Rangers Report Blog

Brandon Dubinsky:

I asked him if he’s getting closer, for openers:

“Honestly, I can’t answer that truthfully right now because I don’t really know. I felt pretty good out there today, I’ll tell you that. I’ll come here in the morning and see how it feels and try and create a timeline from there. It’s one of those situations where it didn’t hurt to skate, and we went pretty good today, pretty hard before practice and during, so if there’s a time it’s going to get sore I think it will be tomorrow. If not, it’s just a matter of conditioning, I guess, or just being ready to roll. So we’ll see how it goes. It felt good today, though.”

Asked directly about tomorrow:

“I’m not going to rule anything out, I’ll tell you that much. Like I said, I don’t want to put a timeline on myself. If I wake up and feel great tomorrow, then you never know what could happen. We’ll just wait to see how it feels. … I feel like I’ve given it some time to heal. The Doc came in and said that he saw some signs of healing. All good things.”

This was his first skate.

“I haven’t been out that long. I’ve done some stuff off the ice and … these guys have been off the ice for five days, most of them, and so, it wasn’t like I was trying to jump back in right in the middle of a back-to-back situation. These guys have had a little time off to accumulate a little bit of rust (laughs) so it might actually be a good time to jump right back in and brush the rust off with them.”

Said he wore a blue shirt early in practice and was told to put the orange no-contact shirt on.

Dan Girardi:

“It was just kind of ‘Go into the break and rest’ and see how it felt. I didn’t know how I’d feel without skating, and it felt good today skating on it. And shooting felt good.”

Today was his first skate, too.

Ryan Callahan:

“It was a long six weeks, now seven weeks with the all-star break. But I’m excited to be back and excited to not be bag(skating) with Sully anymore. I’ve gone through that. I had a good practice today, felt good out there. We did a little bit of scrimmaging, which I thought was me to experience a little bit of battling. The hand felt good and my conditioning felt good, too. So I’m excited to get into the lineup tomorrow.”

“I’ve got full strength (in the hand). It’s 100 percent, and I think I can shoot it as hard—not that I have the hardest shot to begin with—but all my strength’s there and it feels good.”

Will wear the extra padding on the glove, and some tape on the hand and wrist.

“I’m just going to go out there and approach it like every other game that I approach, and try to do what I do and create energy, throw my body around, and try to create some opportunities. You’ve got to try to not do too much, but at the same time, if you just stay focused and prepare like you do for every other game I’ll be fine.”

Skated every day at the practice rink over the break, working on conditioning and building strength in the hand.

Sitting out:

“Frustrating. It’s tough. I watch it but I definitely get frustrated when you see the guys out there battling and you can’t do anything to help them. But it is what it is, it’s part of the game. Injuries happen.I tried to prepare myself mentally to come back and not get too distracted by things around me, and try to stay focused on my game when I come back.”

Jokingly asked if he was ticked that the team did fine without him:

“No, it made me pretty happy. It was good. It was really good.”

Erik Christensen:

“This is the third time I’ve been on the ice. I was sucking some wind a little bit. But other than that I felt OK. My hands are a little off. Everything’s a little off. That’s just because I haven’t played in a couple of weeks.”

”(I’m) day by day. I have a date in mind, but as of right now we’ll say it’s day by day.”

I asked him if that date is tomorrow, and he said, “No. No. It’s not tomorrow. I won’t be playing tomorrow.”

“Right on schedule. In two days it’s five weeks. So we’re right on where I could be coming back.”

Skated Thursday and Friday, worked out Saturday, practiced today.

“I’m not sore, and I was bag-skating before practice today with (Mike Sullivan) and Dubi. … There’s no other way to do it. I’ve been riding the bike hard the last two weeks and you can only do so much of that. There’s no better way to get in shape than just to get skated hard. It really is not a whole lot of fun, but it is the best way.”

