Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. Miss me? After all, after writing these daily missives for nine consecutive months – this last week off from this site felt like an eternity!
As noted on this site ever since the Rangers’ Eastern Conference Final loss (check the archives for more about all of this), I’m in book mode, where I’m trying to get two books done at the same time. Currently, my editor, the great Diane E., is compiling the 2021-22 season yearbook. That book, which will be a compilation of the blogs written on this site during this season, will also feature new material too.
The project that I’m really looking forward to finishing, my book about every trade ever made in all of franchise history, is starting to near the finish line. I’m now up to the year 2009, so I have thirteen more years to go! (And then there is the whole editing and formatting phase, but those will be problems for Diane and my other editor, Rob S.!)
When I first started the “Best & Worst Trades in Rangers’ History (And Everything In-Between”) (working title), I didn’t realize the paths that I’d go down. Once this book is released, you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Not only will this book be the biggest and best Rangers’ history book to ever hit the market (that’s how confident I am about this project, as no joke – thousands of Rangers are discussed), but there is also so much history included about the other thirty-one teams currently playing in the NHL – in addition to history about the extinct NHL franchises too.
Once the book is complete and ready to go on sale; I’ll release some sample chapters on this site, and then you’ll get a better feel for what I’m talking about right now.
As just as an example of what I mean here, when I talk about the 2001 trade for Eric Lindros, there is no way I could write about that trade without talking about the Lindros situation with the Quebec Nordiques, which took place during the time of his draft, and how both the Rangers and the Flyers were vying for his services in 1991.
In turn, during this particular trade, not only am I talking about the Rangers, but I’m also talking about the state of Quebec City. I’m also talking about Philadelphia and the eventual feud between Lindros (and his parents) with Bobby Clarke, who at the time, was the general manager of the Flyers.
Of course, also talked about in-depth during the book are the different eras of NHL history and what every general manager dealt with.
For example, Lester Patrick, the second Rangers’ general manager on record, could trade away players for straight cash and vice-versa. (This style of trading led to the second-best Rangers’ trade in all of history, or at least in my opinion, when “The Silver Fox” sent straight cash to the Montreal Maroons in exchange for goaltender Davey Kerr.)
(The best Rangers’ trade of all-time in my opinion? A book spoiler alert: Neil Smith’s 1991 trade, when he brought Mark Messier and Jeff Beukeboom to New York.)
Another example regarding the general mangers? This one:
Glen Sather (ugh), served the Rangers during two different NHL eras, where in the first one, he could trade his top free agent players (Mike Richter, Mark Messier and Brian Leetch are the three best examples here) for draft picks, just so his trading partner could receive a compensatory pick in return. By now, you know about his second era, the hard salary-cap era.
(Fun fact in case you didn’t know it already: by trading Mark Messier to San Jose in this fashion, Sather turned the draft pick that he received from the Sharks into Ryan Callahan. The more you know!)
That concludes the “diary” segment/book updates of tonight’s blog.
At this time, let’s run through everything that took place during the past week in chronological order.
As predicted in this space following CZAR IGOR’s Vezina win; the Rangers (and Fanatics too) are selling an insane amount of #31 Vezina themed merchandise. They’re selling pucks, posters, shirts, underwear, defective condoms (you can’t score on Igor after all!), and anything else that you can think of, besides the most obvious item – officially licensed CZAR IGOR headbands!
No joke, over the years, I’ve seen both some of my silly nicknames and ideas turned into profits for others, including the CZAR IGOR nickname and the “WHY NOT US?” mantra. Kudos to these entrepreneurs!
Maybe one of these days, I’ll profit off of my own ideas, especially since I don’t run any ads and/or spyware on this site! Then again, I’d feel somewhat guilty in doing so.
After all, Igor Shestyorkin should be profiting off of “CZAR IGOR” apparel – and not some ridiculous blogger.
Seriously though – the Rangers will slap their logo on anything and then demand your money in return.
