John Tortorella On The Michael Kay Show July 23 (Audio Inside)

John Tortorella was a guest on The Michael Kay Show yesterday evening on ESPN New York radio with Michael Kay and Don La Greca and offered his comments on a bunch of stuff, including his thoughts on the Rick Nash trade, losing Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, why Chris Kreider was absolutely untouchable in trade talks, and how he felt to come within two games of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals this past season. It's definitely worth a listen for any Ranger fan.

You can listen to the interview by clicking here and clicking Torts' name under the "sound bytes" section if you scroll down a bit.

The most interesting part of the interview to me was Torts' thoughts on Tim Erixon, who was also sent to Columbus in the Rick Nash trade. Torts said about Erixon: "Erixon has potential, I haven’t seen it yet, to be a really good player." I thought that was a fair assessment of how the Rangers felt about him last season. He was up and down a few times over the course of the season, but unlike Ryan McDonagh the previous season, John Tortorella clearly did not feel like Erixon had matured enough yet to make that jump from Hartford to the NHL. Erixon is projected to develop into a fantastic two-way defenseman down the road, and I have no reason to believe he won't, but it appears as if he still needs some more seasoning in the AHL before being a regular mainstay in an NHL team's lineup.

Then again, the Columbus Blue Jackets may now have a completely different view on Erixon than the Rangers, and maybe they'll throw him right into the fire and let him take his bumps and bruises at the NHL level this season. He's still only 21 years old, though, and some kids just take longer than others to reach their potential. I do think, though, that if he was ready, he would've been playing in the NHL last season with all the injuries the Rangers had on defense last season.

Anyway, I'd definitely give the interview a listen, like I said.

Blockbuster: Rangers Acquire Rick Nash From Blue Jackets

It's safe to say nobody saw this coming when they woke up this morning. The New York Rangers have officially confirmed that they have acquired Rick Nash from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, defenseman Tim Erixon, and the Rangers' first round draft pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Level Draft. The Rangers also got back 21-year-old AHL defenseman Steven Delisle and a conditional third-round draft pick. The Blue Jackets would reportedly only get that draft pick back if the Rangers make it to the Stanley Cup Finals this upcoming season.

Click below to read more on my thoughts on this blockbuster trade, as well as the official press release from the Rangers.

Rangers Lose Game 5 To Ottawa, Face Do Or Die Game 6 Monday

It all comes down to this. The Rangers dropped a pivotal Game 5 at Madison Square Garden last night to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 2-0 and now trail the series 3-2. The Rangers will need to string together a two-game winning streak starting tomorrow night in Ottawa to avoid an early and disappointing first-round exit for the second consecutive season.

Rangers Defeat Hurriances, 3-2

The Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes tonight by a final score of 3-2 thanks in large part to a strong defensive effort that was led by Marty Biron in goal, along with the penalty killing unit that was highlighted in particular by the efforts of Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust. Prust scored the game-winner after converting an excellent feed from Brian Boyle on a 2-on-1, while the Rangers also got goals from Artem Anisimov and Marian Gaborik in the game.

Final Score: Penguins 2, Rangers 0

After a thrilling OT win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night, the Rangers couldn't start another winning streak tonight as they were shutout by a score of 2-0 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves and did all he could to keep the Rangers in the game, but it wasn't enough as the Rangers simply did nothing on offense and were unable to score.

As always, there were a number of questionable penalty calls that went against the Rangers while the referees somehow conveniently missed several calls that should've gone against Pittsburgh. I'm sure that's just a coincidence that that happens every time the Rangers play in this building, though, right? I'm not really going to delve too much into the officiating considering the team did nothing offensively, but this was one of those games where it was obvious early on that the Rangers would have to overcome the Penguins and the refs in order to win.

Click below to read more on the game.

Rangers Sweep Weekend Series Versus Flyers, Caps

The Rangers capped off a successful weekend this afternoon with a 3-2 win over the Washington Capitals, one day after a dominating 5-2 victory in Philadelphia against the Flyers. Ryan Callahan scored a goal and now has four goals in his last two games, while Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Prust scored the other two goals. Prust's goal was his first since October 20.

