Rangers Report Blog

Remember those awful “Subway” ads MSG virtually placed on the glass and the ice last season? Well, expect more of the same according to the story below, from USA Today.

Hey, maybe we can take up a collection here and put a Rangers Report (or Festivus Blog) logo at center ice during the playoffs.

Here’s the story:

Virtual signs to invade NHL sightlines in upcoming season

By Michael McCarthy/USA Today

As cash-hungry sports teams and TV networks scramble for scarce ad dollars on Madison Avenue, so-called virtual signs are becoming a virtual reality in the sports-TV world. 

Once taboo outside Major League Baseball telecasts, these high-tech ads are digitally inserted inside live game coverage. They’re typically projected on a wall or glass and are only visible to viewers at home, not fans at the arena or ballpark. 

The NHL has discussed how to use virtual ads during the upcoming season with its national TV partners in the USA and Canada. At least four NHL clubs are working with their regional sports networks to sell virtual ads next season — the Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and New York Rangers.

With viewers flipping channels, marketers want to stick their messages “inside the games,” rather than around them during commercials, says Tom Philand, senior vice president at Altitude Sports & Entertainment, which airs Avalanche games. 

The Rangers and MSG Networks only got a “handful of complaints” after placing virtual ads for Subway, New York Life and iO TV on the glass behind the goalies in several game telecasts last season, says MSG general manager Dan Ronayne. Tony Pace, Subway’s chief marketing officer, says, “Most of the comments were positive. But some viewers thought it was so visible it detracted from their view of the game.”
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LATE MORNING UPDATE, 11:19 A.M.: Don’t know if you’ve seen the Ryan Callahan interview over on the Rangers web site.

… and I’m sure some of it was sparked by this MSG/Rangers Web site video shot yesterday when Aaron Voros did a kids clinic at the MSG Training Center …

What do you think are the chances this guy is a regular and a contributor this year?

I actually think it’s a distinct possibility provided they have the cap room. If they need to cut $1 million by opening night, he’d be an easy one to cut, as of now.

But what if he has a good camp? It sure looked like John Tortorella liked him when Voros, after sitting and sitting, got a shot in the playoffs against Washington. We’ve heard he has a relationship with Marian Gaborik, his one-time linemate in Minnesota. And he really seems to be a decent guy. Plus, it can’t hurt that he was willing to fight even against opponents who wiped him out last season. That takes a level of courage (some might call it stupidity).

Voros had a good start last season, and maybe too much was expected as “the poor man’s Sean Avery.” But on a fourth line with Donald Brashear? Maybe it could happen.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE 12:05 P.M.:

While we’re on the topic, Ryan Callahan and Matt Gilroy are at the kids camp, too, and expected to be made available to the media, so check the Rangers’ site for interviews with them today and tomorrow.

According to RDS’s brief report, Zherdev is going to play in the KHL, which we all kind of figured since nobody was willing to pay him what he wanted to stay in the NHL.

The story is poorly translated into English, so maybe we’re reading it wrong. Maybe not.
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Meanwhile, TSN has this story with Theo Fleury about his comeback bid. Theoren sounds convincing.

Here’s the latest, from the Associated Press: 

MOSCOW (AP)—Prosecutors will reopen the investigation into the death of New York Rangers draft pick Alexia Cherepanov, who collapsed during a Continental Hockey League game last year in Russia.
    The federal prosecutor’s Investigative Committee ruled last month that team doctors were not to blame for Cherepanov’s death and would face no criminal charges. Investigators said doctors with Siberian team Avangard Omsk had no reason to suspect the 19-year-old suffered from a chronic heart problem and therefore did not prescribe the medicine he was taking.
    But the committee on Monday reopened the case and ordered that new medical tests be carried out in a federal center for forensic medicine.
    Cherepanov, a first-round pick in 2007, died after collapsing on the bench during an Oct. 13 game in Chekhov, a town outside Moscow. Authorities say an autopsy showed he suffered from myocarditis, a condition that obstructs blood flow to the heart and other organs.
    The investigators’ initial conclusion seemed to lay more blame on Cherepanov than anyone else. They said Cherepanov most likely felt unwell but hid his condition from team doctors for fear of being pulled from games.
    Cherepanov’s mother, Margarita, rejected the conclusions, and insisted that her son was healthy.
    In December, the Investigative Committee said medical experts had concluded from analysis of blood and urine samples that Cherepanov ‘’engaged in doping’’ for several months before his death.
But in their July ruling investigators said he had been taking cordiaminum, which apparently stimulates circulation and breathing as well as the central nervous system, suggesting he may have been taking it to treat his condition.
    Avangard’s president, general manager and a team doctor were suspended indefinitely from positions in the league, and another Avangard doctor was suspended for two years.
    The president of the host club, Vityaz, also was suspended indefinitely amid complaints about medical services at the arena.

AOL sports is doing a top-50 list of NHL players, and this should spark some discussion. King Henrik Lundqvist is No. 10 … as in one of the top 10 players in all of hockey.

