Rangers Report Blog

Well, at least I sure hope so. Carp’s off doing another job tonight and, as you read this, I’m gearing up for Bruuuuuce! But that doesn’t keep us from giving you, the RR bone/knuckleheads, your first official clean slate for the season opener (finally!) Personally, if I were home, I wouldn’t tune in til after the whole pre-game yuck.
So, here’s the pre-game notes with a link for more (before the jump!) Enjoy, have fun, and LET’S GO RANGERS!!
P.S. How many comments do you think you can post for game 1?

Tonight’s Game
The Rangers begin their 2009-10 regular season tonight against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, at Mellon Arena (7:30 p.m.), marking the second straight year the team has started the season on the road. Tonight’s contest is the first of back-to-back games for the Rangers, and the first of three games in four days to begin the season. In seven pre-season contests, New York posted a record of 3-3-1 (seven pts.), including a three-game winning streak from September 19 at Boston to September 24 against Washington. Pittsburgh posted a 1-4-1 record in six pre-season games. Following today’s game, the Rangers will host the Ottawa Senators tomorrow, October 3, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in their regular season home opener.

Read more game notes here and get the full schedule against The Pens.

Alright Staal and all…..this ought to be an interesting evening don’t ya think? Could be chippier than the Boston game, perhaps? At any rate, I give you your clean canvas on which to paint your your wit and wisdom (see how much happier I am today than last night :) Let the game begin, and LGR!!!

P.S. After the dreaded jump, a present. Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself, but at least way you can avoid if you choose ;) (more…)

“I love the fat boy!” (name that speaker)

Well, you all had quite a night here I see from the previous post. Shall we start loving and fresh today?  First, congrats again to all the guest bloggers to far, and advance congrats to those who follow until Carp returns from vacation. You’ve all done a great job keeping the conversation going and keeping this blog the hottest thing off ice (bad metaphor, but whatever, it’s early still).

So, since Carp let me have today I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with something brilliant, different, wonderful, to knock all the other great guests out of the blogesphere!

Sorry, not gonna happen. As I said in previous post, this week I’ve been Malarchuck’d at work. I’ve got the Saint Louis Blues across the neck.

Still…I am a Ranger…And I have a question. Why are you?

Despite Slats, and the Dolans, and the trades, and the near misses and the big misses, and the paltry Cups, we all still live, breathe and fight over this team. Yeah, other sports teams and fans have their issues (hello Chicago and formerly Boston! And the Jets, poor Jets)…but this is hockey! Who cares about that, right?

So, on a pre-game slow day, what’s your answer? Explain your bone/knuckleheaded devotion to this team and sport. Winner gets a T-shirt from Paws & Claws :)

FYI, a new post will be started before game tonight so you can go nuts afresh.

P.S. Craig, props to you for last night’s response.
——————————
Hey, it’s Carp. Thanks, Laurel.

Here’s the latest on Avery, courtesy of the Rangers’ site.

Laurel here. Nothing to report but comment on the game tonight …start fresh with a new thread! The season has begun! There’s real hockey tonight!

Hey all, until Jane pops in, just thought I’d give you a new thread for your vastly intelligent musings. Mike G. blew the roof off yesterday, following a most excellent Nasty. It’s too early even for me to find a new photo of a shirtless Aves, so say your good mornings and let’s begin a new day.

P.S. I have a new idea for a kids’ book..”Where’s Dubi?”
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Now it’s Carp here. Just wanted to say the first couple of days of guest blogging have been fabulous. And wanted to get a jump on next week.

I have been going mostly with regular Boneheads, and will continue to do so. I also have a few outsiders and some once-in-a-while commentors who have volunteered to join the fray. I am off all of next week, and there will be another week in September when we need guest blogs. So I just wanted to ask once again if any of you regulars want to do this. If so, please e-mail me at rcarpini@LoHud.com.

In the meantime, here’s the schedule through the middle of next week. I need you guys/gals to e-mail me to confirm that you will, indeed, write on those days. Then I will need your post the night before it is scheduled to appear. And I think Sally is going to do some of her VanGoughQvist art one day.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Today—Jane.
Thursday—Doodie Machetto.
Friday—Staal Wart.
Saturday—Patrick Hoffman.
Sunday—Rob C.
Monday  (8/31)—Spiderpig.
Tuesday (9/1)—CCCP.
Wednesday (9/2)—Pavel.
Thursday (9/3)—Mike (Grabachev) from IA.