The Rangers looked very strong and came out with a ton of energy in today's game to the point that you wouldn't even have known they played in such a physical game against the Flyers yesterday afternoon. It certainly helped that the Rangers got an early goal in the first period from Ryan Callahan, who made an unbelievable play when he backhanded the puck in the net while falling over. Ryan McDonagh added a beautiful goal off a sick toe drag from the left circle, while Brandon Prust batted home a short-handed goal, and eventual game-winner, off a perfect feed from Brandon Dubinsky - who had two assists in today's game.

New Lines At Practice As Richards Tries To Find His Game

The Rangers unveiled new lines at practice today, although there's no guarantee these will be the lines that the Rangers use tomorrow night versus Tampa Bay (and hopefully they aren't). John Tortorella has used lines at practice before and then scrapped them come game time, so what the lines will look like tomorrow will remain to be seen.

Here are the lines from practice anyway:

Artem Anisimov-Derek Stepan-Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin-John Mitchell-Ryan Callahan
Brandon Dubinsky-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brad Richards-Mike Rupp

Rangers Fall To Devils 1-0 After Questionable Call In Final Seconds

You'll definitely be hearing about this one for a while. The Rangers lost to the Devils by a final score of 1-0 tonight, although it sure didn't look like it originally. With the seconds ticking down in the third period and the Rangers trailing with an extra skater on, Ryan Callahan fired a shot on goal that Martin Brodeur kicked out. Artem Anisimov found the rebound and put the puck in the back of the net, but the goal was waved off after the officials called a goaltender interference call on Marian Gaborik, who made contact with Brodeur after he was clearly pushed into him by Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov. Gaborik did everything he possibly could to hold up and avoid making contact, but it was to no avail. The Rangers were called for an absolutely bogus call and lost the game 1-0.

Click below to read more on what John Tortorella, Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist had to say about the disallowed goal.

Rangers Beat Sabres 1-0 In Shootout; Wolski, Woywitka Sent To AHL

The Rangers defeated the Buffalo Sabres in a 1-0 shootout victory last night that was an absolute thriller and a showcase of two of the best goaltenders in the league at the top of their games. Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 34 shots he faced, while Ryan Miller stopped all 29 that he faced. Lundqvist stopped four of five shots he faced in the shootout, with the only Buffalo goal coming from Jason Pominville in Round 3, and the Rangers got shootout goals from Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahn en route to their win in Buffalo.

This was one of those games that just had you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Some 1-0 games can be a bit boring with not a lot of action throughout the game, but this certainly wasn't the case. Each team traded good scoring chances and both Miller and Lundqvist stood on their heads all night long. After the first period this game just sort of had that feeling that one goal could be enough to win it.

Team Chara Defeats Team Alfredsson 12-9 in All-Star Game, Gaborik Named MVP With Hat Trick

Marian Gaborik channeling his inner Artem Anisimov following his first goal against Henrik Lundqvist.

The talk coming into today was all about Daniel Alfredsson being the captain of his own team in Ottawa for the All-Star Game, but it was Marian Gaborik that wound up stealing the show when it was all said and done. Gaborik led Team Chara to a 12-9 victory with three goals and an assist in the game and was named the MVP of the All-Star Game following the contest. All three of Gaborik's goals came in the first period on Henrik Lundqvist.

Click below to read more on the game, and how Marian Gaborik paid tribute to Artem Anisimov after scoring his first goal in the game.

Rangers Fall to Senators 3-0

The Rangers lost to the Senators tonight 3-0 at Madison Square Garden, snapping their five-game winning streak.

The Rangers actually got out to quite a fast start in the first period and had what I thought were their best scoring chances of the game then. Wojtek Wolski, who made his return to the lineup today with Brandon Dubinsky out with a sore shoulder, actually looked very good playing with Brad Richards and Ryan Callahan and seemed to have a noticeable spark to his game. Craig Anderson played well in goal for Ottawa, but to be honest it seemed like most of the Rangers shots that got through were fired right directly into the center of his chest. The Senators also did a good job of clearing the crease and winning battles for loose pucks in front of the net.

Thoughts On First Episode of HBO's 24/7

The first episode of 24/7: The Road to the Winter Classic, which documents both the Rangers and the Flyers leading up to their Jan. 2 showdown in this season's Winter Classic, debuted on HBO tonight. I've been eagerly anticipating this documentary ever since the Rangers were first announced as a participant in the Winter Classic, and the show certainly did not disappoint.

Click below to read my thoughts on the first episode of 24/7 and what I liked/didn't like about it.