“I’m still a ways away in my conditioning, I’ll tell you that. A lot of hard work away. I need to be skated pretty good here the next couple of days, because these guys are in shape and I don’t like lagging behind and feel like I’m out of place. I definitely don’t want to feel like that, especially because the team, considering all our absent guys, been playing pretty well and picking up points. So you want to make sure you come in and you’re ready and ready to contribute.”

Brandon Dubinsky said he felt good after his first skate, and it was a hard skate, and said he’s not ruling out anything as far as when he might come back. John Tortorella said he’s been cleared to play, and they just have to see how he feels tomorrow, and that he’s not ruled out for the game against the Penguins.

News: Marc Staal went off the ice early, after either being hit by a shot or twisting something apparently, or perhaps with a skate issue. It didn’t look serious. Tortorella said he’s fine, and that he didn’t even know that he went off early, and that he would have been told if he was hurt.

Ryan Callahan will play tomorrow. Erik Christensen said he’s day by day, won’t play tomorrow, and has a date in mind, though he wouldn’t say what that date is.

Tortorella also said that Vinny Prospal is ready to return, but that he wants Prospal to have two more practices for conditioning purposes, and so the target for his return is Thursday vs. the Devils.

Dan Girardi will also play tomorrow. He said he’s 100 percent. Tortorella isn’t sure if Michael Del Zotto will play, and if so, who comes out … but added he liked some of the things Del Zotto provided on the power play before the break.

“Too many bodies for practice,” Tortorella said, adding that the “Orange Line” of Duhinsky-Prospal-Christensen was the best line in practice.

“It’s good to get the guys on the ice. I’m not sure who can play, who can’t yet, but obviously when you have that many bodies, they’re getting close.”

On what it means to get Callahan back:

“Everything. He does everything for us. He’s one of our leaders. I wasn’t sure, and I give our team a lot of credit—when we lost him, that’s when I worried about where the team was going to go. And I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there and finding a way. Cally’s that important, so it will be good to have him back in the room first of all, and then on the ice.”

I’ll be back much later with quotes from Tortorella, Callahan, Dubinsky, Christensen. For now, gotta scoot.

More from practice in a while.

But the big news is that Brandon Dubinsky, along with Vinny Prospal and Erik Christensen, are all out there practicing in orange no-contact jerseys, and Dubinsky doesn’t look hampered at all. Maybe his return will be sooner than expected.

Also, Dan Girardi is practicing, so the Rangers have seven defensemen at the moment, with Del Zotto up. That could change.

Ryan Callahan plans to return tomorrow (though we haven’t spoken to him yet).

Here are the practice lines:

Wolski-Stepan-Callahan
Avery-Anisimov-Gaborik
Zuccarello-Boyle-Prust
Grachev-Newbury-Drury

Dubinsky-Prospal-Christensen.

Will be back with more later.

I started thinking about this a little while back. I don’t remember seeing many Rangers teams like the current one, a team that has earned the hearts of its fans by the way it carries itself on the ice. Oh, there have been good teams, probably better teams than this.

But, as you know by now, this team is kind of special because of the way it plays, the identity (Tortorella-ism) it has created, and what it is accomplishing all the while pouring all the cement for a solid foundation for the future. This team hasn’t won jack yet, hasn’t clinched a playoff spot—and it remains possible that it won’t (doubt it, though). But this team’s legacy isn’t tied into what it wins or if it makes the playoffs. It will all be about what this team is, and what it will be down the road.

Anyway, there have been a few other Rangers teams that kind of had the spirit and the togethereness that this one has. Here are some which I have covered that immediately come to mind, and I’d like to hear if you have others, or if you disagree with any of these:

1978-79: The first team I covered—I did some home games as a youngster in the business—was loaded with characters, and I don’t think it worked nearly as hard as this team does in practice or in the weight room (if there even was a weight room). But it was pretty tough, had key lesser guys like Lucien Deblois and Dean Talafous, Eddie Johnstone and Mario Marois, and had guys like the Maloney boys, Walt Tkaczuk and Steve Vickers, who would fit on this team. And one of my all-time favorites, J.D. It piled up 91 points (pre-OT, pre-shootout) and, of course, went to the finals.