Hey guys, I believe Carp may be on the road (he does step away from the computer every now and again)….here’s the quick update from nhl.com. I’ll search for more..
The New York Rangers continued to bolster their offense by signing free-agent forward Ales Kotalik on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not released. (but TSN has it at $9 mil for 3 years)
The 6-foot-1, 227-pound right wing had 20 goals and 43 points in 75 games with the Buffalo Sabres and the Edmonton Oilers last season.
A sixth-round pick of the Sabres in the 1998 Entry Draft, the native of Jindr Hradec, Czech Republic has 121 goals and 251 points in 445 NHL games.————————
Thanks for jumping in, Laurel.

Hey, it’s Carp, back at my desk. Believe it or not—and you probably won’t—but when I was looking over the remaining free agents this morning Kotalik jumped out at me, and I said to myself, “This is exactly the type of free agents other teams sign cheaply, and the type who usually turn out to be better signings than the marquee free agents … and exactly the type the Rangers don’t try to sign.”

I love this signing. Just want to go on record with that.

Boy when there’s not a lot of news you guys sure do devolve…:) While Carp is out trying to improve his handicap, I thought I’d pop in with some updates…none on Rangers, but at least it’s something!

Thanks to TSN..
• After 20 NHL seasons, Colorado Avalanche forward Joe Sakic may be ready to hang up his skates. The Avalanche have called a news conference for Thursday at 3pm et/12pm pt where, according to local reports, they will announce Sakic’s retirement.

• Sources tell TSN the National Hockey League Players Association has filed a grievance over the Chicago Blackhawks mishandling of a number of its qualifying offers and intends to argue the players affected by the mishap, who remain unsigned, should be ruled unrestricted free agents.
The NHL will be notified and can agree with the NHLPA’s filing, or the league can disagree and the case will move on to an expidited hearing.

• Also, did I miss the chat on this here (sorry, there was lots to catch up on after four days away), but I see Moore is now an Islander. If I’m late, then ignore me here and carry on.

Carp’s still on vacation, but will post links here tomorrow for you to follow so you can comment on the draft. And Jane will be here!
As for me, I’m completing my tenure here as guest blogger. Perhaps I’ll be back one day, perhaps not. It’s been one heck of a wild ride these past two weeks, and was certainly an education for me on sports blogging.
The goal was to give you all something to read/chat about during these dreaded dead weeks, and I think I succeeded there! Some posts may have been hits or misses with some folks, but I just wanted to say I’ve had a great time and I hope you did, too, for the most part :)
Thanks to all who showed me great support and appreciated the effort. It’s been fun getting to know you here and being part of the conversation, and I adore your dedication to this blog and team. The rest….eh.

I’m sure you’ll set this place on fire in the next few days. Me, I’m off work, so I think I’ll just go old school and read about it in the paper. With my cats…Cheers all. See you in the comments section….And LGR!

Well, yesterday was interesting. Tomorrow should be joyful with the draft finally upon us (or not, depending on how things go.) But at least there’ll be news.
I have no news today and doubt there will be any anyway, but just thought I’d start the day fresh. Carry on.

It’s generally not the rule here at RR to let nay-sayers take over, but perhaps I went to far? You be the judge…I know everyone is nuts for the draft, and while my fans have been great, I also don’t want to alienate everyone else. So, not an apology, but a slight mea culpa…

Here was the joke. But really, did anyone buy that? I guess so. Anyway. Seriously, back to draft…:
Breaking news
Heatley says he wants to go to Rangers, but not under Slats…WOW. What do you think will result from that? My guess, absolutely nothing cause it’s my turn to have fun and fake you out! Bwaaaaaaa!
Seriously, I got nothing right now, sorry, but there is nothing. Changed my mind. Other thread getting long and I figure where the chat was going was a good time to change up. Fox. Eeesh. Carry on….

UPDATE
Well, this joke got an interesting response. Go back to draft talk. I’m signing off til the morning. Bye!