads.

Look, this could work. There is a very good chance that Nikolai Zherdev delivers on his explosive potential. There is a chance that Markus Naslund looks more like a perennial All-Star than the aging wing he resembled last year in Vancouver; just as there is the good chance Wade Redden flourishes upon leaving what had become a negative atmosphere in Ottawa. All of those things, along with an increased comfort level for the likes of Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Henrik Lundqvist, and another year of seasoning for Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes could make the Rangers a scrappier, more dangerous team in 2008-09.

But (and you knew this was coming)…….

What’s also to say these Rangers don’t turn out to be something like the 1997-98 Rangers? Think about it: a team loses a charismatic legendary captain and is forced to rely on players who either a) haven’t shouldered such a hefty responsibility before, or b) are past the point of being able to do so. A team that brings in some free agent signings as either a false tonic or a stop-gap solution, only to see those players are out of their depth playing in New York (or when it comes to Pat LaFontaine, riddled by injury).

Granted, every year is different, and they all contain extenuating circumstances that don’t apply anywhere else. But if there’s one note of caution, it is this: when you’ve had a reasonably effective formula for success, you put yourself at much greater risk when you decide to abandon that formula and begin anew.

OK, thanks to everyone for joining us for our second live chat. We’ll have a moderator in place right from the start, which should help. Again, the plan is to field questions for the first 30 minutes or so, but I’ll continue to answer until about noon.

One small housecleaning item is the Rangers did finally come to terms with defenseman Brian Fahey, who is expected to begin the season in Hartford. Fahey, 27, had 14 goals and 23 assists for Chicago of the AHL last season.

Back with the real deal in a bit…

I conveniently schedule chats for days when it’s 95 degrees outside and I have to sit in an air-conditioned office rather than mow the lawn.

Again, we’re going to do a better job of getting to more of your questions, but ask them early just in case.

Possible new discussion points: the trade of Ryan Hollweg; the remaining glut of third and fourth-liners;  the merits of the old-style ice cream sandwich versus the Chipwich (OK, maybe that one can wait).

Barring any news before then, we’ll see you later…

Update, 6:19 p.m.: Yes, a double bogey to me (and that should show you where my head is these days) for failing to mention Sean Avery’s return to the Garden on Oct. 20. Do I sense a video montage set to the music of Barbara Streisand?

Earlier: Thanks to sports editor Susie Arth for jumping in literally while I was stuck on a golf course. You can access the full schedule here, but in the meantime, a few highlights:

The NHL schedule comes out today, probably around noon. I remember last year at this time I was mostly interested in how the Rangers’ schedule was going to conflict with the birth of my second son (Will was born Jan. 4, a few hours after the Rangers were losing to Markus Naslund and the Canucks).

This year I don’t have that concern.

Or at least not that I know of…