1981-82: Herb Brooks’ Smurfs. Mike Rogers (one of those rare scorers who came to New York and continued to score) along with Mark Pavelich, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Mikko Leinonen and Mike Allison, and leftovers Anders Hedberg, Don Maloney, Johnstone.  All of those Brooks teams had the misfortune of coming along during the Islanders dynasty. But they lost the first playoff game in Philly, then won 7-4, 4-3 and 7-5, and took the Isles to six.

1989-90: This was the one that reminds me the most of this one, because it was digging out of the rubble after Neil Smith took over from Phil Esposito. But it played a much more passive, less aggressive style under Roger Neilson. It had some veterans, and added more (Bernie Nicholls and Mike Gartner) but also had a young Brian Leetch, a young Mike Richter, young Tony Granato, Tomas Sandstrom, Troy Mallette (and an old Lindy Ruff) and it was tough as hell with Mallette, Kris King, Randy Moller, Chris Nilan and Rudy Poeschek. Unbelievably, it was the  first Rangers team  since 1941-42 to win a regular-season title.

1993-94: I don’t think I even have to say anything about that team, other than, when you look down the roster and see the thoroughbreds, the all-for-one, tough and willing … well, you know what happened.
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And two that didn’t quite measure up:

1996-97: Yeah, I know, it had the Gretzky-Messier reunion, and it still had Leetch and Graves and Richter and Beukeboom and Tikkanen, plus Samuelsson and Verbeek and all those guys. But until it made that black-and-blue run to the conference final, I thought that team terribly underachieved.

2005-06 and ‘06-07: The first two teams after the lockout were also the first teams to make the playoffs after eight non-playoff years. I thought the fans kind of fell in love with those Jaromir Jagr/Brendan Shanahan teams, and there were some inspiring performances, but I didn’t think it ever was really threatening to win a championship, and it wasn’t really building anything. And then it went out and threw a King’s ransom at a pair of B-list free agents
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AP photo, above … Ryan Callahan hopes to return tomorrow.

No real surprises there.

Still awaiting the official announcement from the Rangers. But they will need bodies from among the five they sent to Connecticut before the break, so it’s not shocking that it’s these three. Don’t know yet if Del Zotto is in the lineup Tuesday if Dan Girardi is ready to go.

But Newbury is back because of toughness and faceoffs, and of course Ryan Callahan expects to return Tuesday against the Penguins. With Kolarik and Dupont gone, the Rangers will be at the minimum of 12 forwards, with Grachev and Newbury.

The Rangers reconvene with an afternoon practice tomorrow. If all goes well, I hope to be on the scene.
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MIDNIGHT UPDATE: Here’s the official announcement from the Rangers:

NEW YORK RANGERS TRANSACTION UPDATE

New York, January 30, 2011 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that defenseman Michael Del Zotto, and forwards Kris Newbury and Evgeny Grachev have been recalled from the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Del Zotto, 20, has registered seven assists in 10 games with Connecticut this season.  He is tied for second among Whale defensemen in assists and third in points.  Del Zotto recorded a four-game assist streak from January 15 vs. Providence to January 22 at Springfield, tallying five assists over the span.  He recorded two assists vs. Hamilton on January 21, and registered one assist and a plus-four rating vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on January 16.  He recorded an assist in his AHL debut on January 5 at Worcester.  Del Zotto returns to the Rangers where he has registered two goals and seven assists, along with 14 penalty minutes in 37 games this season.  Five of his nine points were recorded on the power play, and he ranks fourth on the team with 60 blocked shots.  Del Zotto made his 100th career NHL appearance at Colorado on November 19.