I still can’t believe that they aren’t selling headbands, as you would think that would be a slam-dunk idea that anybody could think of.
Plus, what’s the cost of a headband? A dollar or less? The Rangers (and Igor) could sell these things at a huge mark-up and continue their laughter to the bank.
Let me say this about the caption above – I am completely joking and exaggerating. Panarin isn’t going anywhere.
On June 23rd, Arthur Staple, the Islander fan turned Rangers’ reporter over at “The Athletic,” wrote the following:
Here’s something that I’m not joking or exaggerating about – when this paywall article became free to the public on social media, I received a ton of comments, both on Twitter and on email, from you guys and gals about it.
While I don’t want to say that Staple is a liar or anything like that – I find this story impossible to believe, and let me tell you the ways:
— Chris Drury, this generation’s Lou Lamoriello, is extremely tight-lipped. Do you think he’s burying his players to anybody?
— And in the event that you do believe that Drury was disparaging his players (especially his highest-paid player), do you think not only is he telling two different people about his displeasure with Panarin, but that these two people, who would have to be two of Drury’s most closest confidants, would then run off to some Islander bozo?
— Unless Drury is looking for leaks in his ship, by spreading misinformation and seeing where it then turns up – I doubt this ever happened.
How many times do I have to say the following again on this site – NOBODY, except for Larry Brooks, has direct access to the Rangers’ front office. And even then, the Rangers like to use Brooks as a conduit and feed information to him when it benefits them. Outside of Brooks, not one reporter on the beat has any sources and/or a line to Drury, Gallant, Sather and/or Dolan.
If you want interview transcriptions, knowledge about what the reporter ate for dinner, and/or line-up information – then the rest of the beat can be useful. But when it comes to real breaking news – it’s Brooks or bust. The rest of them are all like me and you – people with an opinion – and that’s fine too.
If Brooks wrote what Staple reported about Drury’s view on Panarin, then I could buy it. Even then, I would still find it hard to believe that Drury would say anything negative about his players – including Panarin – and all the way down to Patrik Nemeth.
After all, he’s not his predecessor – Drury understands the principle of asset management.
I know this all sounds like me ranting on the Rangers’ beat for the 97678956785678956795789th time on this site, but yeah – print media is dead, and everyone besides Brooks needs to earn clicks to generate ad revenue and subscriptions. That’s just the business model of sports media today, for better or for worse.
And when it comes to Panarin himself – sure, he wasn’t as effective during the playoffs as he could’ve been. No one is denying that.
However, rather than asking Panarin, Gallant and/or Drury if “The Breadman” was injured (including Staple who was sitting on this story) – instead, the media had a gay old time laughing about the Russian singing karaoke.
Lastly, Panarin just came off a 96 point regular season. The Rangers came two wins shy of the Stanley Cup Final. The notion that Drury is even thinking about trading Panarin is ridiculous, which is why I’m saying that this Staple story was 100% click-bait and a way to generate revenue/subscriptions for his website.
Speaking of click-bait, Mollie Walker, of the New York Post (and someone who did make her opinions known on Roe v. Wade too, which I was surprised to read, only because when you opine one way or the other on a controversial subject, you’re bound to alienate half of your fan base, or in her case – her readership – and that’s exactly what happened), has recently written two articles speculating on the fates of both Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Reaves.
While her writings were op-ed pieces (and solid at that), and not true click-bait as I perceived Staple’s column to be – expect to see a lot of this stuff, and as predicted already on this site – until Drury makes a decision one way or the other on these players (and the other free agents, both of the restricted and unrestricted variety) too.
For what it’s worth, I see both Kakko and Reaves back with the Rangers for the 2022-23 season.
I just don’t see the value in some team overpaying Kakko in the form of an offer-sheet.
And since Reaves is a Gallant guy, and does provide a ton of locker room value, I do see “The Grim Reaver” fulfilling the last year of his contract with the Rangers. Maybe his role will be diminished a bit, but you can never have enough role-player veterans – especially because you never know when the injury bug will hit.