Artem Anisimov Joins Twitter, List of Rangers Players on Twitter

As we wait for tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers confirmed this morning that Artem Anisimov has joined Twitter. In case anyone wants to give him a follow, his username is @Anisimov42.  He's only Tweeted once so far and it was in Russian: Три Мушкетера это сила. According to Google Translator, that translates into: "The Three Musketeers is a force." Maybe he's referencing the fact that all members of the G.A.S. line are now on Twitter?

Also, I know I'm late on this, but Henrik Lundqvist also joined Twitter last week and he's actually been Tweeting quite frequently.

Anyway, here's a list of all the Rangers that are now on Twitter for those interested in following them:

Artem Anisimov - @Anisimov42
Sean Avery - @imseanavery
Marty Biron - @MartyBiron43
Brandon Dubinsky - @BDubi17
Marian Gaborik - @MGaborik10
Henrik Lundqvist - @HLundqvist30
Ryan McDonagh - @RMcDonagh27
Brandon Prust - @BrandonPrust8
Brad Richards - @BRichards_1991
Derek Stepan - @DerekStepan21
Wojtek Wolski - @WojtekWolski86

Rangers Defeat Senators 3-2, Win Fifth In a Row

The line of Artem Anisimov-Derek Stepan-Marian Gaborik dominated the entire night and Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves, as the Rangers beat the Ottawa Senators by a final score of 3-2 tonight to win their fifth game in a row.

The Rangers' G.A.S. line (Gaborik, Anisimov, Stepan - get it? I stole it from Mike Rupp on Twitter) was precisely that tonight. They were absolutely flying and storming the net whenever they were on the ice and each player had a hand in the Rangers' three goals tonight. Marian Gaborik had two goals, Derek Stepan had a goal and two assists, and Artem Anisimov had two assists. Altogether the trio combined for seven points tonight, and could've easily had more if not for a few nice saves by Craig Anderson.

Read more on the game below, including who got the Broadway Hat for player of the game.

Rangers Defeat Sharks 5-2

It took a while, but the Rangers finally got that complete game, 60 minute effort from start to finish tonight that they've been lacking so far this season. Powered by Ryan Callahan's 2 G, 1 A effort, the Rangers beat the Sharks by a final score of 5-2. They also outshot the Sharks 31-26 - the first time the Rangers have outshot an opponent this season.

As you can see from the picture above, Ryan Callahan was awarded the Broadway Hat, and was also the game's first star tonight.

The Rangers really got plenty of contributions from everybody tonight. Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov scored their first goals of the season and Erik Christensen added two assists, including a beautiful feed on a Callahan power play goal. Ryan McDonagh also scored his third goal of the season after scoring two goals combined with the Rangers and Connecticut Whale last season. Wojtek Wolski didn't record a point in the game, but today was easily his best game of the season. He registered a game-high seven shots on goal while playing primarily with Derek Stepan and Marian Gaborik tonight and was very involved in the offensive zone from start to finish. Although Brandon Dubinsky registered no shots on goal, he picked up two assists and shot just wide on two or three occasions. He seemed just a hair off and if he continues with games like these, the goals will come soon enough.

Marty Biron was solid in the net tonight, making 24 saves. It wasn't an easy night in goal for Biron by any stretch of the imagination, as he was often times barraged with shots in the second period when the Sharks tied the game 2-2, but Biron held his ground and played as well as you could want your backup to play.

You can view the boxscore to the game here.

Tomorrow at noon we will learn if Sean Avery has cleared waivers and if No. 16 will rejoin the Rangers for his third tour of duty with the Blueshirts. More news to come then.

Recap: Rangers Fall To Devils 2-1 In OT

Apologies for not posting in over a week, but I'm back now. That's the downfall when you have on person running a blog.

Anyway, the Rangers fell to the Devils last night 2-1 in Albany last night (yes, Albany). The Rangers' lone goal was scored by Dale Weise on a nice feed from Artem Anisimov. Weise also had a fight at center-ice with Devils forward Brad Mills.The lines last night were:

Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Dale Weise
Carl Hagelin-Erik Christensen-Christian Thomas
Sean Avery-John Mitchell-J.T. Miller
Ryan Bourque-Shane McColgan-Andre Deveaux

Dan Girardi-Brendan Bell
Michael Del Zotto-Steve Eminger
Tim Erixon-Dylan McIlrath

Henrik Lundqvist
Cam Talbot

The Rangers were outshot by the Devils 42-21 and the Rangers took an 0-for on the Power Play. Not a big deal considering the fact that only two forwards playing in the game are locks to be on the Opening Day roster come October.