The Stouffville, Ontario native was originally the Rangers’ first round selection, 20th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Newbury, 28, tallied a power play assist in yesterday’s 3-2 loss vs. Portland, and has registered five goals and 31 assists for 36 points, along with 91 penalty minutes in 43 games with Connecticut this season.  He is tied for sixth in the AHL in assists.  He also leads the team in assists, ranks second in points and fourth in penalty minutes.  Newbury has registered a team-high, 10 multi-point performances this season, including two separate streaks of three games with multiple points – November 13 vs. Springfield to November 19 at Springfield (six assists), and December 3 at Providence to December 11 vs. Manchester (one goal, six assists).  The 5-11, 213-pounder established a career-high with an eight-game assist streak from November 28 vs. Adirondack to December 17 vs. Worcester, recording three goals and 12 assists over the span.  Newbury returns to the Rangers where he has registered one assist and 33 penalty minutes in seven games this season.  He made his Rangers debut at Montreal on January 15, and recorded his first point as a Ranger with the primary assist on the game-tying goal in a 3-2 shootout win at Atlanta on January 22.

The Brampton, Ontario native was originally San Jose’s fifth round pick, 139th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.  He was acquired by the Rangers from Detroit in exchange for forward Jordan Owens on March 3, 2010.

Grachev, 20, registered one goal in a 4-2 loss vs. Manchester on Friday, marking his fourth consecutive AHL game with a goal (seven goals) and fifth straight game with a point (seven goals, one assist) dating back to January 15 vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  He has registered 13 goals and six assists for 19 points, along with 12 penalty minutes and  a plus-eight rating in 42 games with Connecticut this season.  He is tied for second on the team in goals, while his plus-eight rating leads all team forwards and ranks second on the Whale.  He is also tied for fifth on the team with three power play goals.  Grachev registered his first professional hat trick in a 5-1 win at Springfield on January 22.  He returns to the Rangers where he has skated in eight games this season, making his NHL debut vs. Carolina on October 29.

The Khabarovsk, Russia native was originally the Rangers’ third round selection, 75th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

The game’s at 4 on Versus, which means it will probably start closer to 4:30. (I apologize for assuming earlier that the game is on NBC. It’s not).

I don’t know. I seem to have lost interest. I mean, I have no idea who is on what team now. I remember that the Staals and Lundqvist are on one side, and that Martin St. Louis and all his Tampa boys are on Lidstrom’s side. But I’m not about to hold a lineup sheet in my hand trying to figure out who’s playing for whom. So that part is confusing for me, at least, an interested party with no rooting interest.

Likewise, I wandered off during the skills competitions. The breakaways, or penalty shots or shootouts or whatever they call them, ought to be the best part, but it seems to me the guys are trying too hard to do the impossible instead of just doing moves they’d do in a shootout. In other words they are trying to be all Harlem Globetrotters, but their complicated moves rarely if ever result in a goal. … except when they tell the goalie what do to, as Ovechkin did with Fleury. And if the purpose isn’t the most clever way to put the puck into the net, then what’s the point? If you’re just going to carry the puck on your stick and try some wild baseball swing or something, with little or no chance of even getting the puck on goal … again, what’s the point?

If they’re going to do this stuff, then maybe they need props like Ovechkin’s hat and sunglasses. Maybe a cape and mask? Or a suit of armor? Or a mascot costume?

Me? I’d much rather see the types of shootout goals that Zuccarello and Wolski and Anisimov scored in that game last week or the one the kid in Edmonton scored while showboating, that ticked off pretty much all of Canada … and I hate the shootout.

Hardest shot? Meh. The radar reading sometimes doesn’t register, or malfunctions. And you can’t tell with the naked eye a 98 mph shot from a 102 mph shot from a 105 mph shot, so the excitement isn’t in the shot, it’s in the numbers on a little scoreboard. Doesn’t do it for me anymore.

We also got the wonderful, and inevitable high-clarity F-bomb over the television because so many players were wearing mics.

