At ESPN.com, John Buccigross continues to list out his top 100 players in the NHL.
Ryan Callahan checks in at number 61 on the list, between Jarome Iginla and Dion Phaneuf.
Buccigross adds:
The casual hockey fan has difficulty recognizing the value and purpose of players such as Callahan.
Dan Girardi was ranked 91st on the list.
Update: 1:45PM:
Henrik Lundqvist is ranked 27th and Marian Gaborik is ranked 26th in the latest installment.
In the NY Post, Justin Terranova asks NBC’s Pierre McGuire five questions about the local teams and the NHL.
On how it is to deal with John Tortorella during those awkard on the bench interviews, McGuire said:
John and I have worked together at TSN in Canada. We coached against each other a lot in the 90’s when we were assistants. He’s been nothing but great to deal with from my perspective, and he’s given me nothing but professional and courteous answers.
This video is from January 16th of this year
On the SNY.tv Metro Hockey Podcast, Jeff Z. Klein wondered about how much of an impact the power play actually has on a game.
Klein says:
the fact is, statistically, the power play just isn’t that important. Two-thirds of the game and two-thirds of the goals are scored at even strength and even strength is what wins. You never hear about how a team is doing at even strength and historically there is a very close correspondence between a team’s record and how they do at even strength.
Power Play stuff is all over the map. Last year the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and didn’t score a power play goal until the third round of the playoffs. It’s important and nice to have power play success, but it is way way down the list behind how you do at even strength
The Rangers rank 25th in the league in PP%.
Last season Boston finished 20th in the league on the PP and then had an 11.4% conversion rate in 25 playoff games.
The Rangers rank fourth in the league in 5 on 5 goals for/against ratio and are second in the league in goals against.
“hopefully I can get a couple cookies against Hank on Sunday”–Marian Gaborik
At the National Post, Sean Fitz-Gerald writes about a story that Brian Burke told while at a speaking engagement for business students at the University of Toronto.
Burke talks about how he traded Sandis Ozolinsh to the Rangers in 2006, when he was battling some alcohol issues:
He’d been sober with us, stayed sober with the Rangers and then, the night after they were eliminated in the playoffs, he was arrested on a DUI in Westchester County. Glen Sather, was the GM in New York, called me. He said, ‘I thought you said this kid was sober.’ I said, ‘Well, he was here, he was in counseling.’ And then, it turns out the kid’s got microfractures in his knee, and he needs surgery. Well, we didn’t know about the microfractures, but Slats sends me a bill for $65,000 for the surgery from this doctor in Vail. I sent it back to him. I said, ‘I’m not paying this. I didn’t know he was hurt.’”
Burke then says that when he acquired defenseman Erik Reitz from the Rangers in 2009, he knew that he was acquiring an injured player, but Sather assured him that Reitz was in a walking cast and be okay.
In actuality, Reitz was 24 pounds overweight and had a fractured tibia. Sather offered to take Reitz back, but Burke decided to keep him saying that Burke would pay his remaining salary, $50K, to offset some of the money that Sather thinks he was owed for the Ozolinsh surgery.
Burke said that he wanted to fight former Rangers defenseman and Oilers President Kevin Lowe in a barn.
At the Globe and Mail, James Mirtle thinks that it will take at least 93 points to get a spot in the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers, currently with 66 points, could go finish the second half on a slide of 13-21-1 and still get 93 points.
Sports Club Stats says that there is a 100% chance that the Rangers make the playoffs.
They say that the Rangers have a 42% chance to finish in first place in the conference, 41% chance to finish second in the conference, 15% to finish fourth and 2% to finish fifth.
via NY Mag
CLICK HERE to see all of the players wearing the Broadway Hat.
As the Summer of 2011 came to close and NHL clubs prepared their training camps for September, Ottawa, Ontario, native, Brendan Bell was still in search of an organization after becoming an Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) at the end of a 2010-11 season, which he spent playing overseas.
Bell, a 28-year-old defenseman, appeared in 29 games with team Biel of the Swiss-A league last season. He scored two goals and 11 points, with 14 penalty-minutes. The 2001 third-round pick also played in one Kontinental Hockey League game with Omsk Avangard, and recorded two assists in the tilt.
At the 2011 Spengler Cup, Bell was chosen to play for Team Canada and was coached by current Special Assistant to the President and General Manager of the New York Rangers, and former Rangers Captain, Mark Messier. He (Bell) scored once and added an assist in three games.
On August 3, 2011, Bell was signed to a one-year deal by the Rangers, on recommendation by Messier. Bell attended training camp and spent the entire preseason with the Rangers, and was originally part of the 2011-12 opening night roster due to multiple injuries on New York’s blueline. After making a brief one-game return to the NHL, the Rangers placed Bell on waivers and upon clearing he was re-assigned to the AHL with the Connecticut Whale.
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