Mark Messier Leaves Rangers Organization

The Rangers and Mark Messier announced today that Messier has left the Rangers organization to instead work on the development of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center in the Bronx.

This news comes six days after the Rangers officially announced the hiring of Alain Vigneault as the team's new head coach. At Vigneault's introductory press conference last Friday, Rangers General Manager Glen Sather said he had yet to speak with Messier regarding his future with the team, but said that he expected to talk to him at some point over the next week.

Messier, who has served as special assistant to the president and general manager of the Rangers since 2009, released this statement today:

“I would like to thank the New York Rangers and particularly Glen Sather for giving me the opportunity over the last four years to work with the Rangers. I am resigning my position with the Team to pursue an opportunity to expand the game of hockey in the New York area by developing the Kingsbridge National Ice Center. Although some will perceive this as a reaction to the coaching decision, nothing could be further from the truth. I completely respect the decision that was made and for all the reasons it was made. I harbor no hard feelings toward Glen or the Rangers. This is a personal choice I am making to create a program in the New York area that will give our children more choices and opportunities in the future. I wish the Rangers nothing but the best in the future.“

Glen Sather also released his own statement, which read:

“Mark Messier will always be a part of the New York Rangers family. As a player and then as part of the management team, he brought incomparable passion and dedication to the organization. We wish him well in his future endeavors.”

The Kingsbridge National Ice Center, which is tentatively expected to be completed in September 2018, is going to be the world's largest indoor ice center and will hold nine ice rinks in the community center. Messier has been one of the center's top supporters, and the plans to build the ice center were officially announced in April by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

It's a bummer to see Mess leave the organization, but I think we all knew this was coming after the Rangers passed on naming him the team's next head coach. I thought there was a small possibility that Messier could accept an assistant head coaching job with the organization to remain with the organization, although that idea always seemed far-fetched to me. Any time the Rangers were to go through a losing streak or a rough stretch you just know fans would be clamoring to give Messier the head coaching job if he was still in the organization now that it's been revealed that he does have an interest in becoming a head coach.

I'm sure Messier will resurface in the NHL before too long, even though it won't be with the Rangers. The good news here is that he's leaving the team on good terms, so I'm sure hell still be making tons of public appearances and going to functions at the Garden through the team. Still, it's a shame that both sides couldn't figure out a way to make the relationship last given the sentimental value that all Rangers fans, myself included, have towards Mess.

Anyway, good luck to Mark in the future. Hopefully, he can get that head coaching job he's now known to be targeting in the future and will be back in the NHL in some form or fashion relatively soon.

Rangers Could Announce Alain Vigneault As New Head Coach Today

The New York Rangers agreed to terms with Alain Vigneault to become the 34th head coach in franchise history on Saturday, and according to Larry Brooks of The New York Post the team could put out a press release to announce the hiring of Vigneault as soon as today. Brooks notes, however, that the Rangers likely will not formally introduce him to the media at a press conference until Thursday. Rangers GM Glen Sather is currently at his home in California and will not be back on the east coast until Wednesday when NHL general managers meet for their yearly meetings in Boston. With Madison Square Garden currently unusable while its undergoing construction, the Rangers will need to find another location to hold Vigneault's press conference. I would guess that they'll just do it at the team's practice facility in Greenburgh, but that remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, Brooks also reports that Sather and Vigneault have already begun discussing names to add to his coaching staff. Mike Sullivan, thankfully, will not be retained and Jim Schoenfeld will only remain with the organization as assistant GM to Sather. Benoit Allaire, as we all assumed, will remain with the organization as goalie/assistant coach and Henrik Lundqvist's right-hand man. I would assume Mark Messier is a possibility, although it could be a major distraction to have Messier on the coaching staff if the team gets off to a slow start and fans overreact and start calling for Vigneault's head. Brooks mentioned over the weekend that Messier could possibly be reassigned to a coaching position with the Hartford Wolf Pack if he really wants to embark on a coaching career. Either way, he'll most likely remain with the organization next year.

One name being floated around is former Rangers defenseman and current head coach of MODO of the Swedish Elite League, Ulf Samuelsson. Samuelsson apparently reached out to the Rangers when hearing about the team's vacant head coaching position following the firing of John Tortorella, so there's definitely some level of interest there already. Whether he'd be willing to leave a head coaching job to become an assistant in the NHL remains to be seen. I think Samuelsson would be a nice addition to the coaching staff and could add an interesting element to coaching the power play.