It’s pretty sad when the highlight of the night is a goalie falling down.

And I’ll say it again, it seemed to me that a lot of the fans were thinking, “Where the hell are the race cars?” Maybe that’s just my twisted view.

Two more days until hockey.

NHL Network will cover the red-carpet arrivals at 4 p.m.

The SuperSkills starts at 7 p.m. on Versus … here are some details.

NHL.com has some video of Kevin Weekes and Jeremy Roenick discussing and attempting some of the skills competitions, with a cameo from Henrik Lundqvist.
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EVENING UPDATE: Here are the participants chosen for tonight’s events.

“How do I approach a long layoff? That’s just a dumb question.”

I approach it by getting some odds and ends out of the way. Later on we’ll have a new “Go Time” post for the skills competition, and by skills competition I mean the skills competition, not a shootout.

I thought the draft last night was relatively cool, but it turned corny very quickly, and I think it will be completely lame when they do it again next year. The same jokes: Oh, hahaha, you picked your other teammate, not the one who we were expecting you to pick, hahaha. And I believe the going-away consolation prizes heaped on the last guy picked will now make that spot coveted, and so guys will plot who they will pick last so a buddy gets the car or whatever. Lame.
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About this place:

We have a bunch of new visitors lately, so just a few reminders:

1) Watch the language. We have strict rules here. You can substitute Byfuglien, Bryzgalov, Abdelkader, Carcillo, Hartnell or any other names for your off-color words, or you can use firetruck or anything else clever as substitutes (Aasen, for example). But do not curse or be crude. Most times I’ll issue a warning before I ban. Depending on the mood. But I will ban. Just ask the regulars.

2) If you post comments with links, beware. Most comments with more than one link get automatically rerouted to the spam queue, where they die. So try to keep your links to one per comment.

3) If the print is too small for you, all you have to do is hit Control+ and it will get bigger. Likewise, Control- makes it smaller.

We’re looking for ways to grow our traffic, so if youse know anybody who likes the Rangers or hockey or jibberish, please direct them to this blog. And visit as often as you can (or just click “refresh” a lot … LOL).
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Odds & Ends:

The NHL and NBC chose Pittsburgh-Washington for their game of the week next Sunday. Shocker.

Our friend Mitch Beck has an interview with Wade Redden on his Howlings blog. If you scroll through the posts, there’s also one that pokes a little fun at Mats Zuccarello. And also some info about the Whale Bowl, an outdoors alumni game which will include former Rangers Brian Leetch (as a Bruin) and Pat Verbeek (as a Whaler).

Did youse see where Kansas City pitcher Gil Meche, out with an arm injury, voluntarily retired, leaving $12 million in guaranteed salary for next season on the table?

Here’s your blank canvas for discussing the all-star fantasy draft tonight (8 p.m. on Versus). The NHL Network will do a pre-draft show starting right now (6 p.m.).

The NHL announced this afternoon that the coaches have been designated teams.

Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks and his assistant, Mike Haviland, were assigned to coach Team Staal—captained by Eric Staal of the All-Star host Carolina Hurricanes.

Peter Laviolette of the Philadelphia Flyers and Alain Vigneault of the Vancouver Canucks will coach Team Lidstrom—captained by Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings.

I’ll put up special edition “Go Times” for the skills competition and the all-star game the next two days.

So what happens when the injured heal?

One hundred and ninety three man-games lost to injury this year. By the end of the year, that number will likely climb high enough that it will be more than the past three seasons combined. My wife (whose fandom is more than casual but less than intense) has even noticed that there are significantly more injuries this year than in the past. OK, what she’s actually noticed is that there are a lot of rookies playing in their first NHL games and getting their first NHL points (things she gets really excited about). But when even my wife notices, there are a lot of injuries.