And while on Kakko here, I present the following to you:
And yes, the only reason why Rico Fata, a first-round bust, is on my mind, is because I just finished writing about his time with the Rangers during my trades book!
Next topic!
Since I have no problem telling you whenever my predictions come true – I must also tell you whenever my predictions bomb. It’s only fair.
Just one second following Tampa Bay’s 2021 Stanley Cup victory over the Montreal Canadiens; the sports books out in Las Vegas pegged the Colorado Avalanche as the favorites to win the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Furthermore, throughout the off-season, preseason, regular season and the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs too – the Avalanche remained as the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup. No one came close to challenging their favorable odds of winning the silver chalice.
Throughout this same time, and almost for a calendar year, I’ve been picking against the Avalanche, both on this site and during my spots on Stan Fischler’s Java Jive and “The Hockey News” columns.
I was wrong!
Give credit to the Avalanche, they finally won it all after many crushing losses – somewhat like both the Capitals and Lightning before them. I’m now a believer!
I always thought goaltending would do Colorado in. While Darcy Kuemper wasn’t exactly a train wreck or anything like that – he wasn’t the reason why Colorado won the Cup either.
And similar to my thoughts on the Rangers, thoughts that not many are echoing about Colorado – the Avalanche, like any Stanley Cup champion, had a ton of breaks along the way.
Those breaks? The fact that they saw a back-up goaltender in Nashville during the first round, another back-up during the second round against St. Louis, and then played against the worst starting playoff goaltender of the league, Mike Smith, during the Western Conference Final.
And oh yeah – the Rangers softened the Lightning up during the Eastern Conference Final too! (Yes, I’m joking, but let me have my moment here!)
Without question, the 2021-22 Avalanche were dominant and played both a brand and style of hockey (and at an elite level to boot) that no team in the league could match. Very rarely do you see a team combine speed, power, skill, offense, defense and special teams in the way that they did, as they looked like one of the old Montreal dynasty teams from many years ago.
Simply put – they were a machine.
Similar to the now former champions, it’s going to be a shame to see Colorado receive punishment for winning the Stanley Cup, via the salary cap. I’ll save you from my 987678678679689696th rant about the salary cap, but I just hate, hate, and did I mention hate, how teams are punished for drafting well. A Larry Bird rule/salary cap clause is long overdue – pandemic losses be damned.
And for all the Ranger fans who cursed out both Jack Johnson and his mother (well I guess she deserves such venom), how do you like Double J now?
That said, I think for most Ranger fans, watching Micheal Del Zotto win the Stanley Cup in 2019 (St. Louis Blues) was more aggravating than watching Johnson win his.
Congratulations to the Avalanche and to their fans (especially to my buddies Scott L. and Avery S.) – a wire-to-wire “Vegas” Stanley Cup champion. Now it’s the Rangers turn!
Speaking of betting odds, here is how Vegas currently views the 2023 Stanley Cup Final:
While I don’t want to get too bogged down in the waters of gambling; I present these 2023 Stanley Cup odds for one reason and one reason only – the Rangers, at 10-1, currently have the third-best odds (according to the Vegas sports books) of winning the Cup next year.
This tells me that many experts (the house never loses) are high on the Rangers right now, which says a lot – especially since we don’t know these team’s rosters for next season.
In a way, these odds are a vote in confidence for each team’s respective general manager and the players that are currently under contract – nothing more, nothing less.
And yep, I’m going to put a Benjamin Franklin on a Rangers’ 2023 Stanley Cup win – after all, I just won $700 on this year’s final!
Speaking of the 2022-23 season (what a transition), the Rangers announced their preseason schedule on Monday.
There are two interesting things of note to come out of the Rangers’ preseason schedule, where admittedly – neither thing means much.