As for the hiring of Vigneault, I have to admit that I wasn't initially thrilled when hearing a few weeks ago that he was a top candidate for the Rangers' head coaching job, but the more I read about him the more he's grown on me. I admittedly do not know a lot about Vigneault as far as a head coach beyond the handful of Vancouver Canucks games I'd see every year, mostly coming in the playoffs. The biggest knock on Vigneault has been that he wasn't able to lead the Canucks to a Stanley Cup victory despite having immense amounts of talent on the team in Roberto Luongo, the Sedin twins and Ryan Kessler, amongst other big names. He did come within one win of winning a Cup, though, which a lot of people forget about. I distinctly remember several games in which Roberto Luongo failed to show up for the Canucks, though, which led to a lot of the Canucks' failures in recent years.

The biggest positive that I've read about Alain Vigneault is that he's the opposite type of coach to John Tortorella. He coaches an up-tempo offensive system that the team desperately needs, while also relying on his role players to play to their strengths. The Rangers desperately need that type of change. This means Vigneault won't be asking Rick Nash to block shots and will instead allow him to play his game in the offensive zone where he should be. One of Torts' biggest downfalls was his stubbornness to change his system and insisting that all his players adjust to playing one specific way, and this won't be the case with Vigneault in charge.

More to come within the next few days as we get more information about Vigneault's hiring and how the rest of his coaching staff will fill out.

Audio and Highlights From Glen Sather's Conference Call With Media

Glen Sather met with the media yesterday afternoon after firing John Tortorella. Among the few highlights of his conference call, he did say that he expects to have a new head coach in place by the time the 2013 Entry Level Draft takes place, which is on June 30.

You can read the entire transcript of Glen Sather's conference call with the media, courtesy of SNYRangers, here and you can also listen to the audio itself, courtesy of Rangers Report, here.

I don't know if we'll ever get all of the details on what specifically led to the firing of John Tortorella. Glen Sather really didn't say much during his conference call, which was to be expected, but he did say that Tortorella was "a little bit shocked" when he found out he was being fired, and that it wasn't any one specific thing that made him reach the decision to pull the plug on Torts' Rangers coaching career. To me, that means this was a decision that was made within the last day or two. When John Tortorella met with the media on Monday during breakup day he didn't talk like a dead man walking who was expecting to be canned. He talked a lot about next season and areas the Rangers organization needed to address when they met for organizational meetings in late June. None of the Rangers beat reporters predicted this, either. The general assumption from everybody was that Torts was safe. Even though John Tortorella denied that Henrik Lundqvist's comments had anything to do with their decision, I'm not entirely sure I believe that. I don't think for a second that Lundqvist met with the Rangers' brass behind John Tortorella's back and told them the only way he would re-sign long-term would be if Torts was fired, but I do believe his comments caused Glen Sather and co. to rethink things as far as the strategy of the team moving forward.

Unsurprisingly, Slats said that he plans to re-sign Henrik Lundqvist to a long-term contract. He also wouldn't comment on whether or not the Rangers would bring back Brad Richards next year, and only said it was something the higher ups would discuss at the organizational meetings next month. What I did think was interesting, though, was that Sather said the decision to make Richards a healthy scratch for the final two games of the series was a group decision that John Tortorella didn't make on his own. I'm not sure how much I believe that, but if it's true I think it speaks volumes on how quickly the entire organization has soured on Richards.

One other thing from Sather's conference call that I thought it was interesting was when he said he considered this season to be a failure because the Rangers didn't win a Stanley Cup. That thinking coincides with what Lundqvist said during breakup day, but it also somewhat goes against with what Torts said. He only referred to this season as "a step sideways," which I thought at the time was interesting considering the Rangers had more than enough talent to make a deeper run in the playoffs this season.

The bottom line is this: John Tortorella was not the right man for this job. I wrote a few days ago that I wasn't sure he was the right man for this job given the personnel the Rangers have and the style he insisted on them playing, and ultimately I guess Glen Sather felt the same way. It was one thing to focus primarily on shot blocking and winning 2-1 games with last year's roster, but Torts never adjusted his system to fit the styles of his top offensive players coming into this season, namely Rick Nash, Marian Gaborik, Derek Stepan and Brad Richards. I also do believe his mishandling of Chris Kreider this season played a part in Torts' dismissal. The Rangers organization is clearly extremely high on Kreider as evidenced by Sather's willingness to burn one year on his Entry Level contract just to have him for the playoffs a year ago, and Tortorella really didn't utilize him to his best abilities.

