Rangers Report Blog

Update: Thanks to a friend on this “paper transaction” during the break:

New York, February 16, 2010 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that goaltender Steve Valiquette has been recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL), and goaltender Matt Zaba has been assigned to Hartford.
Valiquette, 32, has posted a record of 4-5-1, along with a 3.73 goals against average and an .877 save percentage in 11 appearances with Hartford this season. Valiquette posted a 4-1-1 mark, with a 2.29 goals against average and a .919 save percentage in a six-game stretch from December 12 vs. Bridgeport to December 30 vs. Springfield, including back-to-back wins on December 12 vs. Bridgeport (2-1) and December 18 vs. Toronto (6-1) where he registered a 0.99 goals against average and a .960 save percentage in the two contests.
The Etobicoke, Ontario native was signed by the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, 2006.
Zaba, 26, has posted a 0-0-0 record, with a 3.56 goals against average and an .875 save percentage in one appearance with the Rangers this season. He made his NHL debut in a 6-0 loss at Montreal on January 23, entering the game at 6:18 of the second period and stopping 14 of 16 shots, including nine of 10 in the third. In addition, Zaba has dressed as Henrik Lundqvist’s backup in six games this season. He returns to Hartford where he has posted a 5-8-1 record, along with a 3.03 goals against average and a .905 save percentage in 18 AHL appearances this season. He has posted a 2-4-0 record, with a 2.36 goals against average and a .930 save percentage in his last six games with the Wolf Pack dating back to a 5-4 loss vs. Norfolk on January 27. Last season, Zaba ranked seventh in the AHL in goals against average (2.33), tied for eighth in save percentage (.920) and 12th in wins (25). He also led the league in shootout save percentage with a .930% success rate. Zaba was named AHL Goaltender of the Month for February, and he finished the regular season with a 14-2-0 mark and a 1.84 goals against average, a .937 save percentage and one shutout in his final 16 contests. He made his AHL debut on October 18, 2008, at Toronto.
The Yorkton, Saskatchewan native was signed by the Rangers as a free agent on August 20, 2007.

Back to earlier programming….

Since you all seem to be on topic, here’s a clean slate for your Olympics preview hockey chat until tomorrow’s face off between USA and Switzerland. It’s on at 3 ET on USA. Don’t know about any viewing links, but if you find some, please let me and everyone else know…I’ll miss it otherwise myself.

Yes, according to the good predictors over at nhl.com, here’s your potential Hank v. Dru match-ups. www.

The women’s team skates at 530 p.m. ET on MSNBC.

And if you really want to go all day, Marty and the Great White North take on Norway at 8 p.m. on CNBC. (not, see update below)

It’s a good thing NBC owns a lot of networks I guess.

Late night update:

Thanks to alert Bonhead NYRGuy for letting me know Luongo’s in tomorrow, and Marty waits til Thursday. Hmmm. That wasn’t the deal when I checked earlier, but thanks buddy!

Morning update:

It’s Miller Time! Or not….saw this story in the paper today about the “controversy” surrounding Ryan Miller’s helmet design, so here’s a link for you catch up with. Too bad he’s not named Lagenbrunner, but then again, that might not fit. Byfuglien?

Afternoon update:

A short piece by Dellapina over at nhl.com on one of your favorite former Rangers. P.S. Happy belated birthday Jaromir! See heading “Nice to see you, again.”

Alll, you know that Carp is off :( but we promised to keep the Report going during the break,. So I give you the first of our guest bloggers….none other than Captain Clutch! Before we win the gold (thanks Hank!) some thoughts from the man himself…Enjoy, and behave…Mama is watching youse…I now give you Clutch:

Do you believe in clutchness??? YES!!!”It’s about time LoHud hired a WINNER like Captain Clutch to take over this blog! Carp was like a 4th line center making $7 million! So we waived him! Sorry Carp! Have fun in Hartford doing “Wolfpack Report”! Ha-Ha! And don’t forget to try out Capo Clutchio’s Pizzeria while you’re in Connecticut! We deliver! 7.7 seconds or less! Ha-Ha!

And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for! It’s finally time for Captain Clutch’s road trip to Vancouver in the Clutchmobile with Torts and Cally!!!

Now, Captain Clutch knows that thousands of you Clutchamaniacs will also be making the road trip from New York to Vancouver to see Captain Clutch play in what could be my final Olympics, so here’s a list of LITTLE THINGS you should bring in order to make the trip more clutch! What a leader!

*CPS (Clutch Positioning System): Always gives you directions to the right place at the right time!

*iPod Clutch: YouTube + “Pardon My Clutch” = need I say more???

*Extra Mouthpieces: Safety first! Some of these roads are dangerous! Especially Glencross Way in Calgary! Watch your blind spots there!

*English To Canadian Dictionary: Getting the Clutchmobile through customs will be easy if Captain Clutch can speak the language!

(English: “That was clutch!”—Canadian: “That was clutch, eh!”)

(English: “What’s this about???”—Canadian: “What’s this aboot???”)

The Clutchmobile will make a quick stop in Trumbull first (The Birthplace Of Clutch) to say goodbye to Mama and Papa Clutch, then we’ll be on our way! Gotta get to Vancouver by Tuesday for our first game against Switzerland! After that, it’s the rematch 20 years in the making! USA vs. Taiwan!!! You think they forgot about what Lil’ Cap’n Clutch did to them in the ‘89 Little League World Series, a.k.a. “The Miracle On Dirt”??? Captain Clutch will be ready!!!

