Still Not Interested

Larry Brooks at the New York Post reports on how the Rangers are still not interested in Brendan Shanahan...

"Though Sather placed a call to Shanahan on July 3 to tell him that the door for his return remained open, and though the GM repeated the same message to agent Rick Curran two weeks ago, his vague words have not translated into a contract offer."

Brooks also says that the Ducks, Devils, Blues and Flyers have all expressed interest in Shanahan.

...Shanahan will definitely be playing in the NHL this year, but not for the Rangers. I would love to see him in either a Ducks or Blues sweater next year.

...having a revenge-minded Shanahan going to either the Devils or Flyers could be a problem for the Rangers.

Redden: Hasn't Sunk In Yet

Ken Warren at the National News has this on Wade Redden heading to New York...

"I don't think it will really sink in until I get down [to New York]," he said. "I will get in there, get settled. Just the move itself, that's a big undertaking. So, I guess it will sink in next week. Obviously, I've had a lot of time to prepare myself. It's still going to be a little bit of a shock."

...i think of all the new players we brought in Redden has the biggest chance to become a bust.

...I hope I'm 100% wrong, but I'm not sure he has the moxie for New York. We'll see.

Naslund Expects Return to Form

The Manic Ranger Fan has a loose translation from a Swedish newspaper reporting on Markus Naslund's declaration that he will return to all-star form...

"Naslund said, he feels like he's in better shape than he was the past few seasons and understands its important for him to get off to a quick start in New York. Lastly, Naslund said that this will most likely be his final contract and has thoughts of retirement when his tenure is up with the Rangers in 2 years."

...sounds like he's fired up and ready to go. If Naslund can give us, scoring wise, the same or a little more than Jagr last year we'll be in great shape.

Callahan Needs to Step It Up

Jason Klau at The Bleacher Report says...

"With other forwards in the AHL (like Lauri Korpikoski, Greg Moore, Artem Anisimov, and Dane Byers) looking to take a spot on the roster, Callahan must show that he is ready to add a more offensive dimension to his game, or else one of the Rangers' talented foward prospects might take his place."

...Callahan is one of those guys you need on your team to win. The Rangers sorely lacked this type of player during their eight playoff drought. So I'm going to have to disagree with Klau on this one. Not everyone on the team has to be a 25-30 goal scorer to contribute.

Questions

Dave & Aziz Nekoukar at The Blue Line has these questions going into the season...

- Who will be the seventh defenseman?

- Where exactly are the goals coming from on this team?

- Is Markus Naslund really capable of giving the team at least what Jagr gave last year?

- As we've asked so many times before, what the heck is Petr Prucha's role in this place?

- What the heck are guys like Rissmiller, Zherdev, Fritsche and Voros really going to give this season?

...listen the Rangers took a chance this off-season by letting go players such as Jagr, Straka, Avery and Shanahan. They could have resigned all of them and they'd be a decent team. But who wants a decent team? This team has a chance, if all the above questions (plus a few others) can be answered, to have a really special season.

...beyond this year, these moves will also lead to future successes for the franchise.

Rangers Sign Brodeur!?!?!?!? Mike Brodeur That Is

Hopefully the hockey crazies across the net (Eklund I'm talking about you) won't take the title of this post and turn it into a sick rumor. See Gomez to Vancouver stories.

Mitch Beck at Howlings reports...

"The Wolf Pack added some competition in net for Miika Wiikman by signing former Rockford IceHogs netminder MIKE Brodeur, who while also a goaltender, is no relation to Marty."

...not really news, but I just wanted to make sure you guys were paying attention.

More Sundin & Gomez Rumors

Eklund at HockeyBuzz has this exchange regarding Mats Sundin with his "source" from Sweden...

Ek> What's your opinion

S> He's a Ranger or a Canadien. about 50/50. And Gomez will be moved. It is already being worked on.

Ek> To Vancouver?

S> Likely.

Earlier in the day Eklund said that Sundin may annouce he's not coming back at all. See here.

...i don't know why I even post this stuff.

Blogs: Dunlop, Rozsival, New Version & B.S. Gomez Rumors

ScottyHockey gives us Reggie Dunlop's 5 ways of changing the NHL.

Rocha at Rangersland.net has a hilarious look at what Michel Rozsival should say to Ranger fans.

Inferno at Rangers Review looks at last year's team versus this year's version.

Gootzman at The Corner of Section 420 and Glendale tells Ranger fans to chill on all the Gomez trade rumors.

The Manic Ranger Fan gives his view on why the Gomez rumors were B.S.

For Rangers to Get Sundin; Gomez or Drury Must Go

Bruce Garrioch at The Ottawa Sun reports...

"If it's the bright lights and big city Sundin wants, then the Rangers are his team. For that to happen, New York would likely have to move Scott Gomez or Chris Drury -- possibly to Vancouver -- to afford Sundin."

Larry Brooks at the New York Post says that contrary to Internet rumors the Rangers have never and will never consider trading Scott Gomez to clear cap space for Sundin.