So, now the question immediately becomes who the Rangers will target now for their head coaching opening. The top candidates that I've seen being thrown around on Twitter so far are Lindy Ruff, Alaine Vigneault, Dave Tippett and dark-horse candidate Ken Gernander. I think Ruff would be a perfect fit here and would bring a strong offensive system while he also knows how to build a strong defensive game from the net on out after his time with Ryan Miller in Buffalo. Tippett would be my second favorite choice, but he's still currently the head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes and there are no guarantees that he'll be available just yet. Vigneault, I have zero interest in. He's had a ton of success in the regular season while coaching the Vancouver Canucks, but his playoff record has been awful. Gernander is an interesting name, as he's currently the head coach of the Connecticut Whale/Hartford Wolfpack. I do think the Rangers will target someone with more experience, though, given that this is a veteran team.

One thing I can say is that Rangers fans should not expect assistant coach Mike Sullivan to be brought back next year. Sather said there were no other changes to his coaching staff that he was prepared to make at this time, but whoever he hires as head coach will want to bring in their own staff to run their own system. The only assistant who I think will definitely be brought back is Benoit Allaire, who is thought of highly and has an outstanding relationship with Marty Biron and Henrik Lundqvist.

We'll see what happens. I think Sather will try and act relatively quickly to find a new head coach and I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers hire somebody within the next week or two.

Breaking News: John Tortorella Fired As Rangers Head Coach

The New York Rangers announced today that they have relieved John Tortorella of his duties as head coach, according to sources. The news comes four days after the Rangers saw their season end with a loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night In Canada, the comments Lundqvist made following the season "'changed everything,' according to [a] source."

To say that I'm shocked would be an understatement. In no way did I think the Rangers would fire John Tortorella, especially not after they actually won a playoff series and his comments made on breakup day. One thing you can bank on is that Henrik Lundqvist is essentially running this organization. This firing speaks volumes of how much Glen Sather and Co. value Lundqvist's input, and they must have felt like he was serious about holding off contract talks if the team didn't make a change. Lundqvist spoke about how frustrated he was and that he thought this team took a step backwards this year, while John Tortorella disagreed. Very, very interesting.

It also makes me wonder if Sean Avery's comments on Twitter from a few months ago that John Tortorella's players hate him actually had any merit.

Expect more in the upcoming hours/days. I'll be very interested in seeing who the Rangers will target following the firing of Torts and what type of coach they'll look at hiring.

Reports are that Glen Sather will have a conference call soon to discuss John Tortorella's dismissal as Rangers head coach.

More to come.

Reports: Rangers Acquire LW Ryane Clowe From San Jose Sharks

The Rangers have made their first trade as the trade deadline approaches tomorrow, and it's a pretty big one. According to reports, the Rangers have acquired left wing Ryane Clowe from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a second and third round draft pick. The Sharks will also receive an additional second round pick in next year's draft if Clowe re-signs with the Rangers after the season. This doesn't seem to just be a a rental, though, because according to Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet, the "assumption is a new deal will eventually get done." Clowe reportedly had his choice between joining the Rangers or Canucks and he chose the Rangers.

Katie Strang of ESPN also Tweeted that Clowe is currently making travel arrangements to get to New York in time to suit up for tomorrow night's game against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden.

Additionally, Darren Dreger of TSN Tweeted that even with the addition of Clowe, the Rangers "may not be done as the possibility of adding a D-man exists."

Clowe, 29, has posted just 11 assists and no goals in 28 games this season to go along with 79 penalty minutes, but he's just one year removed from a season in which he put up 17 goals, 28 assists and 97 penalty minutes in 75 games. Think of this as more of a Sean Avery/Brandon Prust-type move, though. Clowe is not here to put up goals and get top six minutes. His job will be to skate on the third line, throw hits, drop the gloves to stick up for his teammates and chip in with a goal every now and then doing dirty work down low in front of the net.

