The Record began rolling out its NHL/Rangers/Devils preview stories in this morning's editions.
First, here's a league overview by Tom Gulitti and myself. Next is five keys to the Rangers' season. Also, here's this morning's story on Dan Girardi's mature reaction to John Tortorella's Sunday criticism.
In tomorrow's paper, Tom and I will break down the Rangers and Devils position-by-position. Friday, we'll have our teams' season previews.
Also, just a reminder. You can find all of this on The Record's dedicated hockey page at http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/hockey/. Or, if you want to filter out the Devils, just bookmark our dedicated Rangers' page at http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/hockey/rangers/. There, you can find a link to this blog as well as all our daily Rangers' coverage.
Speaking of which, am headed over to this morning's 11 a.m. practice. Crucial will be whether Sean Avery skates (doubtful). If he doesn't, I can't imagine him playing either Friday at Pittsburgh or Saturday at the Garden against the Senators. And if he doesn't play in those two games, I think he'll also miss Monday's game at The Rock against the Devils, given there's only one practice day in between and, quite possibly, Tortorella will make that Sunday an off day.
We'll explore this further down the line but the logical assumption is once Avery returns, center Brian Boyle can be sent to Hartford (AHL), no waivers, and Vinny Prospal can move from left wing to center.
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Just one more key to the season that I think goes overlooked after last season. I think maintaining a top tier PK unit in the league is vital after losing Betts and Sjostrom, and with the PP some of these teams in the East have.
Posted by: CP (Chris) | September 30, 2009 at 10:16 AM
can't get the links to work... the server times out loading some of the ads and digg stuff... i'll keep trying.
Posted by: amos | September 30, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Chris, I think the PP SHOULD improve considerably while the penalty kill has nowhere to go but down. I don't think it will be a wash, we just may not get the type of improvement overall in goal differential that we're hoping for ... this idea that the most important player on the PK is the goalie has been blown somewhat out of proportion. Sure, the goalie is the anchor ... but when you have 4 guys that can keep the pill to the perimeter or out of the defensive zone for long stretches of time, it makes the goalie's job that much easier.
Posted by: Charles | September 30, 2009 at 10:56 AM
Completely agree, Charles. The goalie is there regardless, so I have never considered Lundqvist our best PKer. It will be even more interesting with Torts wanting the forwards to pressure and pinch the opposing PP D for SH opportunities. Under Renney, SH goals weren't the focus, and it was 100% about killing the penalty. It should be interesting..
Posted by: CP (Chris) | September 30, 2009 at 11:47 AM
agree charles and cp. - the pk is vitally important and the other guys out there besides henrik are pretty darn immportant.
i'm also concerned that in the attempt to get a few pk goals we'll lose out on the differential (say 10 pk goals and 60 against - numbers made up obviously) is not as good as 2 pk goals and 45 goals against. plus i think torts might overplay his best players even on the pk which will really tell as season goes on especially in back to back games and 3 in 4 days.
Posted by: LI Joe | September 30, 2009 at 03:17 PM
Well guys, I think the pressure on the points is more to break up (rush) the opposing PP rather than to score SH's --- at least that should be the goal. I don't think you can really design a PK for SH goals, unless you want one of the penalty killers to hang out on the opposing blue line. Ha.
Perhaps this is akin to Ryan's defensive scheme for the Jets. Out the window with the bend not break defensive scheme and in with a structure that attacks on D ... it should increase the odds of SH opportunities as an ancillary benefit, but its purpose is to defend with pressure.
Posted by: Charles | September 30, 2009 at 03:50 PM
ancillary most impressive
do agree to have more pressure on the pk sometimes our guys were so passive and especially vs wash and pitt out there way too long and by the end of the pk were dead exhausted.
still concerned if he puts gaborik and some others on the pk too much our guys will be very tired by ends of games especially when back to back exist. the pk takes a lot more out of you than the pp except for the guy (like a graves type) who gets beaten up in front of the crease.
Posted by: LI Joe | September 30, 2009 at 04:06 PM
Charles, I have a feeling he is going to have at least one speedy guy on one point of the box in order for the other forward/d-man to spring the speedster in a one-on-one, two-on-one, or breakaway; plus, these guys will have a lot more responsibility on the PK with a larger box to defend. So, in that sense, I think he can create more opportunities SHed
Posted by: CP (Chris) | September 30, 2009 at 04:13 PM
I, on the other hand, do not agrre with the strategy to attempt to create opportunites on the PK. I really liked Renney's system with the respect to the PK using more of a diamond.
Posted by: CP (Chris) | September 30, 2009 at 04:15 PM
Chris, although I'm not crazy about some aspects of Torts' personality, I've always been a believer in a system that rewards pressure/aggression. I prefer proactive to reactive or passive, which probably explains why I don't mentally click with a Drury style of game or the diamond.
In any event we'll all see what Torts PK system is really up to soon enough. I still think the goal is to disrupt the PP, not score shorties. At times it will work beautifully ... but when it doesn't, it will be ugly. Hopefully the conditioning and the goaltending on the PK will limit those ugly times.
Posted by: Charles | September 30, 2009 at 04:58 PM