Blueshirt Bonanza

The New York Rangers are coming off of a season in which they made it to the playoffs as an 8 seed and then that was it. No cinderella run, no exciting game 7 and no cup. The Rangers lost to the Washington Capitals 4 games to 1, which put an end to their hockey season and started their golfing endeavours. This season could, and should, be a different story.

Although the Rangers have made some off-season transactions, the player that made the biggest splash this summer was Sean Avery. He became the first New York athlete to publicly support gay marriages, he was arrested (unrelated to gay marriage), he got the charges dropped and I’m guessing in all this mayhem he managed to pass on some sloppy 2nds to fellow players around the league. Kudos to a man who makes a public statement about passing off his loose ends to stars and players alike, and then confirm his masculinity and affirm his comfort with his sexuality by being a supporter. Quick question, was one of the stars who received a kick back Lance Bass? Was James Wisniewski beating Avery to the punch in sharing with the world Sean’s dirty little secret? Sadly these questions won’t be answered by the Rangers’ play this season, or maybe it will.

Back to the preview. The rangers gave up the least amount of goals last year in the Atlantic division with 198. In fact that was only outdone by the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and the Southeast division champion Washington Capitals. King Henry is back on the throne for another season and plans on reducing that number even more. You can’t win if you can’t score goals, or so it’s been said.

Although Henrik Lundqvist was 2 wins shy of a career high 38, he managed to have his best statistical season in some other aspects with a .923 SV% and 11 shutouts. Lundqvist will be a resident of Broadway for the next 3 years, but the other residents who have signed leases with the Rangers until the summer of 2014 are another big reason they look to be cup contenders this post-season.

Two of those players are Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan. Both became free agents this year along with fellow Blueshirt Brandon Dubinsky. General Manager Glen Sather was able to seal the deal with all 3 this summer to help keep some team chemistry intact. Sather was also able to sign another addition to the team that is sure to bring even more hope and excitement to New York.

Former Dallas Stars standout Brad Richards will be joining the Rangers this season. Richards will add some much needed production to the top line. Paired with Marian Gaborik the duo should command a lot of attention from opponents top Defensive pairs. This may cause even more focus to shift from some under the radar stars, and allow for the 3rd and 4th lines to up their point contribution. It will be depth production such as this, that will allowthe Rngers to make a run at the cup.

The needed moves have been made, the pieces have been put in place and MSG will soon be packed. It seems that the Rangers have been given the signal to return to glory. The only question is, will they rise up and answer the call or will they sit and wait for a certain shade of green?