John Tortorella called the game "sloppy," but praised the line of Avery-Mitchell-Miller. He said their forechecking was very good and said it was the Rangers' best line all night - yet, Sean Avery barely got any shifts in the third period. Seems like Torts is continuing his pattern of saying only positive things about Avery to the media, only to bench him without any real explanation. It was only one preseason game, though, so we'll see what happens and if Avery gets to play with NHL linemates next time if Torts really was impressed by his game.

Henrik Lundqvist, meanwhile, stopped 17 of 18 shots in 31:18 of ice time before he was replaced by Cam Talbot. Talbot was very solid, stopping 22 of 23 shots before being beaten by Patrick Elias for the game-winner 45 seconds into overtime.

My personal thoughts on the game: The Rangers really didn't get much going offensively, but again, look at the lineup. I was very pleased with Dylan McIlrath's performance. Tim Erixon looked a little bit hesitant and shaky at times, but this was his first pro game in the U.S. Lundqvist was stellar and Talbot was very good. Andre Deveaux got into a fight with David Clarkson that he seemed to win pretty easily. He could be a useful weapon if a forward goes down and we need to add some grit against a team like Philly or Boston.

Beyond that, there wasn't a whole lot to write about. I thought Avery had a noticeable game and Del Zotto was alright for the most part. Christensen will need to have a better showing his next time out if he wants to be on this team in the long haul. The Rangers' best forward was Dale Weise, though, who will need to continue to have games like this if he wants to have any chance of making the NHL club out of training camp.

Several Current and Ex-Rangers Affected By KHL Plane Crash

The tragic plane crash that reportedly killed somewhere between 36 to 43 members of the KHL team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl this morning has hit everybody hard who is around the game of hockey, including several members of the New York Rangers. As Andrew Gross pointed out on Twitter, Marian Gaborik has lost two of his closest friends and former teammates within the last several months - first Derek Boogaard and now Pavol Demitra. One of Henrik Lundqvist's friends, Swedish goaltender Stefan Liv, also perished on the flight. Mike Rupp also played with ex-Ranger Karel Rachunek when they were with the Devils during Rachunek's last NHL stint before playing in Europe.

Gross has talked to several Rangers and have gotten their reactions on the crash.

Henrik Lundqvist devastated when told former Swedish national team teammate G Stefan Liv may have been on flight.

Lundqvist, told of Stefan Liv (now confirmed to be on flight), buries head in hands and says, like him, Liv was married this summer.

Mike Rupp befriended Karel Rachunek during their time with the Devils. "He was a quiet guy with a really good sense of humor."

Artem Anisimov came up with Locomotiv, says he knows about half the roster. "I feel like it can't happen. I feel sick about that."

 Andrew Gross on Twitter

More to come later today as news and reactions around hockey continue to break.

Artem Anisimov, Michael Sauer Agree To New Deals

The New York Rangers announced yesterday that the team has agreed to new contracts with both Artem Anisimov and Michael Sauer. Each player signed a 2-year deal and will become restricted free agents following the 2012-2013 season.

According to CapGeek.com, Anisimov will earn $1.875 million in each year of his new deal, while Sauer will earn $1.25 million each year.

You can read the official press releases the Rangers sent out here for Anisimov and here for Sauer.

That leaves Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky as the only remaining restricted free agents on the NHL roster.

Breaking News: Rangers Sign Brad Richards To 9-Year, $60 Million Deal

On the second day of free agency, the Rangers have officially landed their No. 1 target - Brad Richards is now a New York Ranger. The talented center agreed to a blockbuster 9-year, $60 million deal, which averages out to about $6.67 million per year. The Rangers beat out the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings in the Richards Sweepstakes, who were the other top suitors for Richards.

Report: Jaromir Jagr to Sign with NHL Team "In the Next Week or So"

 It's sounding more and more like Jaromir Jagr's return to the NHL is going to happen this offseason. Jagr's agent, Petr Svoboda, told the AP today that he has been talking with both the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins about signing Jagr and that he believes Jagr could sign a one-year deal "in the next week or so."