First off, the Rangers will play their annual road preseason game against the Islanders at the IBS Arena at Belmont, rather than in Bridgeport, CT (home of the Islanders’ AHL affiliate) as they usually do.
Secondly, the Bruins, and not the Flyers, are the Rangers’ third opponent this year. (Usually, the Rangers play the Islanders, Devils and Flyers, although there have been exceptions over the years.)
In other words, the Rangers will have to wait until the regular season to see “old friend” John Tortorella.
Ready for another “speaking of” transition? Here you go:
Speaking of John Tortorella, Henrik Lundqvist, who had the best individual seasons of his career under Coach Torts, received some great news on Monday.
On Monday, June 27th, at 3PM, the Hockey Hall of Fame revealed their Class of 2022 inductees.
These people are Daniel Alfredsson, Herb Carnegie, Roberto Luongo, Riikka Sallinen, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin.
Obviously, if you’re fan of the Vancouver Canucks, Monday was a very good day for you.
And for more information about all of these Hall of Famers, check out: https://www.hhof.com/induction/induction2022/abouttheclass.html
In what feels like an annual tradition on this site – my beef with the Hall of Fame continues to strongly burn.
What doesn’t live on is the debate concerning Henrik Lundqvist’s status as a borderline Hall of Famer. After the announcement of Luongo’s induction – that’s it – Lundqvist is 100% in. The debate is over.
I’ve written plenty of words in the past (check the archives) on Lundqvist and his chances at the Hall of Fame. Many of those words coincide with my issues with the Hall of Fame selection process in general – it’s all mysterious, random, arbitrary, and conducted in a cloak-and-dagger fashion.
And while I’m not knocking anyone in the Hockey Hall of Fame, needless to say, the baseball Hall of Fame is more prestigious – at least you know both the voting parameters and the candidates – as baseball keeps everything transparent as opposed to the lock-and-key selection process of their counterpart.
Prior to the announcement of Luongo, Lundqvist, like any player that you could argue for, could’ve been argued from both sides of the coin.
On one hand, you have former Ranger goalies like Chuck Rayner (losing record, no Stanley Cup, one Hart Trophy, and would’ve won a Vezina under today’s parameters) and Eddie Giacomin (no Stanley Cup, one shared Vezina) in. On the other hand, you have goalies with plenty of hardware, such as Tom Barrasso, Tim Thomas, Dave Kerr, Lorne Chabot and others omitted.
Curtis Joseph, another one on the see-saw, is also omitted from the HHOF. Ditto Mike Richter, who is more borderline, due to his career being cut short by injuries/concussions. Still, when you look at some of the goalies who are in, Richter has a case just like any. (And if you look at the skaters, there are plenty of them who played less games than Richter who are in.)
I know I’ve said this all before, but now that Luongo is official, not only is Lundqvist a lock (Marc-Andre Fleury was always a lock to me), but now you have to wonder if the Hall of Fame floodgates for goaltenders (only 35 NHL goaltenders in over one hundred years worth of history, and prior to today’s announcement, are in the HHOF), will start to open up.
If Luongo is a Hall of Famer, not only should the names above be in, but so should goaltenders such as Corey Crawford, Braden Holtby, Jonathan Quick, Ryan Miller, Carey Price and Pekka Rinne.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, who played in the NHL during the non-peak years of the these goaltenders, and is now the goaltender of today, should also be a lock one day.
CZAR IGOR? He’s just starting to put his resume together.
As is the case every year at this time; there are two people that the HOF ignores that just continues to baffle me – Stan Fischler and Alexander Mogiliny. Quite frankly, it’s a disgrace that both men continued to be ignored.
To a lesser extent, I still don’t know how players such as Theo Fleury, Jeremy Roenick and Rod Brind’Amour are ignored too.
Is every member of the Class of ’22 deserving? Sure – just like everyone else that’s currently in the HOF today.
I just don’t get these omissions, nor the whole selection process. It’s a shame we don’t get explanations on the omissions, nor do we see any sort of voting results either.