I really, really like this move. I never thought it was realistic to expect the Rangers to add a top six forward at the deadline, nor did I think it was necessary. The only way adding another goal-scorer would work is by unloading Marian Gaborik's contract somewhere else, which isn't likely to happen, nor do I think it's smart. The Rangers have all the tools to score more goals and it's really up to Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik and Carl Hagelin to get their acts together. I don't think anybody that Glen Sather could trade for would be a real significant upgrade on either Gaby or Richie.

More to come later as more details unfold.

Kreider Rejoins Rangers, Lundqvist Back In Goal Tonight

Chris Kreider officially rejoined the Rangers today at practice after being recalled from the Connecticut Whale (AHL) yesterday. Kreider practiced on the third line tonight against the Florida Panthers and will take Michael Haley's spot in the lineup after he was optioned back down to the Whale.

Here were the lines from practice today:

Rick Nash-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Chris Kreider-Brian Boyle-J.T. Miller
Taylor Pyatt-Jeff Halpern-Darroll Powe

Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto-Steve Eminger
Roman Hamrlik-Anton Stralman

An interesting quote from Kreider today came courtesy of Andrew Gross, which I believe is very telling:

“I was able to play big minutes and play in all situations. Any time you can do that, it helps your development, I guess.”

 “[Being recalled] was not something I was really thinking about. Obviously it’s something you want but you focus on the day to day stuff.”

Kreider hit the nail on the head in that it's imperative for his growth as a player that he gets big minutes, otherwise there's really no point for the Rangers to bring him back up. Kreider needs to be getting 15 minutes a night, in my opinion, with some power play time. There's no reason guys like Darroll Powe, Jeff Halpern and Taylor Pyatt should be finishing regularly with more ice time than Kreider.

Meanwhile, in a bit of a surprise, Henrik Lundqvist will be back in goal tonight against the Panthers after most people assumed Marty Biron would get the call. Tonight seemed like a perfect game to rest Lundqvist and give Biron a start considering the Panthers really aren't a very good team and the fact that Lundqvist was banged up with a sore neck after inadvertently being elbowed in the head by Dan Girardi against the Devils on Tuesday night. John Tortorella clearly doesn't want to take any chances, though, and wants Lundqvist in there so that the Rangers can continue to build on their back-to-back wins earlier this week. I suspect there's a good chance we'll see Biron in net come Sunday against the Capitals considering how well he played against them a few weeks ago, but if the Rangers are still riding a win streak by then it wouldn't shock me if Torts just relies on Lundqvist the rest of the way here.

And finally, some terrible news to pass along. Rangers General Manager Glen Sather, it was reported yesterday by Newsday, will undergo surgery sometime today for prostate cancer. Sather was not in attendance for the general managers meetings that took place in Toronto on Wednesday, and instead was represented by Rangers Assistant GM Jeff Gorton. Obviously, I speak for all Rangers fans when I say my thoughts and prayer are with Sather during this time. Hopefully, he can beat this terrible disease and we never have to hear anything about it again.

Nash, McDonagh, Del Zotto All Return Tonight; Zuccarello On Radar?

With game-time about fifteen minutes away, the Rangers will get three huge boosts back to their team as they look to snap a five-game losing streak against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at the Garden. Rick Nash (undisclosed), Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed) and Michael Del Zotto (hip) will all make their return to the lineup tonight  after all three missed Tuesday night's game against the Winnipeg Jets. Nash has missed the last four games (all Rangers losses), while Del Zotto has missed the last two and McDonagh one.

If anything can get the Rangers out of this terrible slump it surely will be the return of two of their top four defensemen and their (easily) No. 1 scoring threat. The Rangers have looked absolutely abysmal on offense while Nash has been out, and the defense looked equally as bad on Tuesday night without McDonagh and Del Zotto that left the Rangers with, essentially, three defensemen they could count on for the entire game (Marc Staal, Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman).

The Rangers, however, will be without Arron Asham (back) and Matt Gilroy (flu) for tonight's game. Steve Eminger, who played over 20 minutes in Tuesday's game, will remain in the lineup while Stu Bickel will move back up to see limited minutes at forward on the fourth line tonight.

Speaking of lines, there's been no word on what line Rick Nash will skate on tonight, but I wouldn't be surprised to see John Tortorella stick him on a line with Brad Richards. Richards has struggled mightily, and the return of Nash might be just what he needs to regain his confidence. Marian Gaborik has also struggled to score recently, and playing on a line with Nash can only help both guys in my opinion.

