Looks like one of Shanny’s former teams is going to make the first move in trying to get Brendan Shanahan back into the NHL.

According to the St. Louis Dispatch, Blues President John Davidson has already contacted Shanahan’s agent, Rick Curran.

The reports of Shanny moving on came about earlier this week — it is just a matter of time before he signs on with another team.  The only thing Rangers fans hope for is that is a team in the Western Conference….like the St. Louis Blues……not the NJ Devils or the Philadelphia Flyers.

More later…..

Well, it’s taken the Rangers only 13 games to win their 10th game.  Pretty impressive — they have been working hard and getting things done.  After beating the Thrashers 3-2 last night, the Rangers moved to 10-2-1 on the season and will continue to look to stay hot when they head to Toronto for a battle with the Maple Leafs.

Nikolai Zherdev continues to stay hot, notching a goal and an assist while Henrik Lundqvist got his 8th win of the season.  Dan Girardi scored his 2nd of the year and Markus Naslund continues to roll, scoring his 4th of the season.

Another game they should win and they got it done.  Coming up Saturday is a battle with Toronto, that despite not having a load of talent, is a team that works hard.  Going into TO is never an easy battle.  I would not be shocked to see Steve Valiquette get the start. 

Either way, the Rangers continue to roll…

More tomorrow…………………..

9:39P – Unreal, Rangers hold off the Thrashers 3-2 to now move to 10-2-1 to start the season, the best start in franchise history — grabbing 21 out of a possible 26 points. More later……

9:23P – Rangers jump ahead with a little over six minutes left in the third — Dan Girardi gets it after Nik Zherdev skated around the net, put the puck in front and it was put in. Zherdev off the faceoff would take a roughing penalty. The Rangers killed the penalty.

9:16P – Well, it was fun while it lasted. Bryan Little scores a PP goal, faking Hank out of his pads. 2-2 in the third.

9:10P – Nikolai Zherdev continues to score clutch goals, as he adds his 5th of the season, giving the Rangers a 2-1 lead — a sweet move to the backhand on the PP.

7:49P - After the first, Rangers and Thrashers tied at 1. Slava Kozlov scored early after a 7-round scrap with Colton Orr and Eric Boulton. Markus Naslund would later tie the game on a snap shot, beating Kari Lehtonen.

The Rangers announced that they traded former 1st round pick Hugh Jessiman to the Nashville Predators for future considerations.  Here is the story–

Something had to give here as Jessiman had no future with the Rangers.  He was one of many disappointing draft picks by the Rangers in the last 10 years (Jamie Lundmark, Pavel Brendl, Dan Blackburn….).  Interesting note about Jessiman — he is the only 1st round pick from that year to never play an NHL game.  Notable players drafted after him are Zach Parise, Dustin Brown (current Kings captain),  Brent Burns and …ouch … Ryan Getzlaf. 

More later………

Thanks to ‘Ranger Report’ Tom Renney has changed the lines again for this evenings battle with Atlanta at MSG.  I can’t even write much different than what Sam Weinman wrote — I guess three straight wins wasn’t enough for coach Renney to keep things they way they were.  Petr Prucha will be healthy scratch.  The defensive pairings will remain intact.

Naslund-Gomez-Drury

Voros-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Dawes-Fritsche-Callahan

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Normally, I would disagree with this. But any button Renney has pushed this season has worked thus far.  I will want to see Petr Prucha get a more consistent role on this team.  He helped with the comeback last week against the Pens and played well against the Islanders Monday.

Prucha, who had 52 goals in his first two season, had 7 goals last year in limited and has yet to score this year.  Most Rangers fans want Prucha to get more ice time — and not for the simple reason of being able to cheer “PRUUUUUUUUUUU,” but because he owns a sweet pair of hands and when given PP time, he can make pucks hit the back of the net.

Sports Illustrated has done a great job taking close ups of most of the goalies helmets this season. Click here for Henrik Lundqvist. Click here for Steve Valiquette.

You can scroll around for goalies around the league — pretty cool.

The Rangers announced they have sent Lauri Korpikoski to Hartford — he played seven games this season while battling a wrist injury.

I am all about this — let the young guy play where he can get the most minutes.  Everyone knows he can play and will be a good player in this league.  I would be shocked if he were not back in the Rangers jersey this season.

Larry Brooks of the NY Post reports Brendan Shanahan is going to move on from the Rangers.  Shanahan tells the post he is disappointed that nothing has transpired and he wants to continue his career — which will no doubt be one that is the Hockey Hall of Fame.

I mentioned this earlier today and I mentioned weeks ago in this blog that I hated the way the Rangers handled this – Shanny did not deserve to be dragged around without some kind of knowledge of where his future was with the Rangers. 

Brendan did a great job in his two years here and will be missed for his desire to win and lead this team.  No one will forget his classic scrap with Donald Brashear.  Click here for that video.   

More later………..

Looking for answers and comments on some thoughts here….

Why are there still rumors about Brendan Shanahan?

We love Shanny, but I think the Rangers are going in the right direction — and unfortunately, that direction does not include Shanahan.

Why is Patrick Rissmiller still practicing with the team?

Was waived last week — a now it’s getting to be a weird situation.  He is practicing with the team and counts towards the cap.  He could be sent to Hartford, but if they wanted to bring him back, he would have clear re-entry waivers and another team could swipe him at half his contract, with the Rangers having to pay the other half.

Has anyone seen that NHL commercial with Hank?  It is very cool — if you’ve missed it, here it is.

Without a doubt, the NHL has the best commercials — they need to get these commercials out there more.  Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane and Dion Phanuef have similiar ones and they are all amazingly done.
More later………

Well, I said this was a ‘TCB’ game, and that’s exactly what the Rangers did.  They went into Long Island, a team they should beat six times this season and got two points.  Rumor has it the ‘World Series’ is still being played, but the Rangers are definitely a top story in NY.  After defeating the Islanders 4-2, they move to 9-2-1 to start the season and are off to one of their top starts in franchise history.

It’s unfortunate that the Rangers won’t get the local media coverage they deserve — it’s going to be funny when local stations need to pick up on this team and half of the sportscasters can’t give you six players on the roster.

Chris Drury finally got his scoring touch back, netting two goals.  Drury, who is playing with Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev scored a minute into the game, then late in the third on a 5 on 3 PP.

Was anyone really concerned with Drury’s lack of scoring?  By the way, was he even brought to NY to be a goal scorer?  No — he was brought to NY to be a leader.  Well, in his first season as Rangers captain, they are off to one of their best starts in team history….enough said.

Henrik Lundqvist continues to be the Rangers best player, winning another game and getting his seventh win of the season.  Lundqvist is 7-2-1 on the season, leading the league in wins and in the mix with the leaders in save percentage and goals against.  Lundqvist will likely start Thursday at the Garden against the Thrashers.

At this pace, he will without a doubt get another 30+ win season, and will tease the 40 win plateau.  The Rangers season record for wins is 42 (Mike Richter, 93-94…..good year), and Lundqvist may take a run at it this season.

If things keep going like this, the Rangers may have four guys in the top 20 for league scoring — Brandon Dubinsky, Scott Gomez, Nikolai Zherdev and Markus Naslund, with Chris Drury perhaps heating up.  Aaron Voros has cooled off on the scoring sheet, but 20 goals may not be out of the question.

On another note, with Tom Renney getting his 142 win as Rangers coach, he moves into 4th all-time on the Rangers list of winning coaches.  Many more Tom.

More later……………