Greg Wyshynski at PuckDaddy also tells us how the Gomez trade rumor went from imminent to idiotic.

...how do these rumors get started? By not re-signing Jagr the Rangers decided to build their future around Gomez and Drury. Now I'm supposed to believe they want to trade one of them. C'mon.

Drury Recalls Little League Glory

Evan Weiner at NHL.com has this article on Chris Drury recalling winning the Little League World Series...

"Drury pitched a six-inning complete game in the championship, giving up just two runs and allowing five hits, walking four and striking out two. He also came up big with the bat, driving in two runs. Drury seemed focused on just winning, a trait that people started to notice during the Williamsport tournament."

...the guy is a winner plain and simple. We are lucky to have him on our team.

Prague Anyone?

From newyorkrangers.com...

Rangers /Prague Fan Trips On-Sale Now!

Thursday, October 2nd – Monday, October 6th

New York Rangers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

O2 Arena, Prague

Space is limited.

Sold on a First – Come, First – Served basis.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaack

Starting next week I'll be back to posting everyday. Let's start getting fired up!!!!!

MSG to Broadcast Games from Bern, Prague

Steve Zipay at Blue Notes reports...

"Newsday has learned that MSG Network will televise all six pre-season games in the U.S.---for the first time that I can recall---as well as the exhibition game against S.C. Bern in Switzerland on Sept. 30 and the inaugural Victoria Cup against the European champ, Russia's Metallurg Magnitogorsk, on Oct.1 from Bern, as well as the two games in Prague against Tampa Bay, the regular-season opener on Oct. 4 and the next day, Oct. 5. A Rangers executive said last night that he believed it will be the first time all preseason games are televised."

...this is great news, as I'm really looking forward to seeing the infamous SC Bern fans in action.

Quick Pop-In

Updating some items I'm sure everyone is already aware of...

Graves Night is February 3rd against Atlanta (what's up with retirement ceremonies against Atlanta) and in a move sure to bring joy to the old school Garden faithful the Rangers will be retiring Andy Bathgate’s No. 9 and Harry Howell’s No. 3 in a ceremony before the Feb. 22 game against Toronto.

...while I have no problems with the retirement of Bathgate and Howell's numbers (hell Bathgate probably deserves it more than Graves), I hope this doesn't open up a can of worms where the Rangers start retiring everyone's numbers or god forbid start an Islanderesque Hall of Fame. Maybe we could bring Mike Keenan back to coach one game like Al Arbour did.

According to Steve Zipay at Blue Notes the Rangers have invited Mark Messier's son Lyon to tryout at rookie camp and will be a member of the Rangers rookie team headed to the Traverse City Tournament.

...man we're being very generous with tryout offers. First Nedved, now Messier's kid. Is Shanahan next?

Richter, Leetch to be Inducted Into U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

From newyorkrangers.com...

"Defenseman Brian Leetch and goaltender Mike Richter, who played together on three U.S. Olympic teams and were together in the Rangers organization for 15 years from 1988 to 2003, will enter the U.S. Hall this year. They become the 11th and 12th former Rangers to earn American hockey's highest honor."

Stan Fischler at MSG.com has more here.

...hat tip to bpette for the link.

...congrats boys. Very much deserved.

Avery Disses Rangers' Moves

Craig Custance at the Sporting News had these quotes from Sean Avery...

During the presser, he said that by signing with Dallas he was clearly signing with a better team than the one he left. Later, I asked him point-blank why the Rangers didn't want him back. That's when he started to warm up:

"I don't know," he started. "That's an interesting question. I guess it probably came down to money, probably. That's a tough call. It's an interesting situation because then they turnaround and spend it on guys they shouldn't have spent it on. It's going to be an interesting situation, certainly I'll sit back and watch. New York is a tough place to play. Markus Naslund is going to have a tough time, so is Wade Redden. New York fans aren't going to put up with those guys. I don't think that they're going to live up to the expectations."

He concluded with: "I've gone to a better team."

...thought I'd take a break from my month-long slumber to pass this along. Sounds like sour grapes Sean.

Column: Preseason & Overseas Trip May Doom Rangers

Check out my latest column over at The Bleacher Report reporting on how the Rangers preseason schedule and overseas trip may doom their season...

"With numerous players fighting for roster spots, I’m concerned that this compact schedule will compromise Tom Renney’s ability to make an educated decision on personnel. Especially with half the team jet setting to Ottawa and Tampa and limited practice."

Burned Out

As the calender turns to August and Ranger news slowing down to a crawl, I've decided to take the month of August off. I might update if the Rangers sign Sundin or Shanahan, but for the most part the lights will be off at The New York Rangers Blog. I also want to take a second to thank my readers for making July the most visited month in the nine month history of this blog with over 6,500 hits. What's even more humbling is that it happened during a month where not a single puck was dropped. I'm going to keep posting articles over at The Bleacher Report about once a week which you can check out here. Thanks again for your support and see ya in September!!!