Tue Sep 23 16:05:38 2008

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2008-09 New York Rangers Preview

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(Sports Network) - Last season could be considered somewhat of a disappointment for the New York Rangers.

The team made two big grabs in the free-agent market in the summer of 2007, as they signed centers Scott Gomez from New Jersey and Chris Drury from Buffalo while retaining their core group of players from the previous season.

New York struggled early in the season and finished October with a record of 4-6-1 as the club worked through fitting their new acquisitions into the mix. However, the team rebounded in November and at the end of the season saw itself in third place in the Atlantic and fifth overall in the conference.

In the playoffs, the team easily dispatched New Jersey in five games to avenge a four-game sweep by the Devils in 2006. In the second round, though, the Rangers were easily handled by eventual conference champion Pittsburgh in five games.

So General manager Glenn Sather gave the team a makeover in the offseason and brought in several new faces while waving goodbye to several veterans on the team.

Since winning the Stanley Cup for the first in 54 years in 1994, the Big Apple boys have not enjoyed much success as they made the conference finals just once and had a seven-year stretch where they were out of postseason play.

The club will, though, still compete with the big boys in the East and look for the Blueshirts to again be competitive and once again be considered contenders for the Cup.

FORWARDS - Some of the pieces from the forwards are still there, but several big names will no longer skate at the Garden as they departed for greener pastures.

Gone are superstar and future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr, who left for the big money in Russia, Sean Avery, who went to wave his stick in front of goaltenders faces in the uniform of Dallas, and Martin Straka, who returned home to play in the Czech Extraliga league.

Still to be determined is whether Brendan Shanahan will sign with the team, although several reports have said that he wants to sign with the club. Albeit, it would be at a significantly reduced salary and a smaller role on the team as his production dropped considerably last season

Another question mark still surrounding this team is whether they will win out on the Mats Sundin sweepstakes. Although, this team is already deep at center and due to limited cap space would most likely have to release one or several players to make room, it is most likely he will not find himself in New York.

So what did the team do in the offseason to make up for the departures amongst their forwards?

Their big signing was bringing in longtime Canuck Markus Naslund. The five- time All-Star has seen his numbers decline since posting a career-high 104 points in the 2002-03 season, but he is still an excellent leader and New York is hoping he can revive his career in the Big Apple.

The club took a gamble in acquiring talented forward Nikolai Zherdev along with Dan Fritsche from the Columbus Blue Jackets for defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman. Zherdev has tons of offensive skills and led the club in assists (35) last season while finishing second in goals (26), but he's had issues with team management in the past. Still, the potential upside is well worth the risk.

The team is hoping that Drury and Gomez become a little more productive this season. Neither player seemed to mesh well with the players on the club last year so maybe the new blood will help them produce more goals on a squad that finished 25th last season in tallies.

One thing the Rangers are lacking up front is size, which might not help on the defensive side of the puck.

DEFENSE - The team nabbed one of the big free agent defensemen when it signed Wade Redden away from Ottawa.

While his numbers dropped a bit over the past two seasons after posting a career-high 50 points and a plus-35 in 2005-06, the change of scenery should do him good. Pairing Redden with Michal Rozsival will give the Rangers an excellent top duo on defense.

The other two pairings will see Dan Girardi and promising youngster Marc Staal skating together and Dmitri Kalinin and Paul Mara teaming up.

What the New York blueliners do well is move the puck and help out on the power play. However, they are not the biggest defensive squad in the league and the lack of a crease-clearer could prove dangerous for the Blueshirts.

GOALTENDING - The goaltending situation is the big strength of this squad and will remain the same for New York as it was last season with Henrik Lundqvist maintaining starting duties while Stephen Valiquette fills in as backup.

Lundqvist is back for his fourth NHL season after posting career-highs in nearly every significant goaltending category as he finished last year 37-24-10 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a NHL-best 10 shutouts in 72 appearances.

Most importantly, he was consistent throughout the season as his longest winless stretch was a four-game spell in early January where he went 0-3-1 while giving up 16 goals during that span.

The 28-year-old Swede has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy in each of his three seasons and has finished third each time. Sooner, rather than later, "King Henrik" will grab that trophy for the first of what will probably be many times.

Valiquette has one of the easier jobs in hockey. He made just 13 appearances last season and was a respectable 5-3-3 with a 2.19 GAA and two shutouts, which were both against division-rival Philadelphia. Expect a similar amount of playing time for the 6-foot-6 netminder, unless something should befall the No. 1 guy.

WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE - The Rangers play in arguably the toughest division in the NHL. Many are expecting Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and the Rangers to battle for first place in the Atlantic throughout the season with the lowly Islanders sitting at the bottom.

While the team lost some veteran leadership with Jagr and Avery no longer on the squad, the team did add Naslund and improved its defense with Redden.

Expect the Rangers to be right there throughout much of the season and if the club can stay healthy and should its competition in the Atlantic falter, they could capture the division for the first time since the 1993-94 season and make a deep playoff run.