On the list, Vinny Lecavalier, Joe Pavelski and Olli Jokinen.

…Jokinen cracking this list sort of boggles my mind. Maybe he does get it all back after an up and down couple of years. But his return to Calgary still makes zero sense.

Why not Erik Christensen on the list. As of now, he looks to center the Rangers top line and try to replicate what he did over a short season, to a full one. I think he deserves representation on this list over Jokinen and Peter Mueller, neither of which will probably center a top line to start.

Shinzawa writes that Wheeler was awarded $2.2 million in arbitration

….Wow. Lower than I expected, good for the Bruins

Update: 4:57PM:

According to Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, the decision on Blake Wheeler has been delayed because the arbitrator who proceded over the Wheeler case also did the same for Antti Niemi’s earlier today.

…Niemi is not only holding up the Blackhawks with their potential goaltending issues, but the Bruins too. The nerve of that guy…

Update: 10:22AM: July 29th

Haggerty writes at CSN New England that the reported numbers below on Wheeler’s salary are inaccurate.

He expects Wheeler to get an award between $2.55 and $3 million.

Update: 1:48PM:

Haggerty tweets that nothing on Wheeler is expected today.

Update: 12:59PM:

Andy Strickland says that Wheeler can expect to receive an award of $2.1 to $2.4 million.

Original Post:

In his mailbag at Comcast New England, Joe Haggerty answers a question about Blake Wheeler and whether or not the Bruins would walk away from an arbitration award above a certain number.

Haggerty expects Wheeler to be awarded over $2.4 million.

In his two seasons in Boston, Wheeler has over 20 goals and has played all but one game.

Previously, Wheeler, 23, had a cap hit of $ 2.8 million. A base salary of $875,000 and bonuses of about $1.8 million.

He was the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NHL draft by Phoenix.

…Wheeler is someone that I get emailed about a lot. He is young, talented, and Wayne Gretzky picked him. He is someone that Boston can continue to build around, with Tyler Seguin, and can keep him, if they dump Michael Ryder and/or Marc Savard.

Looking back at the 2004 draft, Wheeler wasn’t among the top 30 players ranked by TSN. Al Montoya was fourth.

Here is a piece on Montoya, which speaks glowingly. This article also calls them winners from the draft.

Staal told them that he isn’t “really (allowed) to talk too much about it. There’s nothing really to report on it other than what’s been written.”

….Its best that he doesn’t talk about it. No one wants to start negotiating through the media and hope that former teammates Glen Sather and Bobby Orr can come to a deal that benefits both parties. Sather, from when he is quoted, is confident that Staal will continue to be a Ranger, and while I agree, the sooner he gets signed, the better.

John Tortorella told Andrew Gross of the Record that they hope the coaching staff can take newly signed Derek Boogaard and mold him into a player who doesn’t just need to use his fists to contribute:

“He’s a tough kid,” Tortorella said. “I’ve already had a conversation with him. We also want him to play. I’m not sure what his minutes were last year, but we want to try to help him progress as a player. I think the way the game is played, you can’t just go out and fight a few times and dress him to do that. Part of his responsibility and part of our responsibility as a coaching staff is to teach.”

….What the Rangers did with Orr was pretty tremendous. He could barely do anything but fight and became a regular part of the team, so much so that Toronto gave him four years and $1 million per season. Now Boogaard is making more, and is older than Orr was when he started to play a more complete game, but it’s something that the Rangers need to do with the Boogeyman so that they can get the most out of the $1.6 million they are spending on him each season.

Longtime reader Matthew Grauer claims that Patrick Marleau looks far more like Coach Eric Taylor than Chris Drury does.

He also sends along this old Sports Illustrated gallery of NHL celebrity look-a-likes.

Jason Pontillo also says Craig MacTavish and Ted Danson look-a-like

Update: 9:19AM: July 29th:

Reader Jim Kleban reminds us of a legendary Rangers look-a-like, Jerry Seinfeld and Doug Lidster.

…Very angry I forgot this one.

There is a real lack of good Doug Lidster pictures so that is the best I could come up with. Look at the Rangers 1994 Stanley Cup Picture and you will wonder why Seinfeld is in it.

Original Post:

At MSG.com, while asking for fans and readers to send in their favorite celebrity look-a-likes, they write and show that Sean Avery resembles actor Sam Worthington who was in Avatar.

…I see it, though Worthington does have a beard in his picture. Same face structure, nearly the same hair.

My favorite all time Rangers related look-a-like is Chris Drury and Kyle Chandler, aka, Coach Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights.

I have literally been waiting years to add this to a post. So glad it finally happened

Picture is after the jump

….Catch them, for some reason, on Knicks Night Live tonight at 8PM on MSG.

In it, he talks about creating a “high-powered offensive unit” by playing with Marian Gaborik.

He also thinks that having his fellow Russian Artem Anisimov center the two would be nice.

…It would be awesome to see Anisimov take the reigns and become the Rangers top line center, but it may be too much to ask of a kid who only has one season under his belt and talked of wanting to earn his stripes before playing top minutes.

If it were up to me, I would split the two of them up and try to create a more balanced attack. Vinny Prospal could play with Gaborik and Erik Christensen could play with Frolov and then you have two lines that, hopefully, can score and contribute.

It’s not going to be, ‘Wade Redden is a veteran guy and has a big contract, he’s going to stay in the lineup.’ We need to move by that. He’s going to dictate that.”

John Tortorella to Ranger Rants

…All along I have said that if Wade Redden earns his spot in the lineup, he will play. I stand by that thought, but it would seem that if it’s close between him and someone else, and that other player saves the team about $6 million in cap space, it could be the end of Wade Redden.

“I thought he developed very nicely in the second half of the year,” Tortorella said. “We tried to stay solid with him on the left side. It’s tough for me to say he’ll be there all the time, but I like him there. We do have a glut over there, but I just think that’s good competition.”

John Tortorella to Ranger Rants

…So what….five games in, Dubinsky is back centering? Let’s make it ten.

He also compares him, in terms of style to Nikolai Zherdev.

…Yes, they are all talented enigmatic players. Is Frolov going to do some awesome things that make you wonder why he wasn’t locked up for 17 years by LA, definitely. Will he be invisible at times, sure, but I would take a risk on any player like this because there is always something that triggers them to play well. Maybe a change of scenery will do that for Frolov.