Rangers News and Notes
Some reading material to get you through the afternoon:
The SI.com staff all made their predictions for the 2010-11 season. Notice anything missing from all their picks? Oh, if you root around further through their picks and speculations, a couple of their writers have GM Glen Sather on the hot seat, which makes me laugh for all the wrong reasons.
Bob McKenzie at TSN talks about how lower-profile rookies could make some noise this season. Even though he says they are in no particular order, I am going to throw that out the window and say "LOOK! Derek Stepan is first on his list!!!!!!!" (Props to George for pulling the link of the Tweets)
Andrew Gross at Ranger Rants did his positional breakdown for the Rangers.Click the link for the full breakdown, here is what Andrew had to say on Special Teams:
Special teams
Del Zotto said one of his priorities this season is to be a consistent power-play quarterback after the Rangers finished 13th in the NHL last season with the man advantage. Adding Frolov and possibly Fedotenko to the mix should help. The penalty kill ranked seventh and key contributors Chris Drury – who may miss up to the first two weeks with a broken finger – Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle, Dan Girardi and Staal all return.
Brian Monzo at CBS 2 New York has his Rangers Season Preview today as well:
Veteran Michal Rozsival, who has been with the team since the lockout, will continue to get the nod as Mr. Do-it-All defenseman. Matt Gilroy will be hoping for a better sophomore season then rookie year, as he become a healthy scratch as the season wound down. Gilroy will need to improve his physical play and utilize his offensive skills more. Veteran Steve Eminger was acquired in exchange for Aaron Voros and will add depth to the blueline.
According to Jesse Spector at the Daily News, Vinny Prospal has been told not to skate until at least next week.
More after the jump........
Carp over at Rangers Report has his predictions for the EastCon, with the Rangers finishing 6th.
Two final notes:
Head Coach John Tortorella has said he will find another player to wear the "A" in Vinny's absence, but has not decided who it will be. Big shoes and a dark tan to fill for sure.
Torts also said Henrik Lundqvist will start the first five games of the season. Rangers only play five times the first thirteen days of their season, so Hank should be able to handle it with no problem. My guess on Martin Biron's debut would be Saturday October 23rd in Boston, then Lundqvist plays the following night at home against Fatso and the Devils.