Fortunately, many of the injured players will be returning soon. Barring any setbacks, Ryan Callahan is expected to make his return to active status on Feb. 1 against the Penguins. Likewise for Dan Girardi. Figuring out who will sit for those two is pretty simple: Evgeni Grachev and Michael Del Zotto don’t come back to New York after the All-Star break. Problem solved… for now.

In their last game against the Florida Panthers, the Rangers had 8(!) players out hurt. One of those players is Alexander Frolov, who is done for the season (and as a Blue Shirt). As for Derek Boogaard, you just can never tell with a head injury, although, you have to think he would have a hard time finding the lineup over any of the guys currently there, let alone over the guys who will be returning. But that’s still 6 (7 with Boogaard) potential players who could come back. The original timetables for Brandon Dubinsky, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Erik Christensen all line up for an expected return by the end of February. Also, even though Vinny Prospal hasn’t skated in a game all season, I believe he would still be eligible for the playoffs if he isn’t active by the trade deadline. That isn’t to say there is still a very strong possibility that he might shut it down for the season and possibly call it a career. That’s 4 potential starters returning to the lineup at the same time.

You can’t go back to what the lines were at the beginning of the season, not only because I don’t think anyone can honestly remember what they were or because we started with a couple of guys already hurt (Prospal hasn’t been in a game all season), but because of what we have learned throughout the course of the season about some of the guys already on the roster. Derek Stepan is for real. Brandon Prust doesn’t just fight. Dubinsky is the MVP. Chris Drury has clearly lost his way (and his pants). And as Carp frequently says, “[Brian] Boyle = Monster.” So you have to start making decisions of who you pare down, and from where.

Obviously, some of the guys who are in the lineup will be Whaled. Chad Kolarik and Kris Newbury have been good stopgaps, but I don’t think you can argue with a straight face that either of them are superior to the returning four. And while Newbury brings some more “jam” to the game than Christensen or Prospal, it’s not anything that can’t be replaced by Fedotenko or even by demoting Sean Avery back to the 4th line. And speaking of the 4th line, you have to think that Drury starts watching games from the press box (maybe he can sew his pants while he’s in there). Even his “intangibles” are readily replaceable at this point by a majority of the team, a true credit to John Tortorella and the rest of the coaching staff, both in New York and in Connecticut. The tough part is that Drury is the captain, and by sitting him, you are functionally stripping him of the captaincy.

After that though, things get pretty tricky. You have to sit a legitimate player at that point. The only guys who would be considered, in my opinion, are Sean Avery and Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello has been very good since being called up and is lethal in the shootout. Imagine a shootout lineup of Zucarrello, Christensen, and Wojtek Wolski! Avery, however, is better suited for a 4th line role than any of the returning players and could find himself there with Zuccarello getting temporarily Whaled. He could always be recalled if they needed him. If Prospal doesn’t return, I think Zuccarello is here to stay.

There is also another very large X-factor: Glen Sather. Sather is hardly one to sit idly by in the month ahead of the trade deadline. With our incredibly inexperienced defense corps, I have a hard time imagining Sather doesn’t pull the trigger on a trade to bring in a veteran player. What he trades in exchange is a mystery, but I’m very confident that there will be a trade. Tortorella has frequently expressed his pleasure at the youth on the team and how happy he is that they have retained this young core group. I think part of the reason he says it so much is to not-so-silently hint at Sather that he doesn’t want any of the pieces traded away.

As for predictions: I don’t believe Prospal returns. As a result, only Newbury and Kolarik get Whaled, and Drury watches from the pressbox. I would be OK with this. If Prospal does return, I think unfortunately it is Zuccarello that finds himself riding the buses again. However, I’d much rather it be Zuccarello playing and Avery finding himself watching games with Drury.

Now, I put it to you:

1) Do you think Prospal returns?

2) Which players do you think will sit/be Whaled when Fedotenko, Dubinsky, and Christensen return?

3) If Prospal also returns, who do you think sits for him?

And please, PLEASE, can the discussion not be focused entirely on Sean Avery?