Wish me luck guys! Hopefully I’ll score my first ever Olympic goal in Vancouver! Oh, you guys didn’t know that Captain Clutch has 0 goals in my entire Olympic career? Look it up! Burkie picked ME for this team to score big goal??? Maybe I should’ve told him to look it up! Ha-Ha! Who has a better propaganda machine behind him than Captain Clutch??? That reminds me, don’t forget to watch the 958th showing of “Ranger Profiles: #23” tonight on MSG! Clutchness! Leadership! Intangibles! Winner! Heart! LITTLE THINGS!!!

USA! USA! USA!

peels out in Clutchmobile

*** This post was sponsored by Capo Clutchio’s Pizzeria ***

“When other pizzas don’t do much, try one that’s clutch!”

Morning update:

In deference to the Captain, I’m leaving his post up so he can get a fair run, but since everyone already seems to be starving for hockey news less than 24 hours after your last winning meal, here’s a recap on yesterday’s other big winners, the USA Women’s Hockey team!

The women take the ice again tomorrow against Russia at 2:30 PST, and team Langenbrunner debuts at noon PST against Switzerland. So tomorrow should be a good day, I hope.

Good afternoon Staal and all! Laurel here with a non-game night clean slate. Why? Oh gee, I can’t think of any reason other than I haven’t been able to lead a post for a while and it gives me such joy!
So, rangers.nhl.com has P.A.’s shootout goal as the moment of the week. Agree, disagree?

Also, the site tells me, the new Rangers Yearbook will be available at MSG soon, but you can pre-order it now. Why did that little tidbit catch my eye? Duh….

See, this is what you get when there’s no game, no news and me in charge :)

Laurel here: OK, no jokes heads, alright. It’s just a saying. Anyway, Carp may chime in with post-game notes, but for now, you can watch Torts post-game here. Or check out the game story recap here. By the way, if you read the last link, curious what you think about the list of Rangers “leaders” on the right. It’s stat based, but look who’s first…..On to Tuesday.

P.S. I can’t believe nobody made a Dr. Seuss reference to that Habs uniform. Or did I miss it?

Let’s start fresh shall we….I was thinking recently, and the decent comments on the last post brought home the point, what happens if Gabby does get hurt in a way that seriously affects his ability to play/ice time etc. He’s obviously had a huge impact on this team and while we have a lot of fine up-and-comers, and one man does not necessarily make the whole team (well, with some exceptions, Mess being one), what do you think will happen if Gab can’t make the whole season? Who steps in, or up? Thoughts?

And really, do not make me spend the rest of my day as I did on the first post. You have no idea how ugly my charming self can become when I’m pushed too far. :) Thanks!

Laurel here, and I think this is worth a new post. Still time left to listen here. As Carp said earlier…I

>p>I’m going to be a guest of The Mouth on his blogtalkradio show tonight around 9:15. The show runs from 9-11, and his other guest might interest you: Mitch Beck who blogs on the Hartford Wolfpack. If you haven’t heard The Mouth before, well, let’s just say he’s not your typical “radio” voice.

Good morning Staal and all. While Carp sleeps in (so lazy, he hardly ever works :) I thought I’d give you something fresh for the day for now. I robbed this from Rangers web site.

The fans have spoken. Ryan Callahan’s goal, which got the Rangers on the board and on their way to a dramatic victory over the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center, has been named the newyorkrangers.com Moment of the Week for Week 2 of the NHL season. Callahan’s goal earned 50.6 percent of the fans’ online vote to edge Matt Gilroy’s first NHL tally—a game-winner at New Jersey. Gilroy’s goal collected 42.1 percent of the vote, while Ales Kotalik’s game-winning goal in the 3-0 shutout of Anaheim placed third with 7.3 percent.

So, week 3 isn’t over yet, but why don’t we start our own vote here….I’m guessing Gabby’s goal is going to score high. What’s your Moment of the Week? Mine right now is that it’s Friday and the work week is almost over.
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Hey, it’s Carp. Thanks for jumping in, Laurel. I’m headed back for two more (at least, depending on postponements) long, cold Yankee Stadium days. Sorry, but I’m a little out of touch with hockey the last day or so.

I know this is short notice, but Jim Cerny’s guest on Rangers Radio at noon today is Mike Keenan. Check it out here.

Ha ha! Here’s a real challenge! Go wild. Clean slate for game. Bless you all for chat today pre-game. Now go!

Wheeeee.! I am shellacked. I’m guessing maybe Carp was tied up and I missed the clean slate request, but here ya go….Post game thoughts? I’m sure you have a few. Rock on heads….

Well, the game didn’t end as I’d hoped, but it’s only one, right? Darn, from your comments and the post-game notes I read, it sure sounded interesting! I’ll let Carp give you the post game wrap up, but here’s your clean morning slate….btw, Bruce was outstanding, as usual. And I met some Rangers fans in the lot, go figure.

P.S. Basher got a 5 minute major in first game! Tell me your thoughts…and good morning Staal and all!

P.P.S. 451 comments for game 1! Not bad….you can do better heads!
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Thanks, Laurel.

Here are the official game summary and event summary from last night’s game.
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Hey, it’s Carp again. This is something I think is pretty cool. The Rangers are making their media guide available to all online—you can also download it. You can access it here.

They are still printing (and selling, I believe) the 400 or 500-page print version as well. Interestingly, the New York Football Giants are not wasting that paper this year. They have distributed media guides on disk drives to the media, and I think their guide is available online, too.

Here are the pregame notes for tonight’s home opener.