Anyway, congratulations to the Class of ’22 – a class that should be bigger than just six people.
The NHL, which will return to a regularly scheduled post-pandemic season during the 2022-23 campaign and starting with a date of October 11th; the top hockey league of the world has a few off-season dates to keep an eye on:
Today (now with the Stanley Cup Final complete) through July 12th – the buyout period. When it comes to the Rangers, Patrik Nemeth could be a candidate, but the better move regarding #12 would be finding a trading partner. If there’s a chance for the Rangers to re-sign Tyler Motte, shedding Nemeth’s salary would be a big help.
July 7th and July 8th – the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. As noted many times before, the Rangers don’t have a first round selection, due to the Andrew Copp trade. However, as we’ve seen many times in the past, the team could trade up (or down) during the draft. One player that could be traded during this time is Alexandar Georgiev.
July 7th, 8th or 9th (date TBD) – 2022-23 regular season schedule is announced. Hello road-trips!
July 11th – deadline to extend qualifying offers on all pending restricted free agents (5PM). This should be “see ya time” for several Rangers, including Julien Gauthier.
July 13th – NHL Free Agency period opens. It’s impossible to figure out what Drury will do here. I will say, I wouldn’t mind Nazem Kadri, but that would most likely mean goodbyes to both Ryan Strome and Copp. More likely, perhaps Braden Holtby, as a back-up goaltender for CZAR IGOR.
July 18th – deadline for restricted free agents to file for salary arbitration (5PM). I think Drury will make all of his decisions by this date anyway.
August 3rd through August 18th – salary arbitration hearings.
In a minor note, it was announced on Monday morning that the soon-to-be 29 year old Anthony Greco is moving on from his North American career, and going to the NHL’s graveyard – Europe. (And yes, I’m trying to be funny here.)
The Frolunda Indians, of the SHL (Lundqvist’s former team, and where his brother Joel still serves as team captain), have agreed to terms with Greco, where the “one game and done” Ranger signed a one-year deal.
Good luck moving forward to Mr. Greco, who has mainly been an AHLer since turning pro in 2016.
At this time, just a few quick hits before closing out.
— The long awaited (at least for me) documentary regarding the turn of the century feud between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche was released by ESPN on Sunday. With a two-hour run time, I found this documentary incredible – just as I found Adrian Dater’s source material, the book entitled “Blood Feud.”
— I know I’ve talked about this rivalry many times on this site (if you lived through it, you know what I’m talking about here – and as a Ranger fan, it was fun watching winning and exciting teams during this era, “The Dark Age Era” for the Blueshirts) – but every hockey fan, no matter your allegiance, owes it to themselves to check this out.
— I’m still wondering how Patrick Maroon got away with a blatant slash attack and how Ryan McDonagh got away with a vicious boarding call during Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final? “Blood Feud” indeed. Player Safety? That’s optional.
— The rumors are heating up in Boston. According to some of the Beantown scribes, David Quinn is the odds-on favorite to replace Bruce Cassidy as the next bench boss of the B’s. I hope he gets it, as I’d like to see DQ get a chance to coach a playoff contender.
— And if you’re new here – I was never down on DQ like most Ranger fans were. Lost in a ton of the DQ criticism (some fair, such as he was too hands-on, and some of it unwarranted), is the fact that Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox had the best seasons of their careers under him.
— Speaking of Fox (my last transition, I promise!), he now has some work to do to catch Cale Makar. At least for #23 in New York, he has won his Norris already, and won’t have a Brad Park vs Bobby Orr situation.
— A few words on Barry Trotz. On June 24th, the former Islanders’ head coach told NHL.com that he would not be coaching during the 2022-23 season. You can read the interview here: https://www.nhl.com/news/barry-trotz-will-not-coach-next-season/c-334726152
— Take this for what it’s worth, but living on Long Island, I do know some people connected with the Islanders. When the Trotz firing news first broke, and when there were a swirl of rumors concerning Trotz’s relationship with both Lou and the young players, I was told by one person to ignore all of that junk.
