Meanwhile, morning’s funniest moment came courtesy of Sean Avery, who had completed practice and come off the ice toward an auxiliary dressing room. He was standing, chatting casually with the media when, all of a sudden, he took off in a dead run back toward the ice (a dead run while in skates on land, is neither easy nor does it look smooth). Avery got three-fourths of the way there, stopped and turned around. Turns out he thought he had heard John Tortorella blow a whistle and Avery joked he never knows when Tortorella is going to call a meeting.

http://njmg.typepad.com/rangersblog/2009/09/sanguinetti-lines-and-other-morning-items.html

“I was turned off by the ineptness of the announcers.
Lost track of the pbp, while mewling over trivia. Hope that’s not a sign of things to come.”

Why would they be any different? They’ve been unlistenable blowhards who love to hear their own voices for the last 20 years – when Davidson and Rosen were first paired in the booth. Now Rosen and Micheletti are even worse. At least JD had a few moments of real insight, even though he would spend 10 minutes talking about the great Italian restaurants, and meatball comparisons, in all the away cities.

I turn off the shills and turn on the radio broadcast. A lot less fluff and a lot more insight.

The energy level was most impressive.I can’t fault any individuals for their play..too soon to judge.

I was taken with the quality of goal tending by Rask.

I was turned off by the ineptness of the announcers.
Lost track of the pbp, while mewling over trivia. Hope that’s not a sign of things to come.

Did anyone get to meet Sean Avery, Voros and Lundquivst?

They were giving autographs in the 400’s. I told them to have a great season.

Boyle did not make many plays last night but he still played with a sort of edge, you know. Controlling the puck in the offensive zone and hitting hitting hitting.

Lisin is a simple sniper. Great speed, great shot and will score 12-17 goals if we’re lucky. How can you even compare that to the likes of Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros who are both slow, stupid and has no real purpose on any team.

The only real negative I picked up was Del Zotto on that penalty kill, so tired he couldn’t even skate to pick up his man. I know they’ve done a lot of skating and he was stuck out there for the whole shift (which does happen) but for this early in the season and a young guy, he should be in the best shape out of anyone.

My observations:

Gilroy makes the team as a top 6 defenseman.

Del Zotto played well but at times was physically overmatched. With all the other D-men available he should go back to juniors to grow physically and play huge minutes.

Anismov-Grachev-Lisin: Lisin looked the most NHL ready.
Anisimov and Grachev have skills, don’t know if Grachev is ready yet. Close, but some seasoning in the A will help.

Boyle: Don’t know. Used his body a bit and skated better then I thought he would.

Maccarone: Dirk Diggler moustache. Did OK.

Semenov: Big body, played with composure, will be kept around as a needed experienced defenseman.

Byers, Sauer and Parenteau: Did not do enough to distinguish themselves.

Just remember guys and gals there are a bunch of other kids that need to be looked at before hard decisions are made, particularly on defense with Heikkinen, Sanguinetti and Potter left to look at. The is also Weise, Arnason, Owens, Dupont, Borque and Ambuhl to get a look at on the offensive side.

Interesting quote from Torts near the end about MDZ being a bit cocky and having to tame him a bit.

Tortorella said. “Him, Gilroy, Grachev, all these kids. (Del Zotto) equipped himself very well in Traverse City. I thought he was one of the more talented players in Traverse City. His first game up there, he took chances, up the ice. He can pass the puck. That’s playing against kids. I think he has a nice arrogance about him. It’s a type of kid I think I may have to tame a little bit as far as the arrogance but that’s a good thing to have, a guy who wants to make a difference and is willing to take a chance.”