Meanwhile, it looks like we can finally put an end to those Ryan O'Reilly to the Rangers rumors. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, the Colorado Avalanche restricted free agent center has signed an offer sheet with the Calgary flames worth $10 million over two years. The Avalanche have seven days to match the Flames' offer or else O'Reilly will head to Calgary and the Avalanche will receive the Flames' first and third round draft picks as compensation in this year's draft. I never thought there was any chance the Rangers would trade for O'Reilly anyway, nor did I want them to, so this definitively ends all speculation that he could head to the Rangers.

And finally, it looks like Mats Zuccarello could be a Ranger once again before long. Glen Sather told Larry Brooks of The New York Post yesterday that he "is definitely interested in talking to Zuke" about a reunion with the Rangers once his first season with the Mettalurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL is over. Zuccarello's team is currently in the playoffs playing against Salavat Yulaev and are tied 2-2 in the first round of a best-of-seven series. Game 5 will be played Friday with Game 6 scheduled for Sunday.

Zuccarello signed a two-year deal to play in the KHL last offseason, but his contract contains an opt-out clause after the first year should he return to the NHL. Zuke's only option, should he want to return to the NHL this year, would be the Rangers since they own his rights. The Rangers would likely need to offer him a two-year deal to keep him under contract for the 2013-2014 season, though, otherwise I can't see Zuccarello coming over.

Rangers Buy Out Redden, Notes From Practice, Plus A Minor Trade

The Wade Redden Error, as it's been termed all over Twitter, is officially over. After clearing waivers, the Rangers officially bought him out of the remaining two years of his contract and he is now free to sign anywhere. I'll give Redden credit where it's due - he never complained after he was sent down to Hartford two seasons ago, and players and coaches on the Whale have repeatedly talked about what a positive veteran influence Redden provided while on the team. I'm sure it's not easy for guys like Redden who get exiled to the AHL or elsewhere after once being an accomplished NHL player. No matter who you are, I'm sure your ego takes a hit. So, farewell, Wade. I'll be interested in seeing if any NHL teams out there are willing to bring him in on a low-cost signing.

Speaking of being bought out, Scott Gomez was also bought out by the Montreal Canadiens today. Gomez, of course, will go down as one of the best Ranger free agent signings in history considering Glen Sather was able to turn him and his bloated contract into a package that landed the Rangers LW Chris Higgins, D Pavel Valentenko and some other kid defenseman named Ryan McDonagh. Thanks again, Montreal!

As for practice today, Brad Richards returned to the ice for the first time this week after battling the flu all week. The Rangers worked mainly on their Power Play units, which consisted of the following lines:

5-on-4 lines:
Marian Gaborik-Ryan Callahan-Rick Nash
Brad Richards-Michael Del Zotto

Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Taylor Pyatt
Anton Stralman-Dan Girardi

5-on-3 lines:
Marian Gaborik-Ryan Callahan-Rich Nash
Brad Richards-Derek Stepan

Carl Hagelin-Brian Boyle-Ryan Callahan
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi

I'm a bit surprised that John Tortorella didn't give Chris Kreider a look on either power play unit, but it's hard to read too much into anything this early. Tortorella still has not guaranteed that Kreider will make the team and even went as far as to say he thought Kreider was "God awful" in some playoff games last year. Kreider struggled during his time in the AHL with the Whale this season, but I'd be absolutely shocked if he gets sent back down. If the Rangers were willing to let him play and take his bumps during the playoffs last year, I have to believe they'll be willing to let him continue to learn the game at the NHL level.

Some other notes from practice from this week:

- Aaron Asham will miss the season opener on Saturday in Boston because he still has one game left to sit out dating back to his suspension for a hit on Brayden Schenn in the playoffs last year when Asham was with the Penguins. Because of that the Rangers recalled RW Brandon Segal from the Connecticut Whale, although he isn't expected to dress for Saturday's game.

- The lines on Saturday, based on practice from this week, will likely be:

Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Rick Nash
Marian Gaborik-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Chris Kreider-Brian Boyle-Taylor Pyatt
Mike Rupp-Jeff Halpern-Stu Bickel

Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Anton Stralman
Michael Del Zotto-Steve Eminger

Henrik Lundqvist
Martin Biron

As always, you can expect these lines to fluctuate as the game goes along, and as it gets later in the game you'll likely be seeing very little of Rupp, Halpern, Bickel and Eminger.