— The NHL.com interview confirmed what I heard – Trotz has a family situation going on, where I was told (and I can’t 100% confirm this, so take it for what it’s worth), that he has a son with some sort of condition, a condition where he needs a specialty school to assist with his development. From what this person told me, the best schools for this condition are in Nashville, and not on Long Island.
— Recently, it was announced that Trotz bought a home in Nashville, which goes hand-in-hand with what I’ve been hearing from day one. I was also told that Lou’s firing of Trotz was an arranged agreement, which allowed Trotz to earn a salary while dealing with all of this. Furthermore, if Lou really thought that Trotz and his voice was a problem, why would he hire his assistant, Lane Lambert – a loyal Lane who has followed Barry with three different organizations?
— Assuming all of this is true (again, I’m not a reporter, but I do know some people), this would explain everything.
— What is 100% true, is that Trotz, who did mull over the Winnipeg Jets’ had coaching position, wound up hurting the Manitoba team. While Winnipeg was waiting for Trotz to make his decision, other prominent head coaches signed elsewhere, including Cassidy (Vegas) and Tortorella (Philadelphia).
— Could this open a door for an NHL return of Joel Quenneville? I wouldn’t rule against it.
PLUGS TIME.
My first plug of tonight’s blog – the mandatory plug for my book, “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden”.
As mentioned previously, the book is now available in hardcover, in paperback and in Kindle formats. To purchase a copy of the book, visit this link:
https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Rafters-Madison-Square-Garden-ebook/dp/B09CM5N2WD
For those still looking for signed paperback versions of the book, I have re-ordered more copies. I now have a few signed copies for sale at $25 a pop (includes shipping price) through me directly. Here is all the information on that:
Order “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” Book Today
Here are my last few blogs, in case you missed them:
CZAR IGOR “VEZ-YORKIN” Officially Named 2022 Vezina Winner; Canadian Bias Wins Hart Trophy, Adam Fox & Chris Drury Get Respect Too, A Season to Remember for #31, Rangers’ History, Book Updates & More
Chris Drury Re-signs Sammy Blais; “Blais Day” Looking for Redemption; Drury Comments on Season; Tweaks Coaching and Scouting Staffs (One Area Still Needs to be Addressed), Female Coaches/Campbell, Torts/Flyers & More
The 2021-22 New York Rangers Exit Interviews/Media Day: Every Interview Covered; Quotes & Video Too, NYR’s Lazy Coverage, Lafreniere Poised For Best Season Yet (40/100?), Kakko Using Gallant Snub as Motivation (And What Both Said), Strome Candidly Talks Future, Perplexing Panarin, Drury Signs Another, The Beat & More
The Way-Too-Early New York Rangers In-Depth Off-Season Preview: Chris Drury Mends Fences with Vitali Kravtsov; What Happens Next, A Look at Every NYR Free Agent; Who Goes & Who Stays, Kakko/Gallant, Incoming Blood/Outgoing Veterans, Salary Cap, Draft Picks, Free Agent Targets (Holtby?) & More
If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog for the next update:
As will be the case during this off-season, I’ll return once something big breaks. If not, I’ll do a blog like this one, addressing the minor moves of the week.
Until then, I’m doing my Rangers’ Hunter S. Thompson act!
Enjoy the summer.
LET’S GO RANGERS!
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on Tweeter
Teams need players like a 96 pt. Panarin just to make it to the playoffs – just ask the Islanders.
I often picked box 99 for Gretz in Super Bowl pools – never won tho.
Funny coincidence – last week my grandson went to a mini camp for the first time. Over the weekend at a family gathering I asked, “How is Jimmy doing at Camp Granada?” No one knew what I was talking about.
I told Tommy the same Fata/Kakko joke. He had no clue what I meant either lol.