Can you imagine that? 

You guys probably love that Martin Brodeur ranks No. 11. Marian Gaborik is No. 33.

They have not revealed the top seven yet. Here’s the list so far.

Well, the first one is a terribly long shot. Theo Fleury wants to make a comeback. I doubt he could come back to the NHL at all, much less the Rangers, after the way his career ended, at age 41, and with so much time elapsed since he last played in the league.

On the last thread, Harvey20 asked if I had any Fleury stories from his time with the Rangers. Sorry, Harvey. None of them are printable. I will tell you—I’m sure you guys remember—he had that meltdown road trip where he punched the San Jose Shark mascot, fell off the wagon, and quit in the middle of a game in Pittsburgh. It was really sad, because Fleury was a good guy deep down, with a lot of demons he inherited from his upbringing, who turned into a Hall of Famer by being the grittiest little booger on the ice every night.

Here’s another memory, when he didn’t really do himself proud: Chasing Eric Cairns around the ice flapping his “wings.”

Brad Richards? I don’t see how it makes sense, at $7.8 million for a guy who doesn’t score a lot and isn’t a No. 1 center—and a player for whom you’d probably have to surrender at least one or two young players in a trade. He’s one of John Tortorella’s boys, though, and the whispers won’t go away. They just won’t. So you have to wonder.

One another slow August morning, with not much to ponder—I was going to talk about how I think Jeremy Roenick was overrated, better known for saying idiotic stuff than for his actual play, and how he fooled enough people to where he’ll probably get into the Hall of Fame, and why not, Clark Gillies is in there—here’s an open page for you guys.

And in the meantime, we can probably run with this Seinfeld trivia for days and days. In the show there are dozens and dozens of doctors. How many can you identify? Most don’t have names, but you surely remember them from the situations.

One favorite: “No shot, dog bite. Woof, woof, not bang-bang.” He’s the same guy who had this exchange with Elaine as he held the long needle in front of her:

“Is this going to hurt?”

“Yes, very much.”

See ya later. I’m headed to a dentist chair, which is a little more pleasant than dealing with certain members of certain hockey clubs.

I noticed a lot of our Boneheads (term of endearment) are coming out of their summer caves as we get closer to actual hockey. Great to see the old names, although a few are still missing. Do you guys have any new Boneheads you could refer to this place?

I also thought the first day of banishment of imposters worked well. Didn’t you?
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I was happy to see that Pittsburgh hired Tony Granato as an assistant coach. I know that makes him the enemy in the eyes of a lot of you guys. But I’m glad for him. He’s a good hockey man. Wish he would make his way back to New York one day.
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Since there isn’t much going on at the moment, I wanted to throw a Seinfeld nugget at you. I just discovered this the other night, a big error in the program: When Kramer is suing the coffee company, lawyer Jackie Chiles asks him if the cafe latte had a top on, and whether he put the top on or they put the top on. But when Kramer walks out of the coffee store there is no top on his cafe latte. And he puts one on before he shoves it inside his shirt at the movie theater. It’s scandalous, isn’t it.

I know, I know. Get a life Carp.
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Going out for another attempted meeting with Mr. Titleist this morning. Been a while, but five of my eight or nine attempts have been cut short by lightning and torrential rain. Hopefully today brings a conclusion.

I’ll check in later.
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Don’t forget to check us out on Twitter, at twitter.com/rangersreport, or @rangersreport.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a few of the buffoons who have run around impersonating our loyal Boneheads have now been banned.

This is now the law: Impersonate another reader’s screen name, and you are out like Zherdev. Also, make repeated inappropriate remarks, and you are out like Gomez. And from now on, I will not simply edit out profanities or racist remarks, I will delete the entire post. Then you will be warned and, if repeated, you will be out like Derek Morris.

I hate to do this, and I wish it hadn’t come to this, but, jeez, how much can we take? It had become really horrible here, not only with the imposters but also with the inappropriate discussion.

For you loyal Boneheads, if you notice something going on, feel free to drop me an email at rcarpini@LoHud.com, or post a note in the comments. I hope I don’t have to spend too many hours a week doing this garbage.

Special thanks to those who play nice, which is the great majority. We always appreciate you guys and ladies for your passion, knowledge and wit.

Sean Avery showed today to talk to the kids at the Rangers hockey camp in Greenburgh at the Rangers practice facility.

I’m including a few audio clips. He talked about how his relationship with coach John Tortorella is coming along and address Colton Orr’s replacement. Here’s what he had to say about Donald Brashear.

0804brash

And this is about the benching during the playoffs being the best thing to happen and what’s happened with the coach in the offseason.

080409averytorts

As for the Rangers offense, “I think it’ll be dictated by how we do in camp,” Avery said. “There are lots of lines that don’t have the most skill guys in there and they score goals.”

And now you can return to your previously schedule discussion of Nik Zherdev and the offense.