- Finally, the Rangers made a small trade of minor leaguers late last night, trading LW Tommy Grant and a conditional late-round pick in the 2014 Entry Level Draft to the San Jose Sharks for LW Brandon Mashinter. Mashinter, 24, is 6-foot-4,  230 pounds and adds some size and toughness to the roster. He's appeared in 13 career NHL games with the Sharks and racked up 17 PIMs. This is a classic Glen Sather trade, who never turns up a chance to add some size to his hockey team.

Rangers Might Pay Wade Redden $5M To Spend Rest Of Season On His Couch

One of the bigger stories surrounding the Rangers since the lockout ended has been what the team will do with Wade Redden. Yes, Wade Redden. Redden, of course, signed a mammoth six-year, $39 million deal with the Rangers in July of 2008, and after two terrible seasons on Broadway the defenseman was exiled to the Connecticut Whale and hasn't been heard of since.

That is, until now.

Under the new CBA, the owners and NHLPA agreed on what is being dubbed the "Wade Redden Rule," which essentially means that teams no longer have the ability to hide free agent bust contracts like Redden in the minors. Now, anybody who is playing in the AHL and has a salary over $900,000 will count against the salary cap. That means the Rangers will have roughly a little over $5 million left of Redden's $6.5 million salary counting against the cap this season. Oh, and he also still has one more year with a $6.5 million salary left on his deal after this season.

As Bob McKenzie of TSN discusses, the Rangers have three realistic options:

"It would be nice for the Rangers to entirely get rid of Redden's cap hit this season and next but what's behind Door No. 1 isn't an attractive option. That is, give up an asset or assets (draft picks and/or prospects) as inducements to get another team with lots of cap space to take Redden in a trade.

The Rangers won't like that because they don't want to deplete any future considerations on what amounts to a housekeeping matter for them.

Door No. 2 would be to send Redden to the AHL, absorb his $5 million-plus cap hit this season, which they have room for because teams can spend to $70M this season, and then use a compliance buyout this summer to erase the problem for next season. Compliance buyouts do not count against the salary cap.

But that route is fraught with peril. If Redden were to get hurt in the AHL this season and the injury carried over to the summer, an injured player cannot be bought out. Were that to happen, the Rangers could get saddled with Redden's full $6.5M cap hit next season and under no circumstances can they allow that to occur. Next year's cap shrinks to $64.3M and it would be a disaster if the Rangers had to account for Redden's $5M+ instead of having no cap hit on a compliance buyout.

Which bring us to Door No. 3.

The only other option for the Rangers is to take Redden's cap hit this season but not play him. Not in New York. Not in the AHL. Not anywhere.

Put him in bubble wrap, cold storage and call it a year. Make sure his cheques show up on time and wait for the compliance buyout period this summer and cut all ties."

So, in all actuality, the best option is to literally pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. Let me repeat that: the best option is to pay Wade Redden over $5 million for the rest of the season to literally do nothing. We should all be so lucky.

I can't see any scenario that involves Redden ever suiting up for the Rangers again. For starters, John Tortorella would likely have no use for him, even as an extra defenseman, because Redden was that bad during his time as a Ranger. Secondly, the Garden Faithful turned on Redden so badly that they even booed Jeff Woywitka at times early last year when he would touch the puck simply because he wore Redden's dreaded No. 6.

Either way, this is not the last we'll hear of the Redden situation within the next few weeks.

Rangers Back On Ice For Voluntary Skate, Del Zotto Still Awaiting New Deal

Rick Nash at today's workout at the Rangers' practice facility (courtesy of NYR Twitter).

They're back on the ice! The Rangers officially returned to the Madison Square Garden Training Facility today for a voluntary skate, which is legal now that a tentative CBA agreement has been reached.

The players who were on the ice were Brad Richards, Brian Boyle, Anton Stralman, Ryan McDonagh, Marc Staal, Arron Asham, Derek Stepan, Mike Rupp, Ryan Callahan, Rick Nash, Taylor Pyatt, Jeff Halpern, Michael Del Zotto, Carl Hagelin and Steve Eminger. John Tortorella was also in attendance, but currently isn't allowed to skate with the team until the CBA is officially ratified.

Speaking of ratifying the new CBA, that apparently could happen by Friday with training camps officially opening as soon as Saturday. The NHL's board of governors will meet in New York on Wednesday to vote and the players will vote electronically on Thursday and Friday. The season is currently scheduled to be 48 games long and begin on Jan. 19.
 
Moving on, here are some notes from today's skate session:

- Marian Gaborik is returning to New York after being in Slovakia during the lockout and John Tortorella said that he is completely healed from shoulder surgery that repaired a torn labrum after last season. Gaborik will have no restrictions once training camp opens, which is fantastic news.

- Rick Nash said he has completely recovered from a groin strain he suffered a few months ago while playing overseas in Switzerland.

- Carl Hagelin has also fully recovered from a shoulder surgery he suffered back in November and is now said to be 100-percent healthy.

- Even though Michael Del Zotto participated in today's voluntary skate, he's still a restricted free agent without a contract. Del Zotto said his agent restarted talks on a new contract today with GM Glen Sather in hopes of quickly reaching a deal. Del Zotto wouldn't speculate on how quickly a deal could be reached, but it would certainly benefit him to sign as quickly as possible. I can't imagine how agitated John Tortorella would be if Del Zotto were to really hold out of training camp after all this.

- Speaking of Tortorella, the Rangers' head coach said that he and his coaching staff already in place on how to approach training camp with an abbreviated 48-game season. Torts also stunningly showed a gentle side when he admitted to actually missing his team. “Quite honestly, I miss them," he said. "I’m anxious to get back with them and get to work.”

- Brad Richards posted the following message for Rangers fans on his official website:

I wanted to take a minute to personally thank all of you for your patience during the last few months of negotiations.

As a player and a fan of this game, I couldn’t be happier to have hockey back. Your ongoing support and encouragement throughout the lockout has been incredible and has helped us prepared to get on the ice and play some games. I am looking forward to playing in front of all of you again, connecting with my Ranger’s family and seeing and hearing all the fans at The Garden! We will work hard to make 2013 OUR season, and reaching the ultimate goal…bringing The Cup back to New York.

Stay tuned to brichards19.com for exclusives and updates throughout the season. See you all soon! Lets go Rangers!!!

-Brad

Awesome message from Richards that will certainly get any Rangers fan fired up after reading it. Gotta love the leadership and winning attitude he has brought to this organization. I like the Richards signing more and more everyday.

NHL Lockout Nearly Official; No CBA Talks Scheduled For Saturday

The NHL is headed to a lockout. Any optimism we got when both sides reopened negotiations last Friday is dead, and at midnight tonight players will be locked out by the owners. The NHL owners and NHLPA have no meetings scheduled for today, meaning there will be no further attempts to reach a deal before players are locked out by owners at midnight. This really shouldn't surprise anybody at this point, but that doesn't make any of this suck any less for hockey fans all over the world.

Teams have already started making contingency plans by assigning players who are still eligible to their AHL affiliates so that they can play until the NHL season begins. Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, for instance, was optioned to their AHL team specifically for that reason. The Rangers announced that they have assigned eight players to the Connecticut Whale, although all of them (Forwards Kris Newbury, Chad Kolarik, Michael Haley, Tommy Grant and Brandon Segal and defensemen Sean Collins, Logan Pyett, and Mike Vernace) are veteran AHL guys who had virtually no shot of landing a roster spot with the big club anyway. There have been whispers over the past week that the Rangers would send Chris Kreider down to the Whale, but nothing has been officially announced by the team yet.

As far as what the rest of the team has planned, Ryan Callahan and Brad Richards told Larry Brooks of The New York Post that the players have already begun looking to rent ice rinks in the New York area so that the team can still do conditioning drills and skate together as a team. John Tortorella has reportedly been in touch with Richards, Callahan and Henrik Lundqvist about keeping the team together and remaining conditioned. It's worth noting that as of right now no players on the Rangers have agreed to play overseas in Europe like other NHL players have. The Rangers obviously wouldn't admit to this, but it seems like the plan is for the team to stick together for now while they wait and hope that a new CBA is agreed upon fairly quickly. If weeks and months begin to go by with no progress towards a new deal I wouldn't be surprised if players begin to explore options playing in Europe. Lundqvist, for instance, has already indicated that he would likely go back to Sweden to play if the lockout drags on. Nevertheless, it's still great to see this team sticking together and shows the comradery of these guys for not wanting to immediately go their separate ways when the lockout begins.

Where things go from here is anybody's guess. The fact that both sides are still reportedly $1 billion apart in negotiations would seem to indicate that at the very least the lockout will drag on for a few weeks. I also think the fact that the NHL and NHLPA didn't even bother to meet today seems to indicate that both sides are still so far apart that there's no way they could settle everything in just one day. Gary Bettman's stubborn, two-faced approach has been the most aggravating part of all of this to me, personally. One day he gives the NHLPA a "take it or leave it" offer in an almost threateningly manner, and the next he's talking about how nobody wants to see hockey more than him. I'll have more on my disgust with Bettman and the owners in the next few days, though.

Oh, and just in case you wanted some more bad news on top of all this, there is virtually "no chance" restricted free agent Michael Del Zotto agrees to a new contract with the Rangers before the lockout begins at midnight tonight, according to both Bob McKenzie of TSN and Katie Strang of ESPN. All this really means is that whenever the season resumes and a new CBA is agreed to Glen Sather will immediately have to work on getting Del Zotto signed before the start of the season. Fantastic.

Rangers Re-Sign Steve Eminger; Updates On Sauer, Del Zotto

The Rangers announced today that they have agreed to a new contract with unrestricted free agent defenseman Steve Eminger. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is reportedly a one-year, $750,000 deal, which would be a pay cut since Eminger earned $800,000 last season. Eminger skated in 42 games with the Rangers this past season, registering two goals and three assists for five points to go along with 28 penalty minutes. Eminger was a mainstay in the lineup early on in the season, but pretty much lost his spot in the lineup when he separated his shoulder in December and Anton Stralman stepped in and played well in his absence.

You can read the Rangers' official press release here.

Click below to read more from John Tortorella and Glen Sather on Michael Sauer's recovery from a concussion he suffered last December, as well as Michael Del Zotto's contract negotiations.

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.

Flyers Sign Shea Weber To Massive 14-Year Offer Sheet; Rangers Tried To Sign Him

The Philadelphia Flyers signed restricted free agent Shea Weber to an offer sheet today that is reportedly for 14 years and worth over $100 million, with $52 million of the payout coming in the first four years of the contract, according to NHL.com.

Weber's current team, the Nashville Predators, have seven days to decide whether to match the Flyers' offer or to decline and let Shea Weber go to Philadelphia. If the Predators decline to match Weber's 14-year contract with Philly they would reportedly receive four future first-round draft picks from the Flyers as compensation.

The Predators have since confirmed Weber's signing with the Flyers and issued a statement earlier today on their website that read:

"We are in receipt of the offer sheet signed between the Philadelphia Flyers and Shea Weber. Under the rules pertaining to an offer sheet, the Predators have one week to decide whether to match or accept the compensation. We have stated previously that, should a team enter into an offer sheet with Shea, our intention would be to match and retain Shea. Our ownership has provided us with the necessary resources to build a Stanley Cup-winning team. Due to the complexity of the offer sheet, we will take the appropriate time to review and evaluate it and all of its ramifications in order to make the best decision for the Predators in both the short and long-term.

“We do not anticipate any further comments on this situation until we make our decision within the next seven days.”

 Predators.NHL.com

Click below to read more on Weber's deal with the Flyers, as well as the Rangers jumping into talks to try and acquire the defenseman before the Flyers signed him.

Rangers Sign Jeff Halpern, AHLer Logan Pyett To One-Year Deals

The depth signings just keep on coming. News broke late last night that the Rangers have signed veteran center Jeff Halpern, who spent last season with the Washington Capitals, to a one-year, $700,000 deal. The team has since confirmed the deal. Halpern recorded 4 G, 12 A for 16 PTS to go along with 24 PIM in 69 games last season while playing primarily on the fourth line for the Caps, but more important than that was what he gave the Capitals on the faceoff circle. Halpern won 58.3 percent of his faceoffs last season, which was good for the fifth highest faceoff percentage in the league. As everyone knows, faceoffs were an area the Rangers struggled in greatly last season, so it's easy to see why they would bring in a guy like Halpern considering the cost is next to nothing.

I don't mind the Halpern signing, and I understand why the Rangers did it. I would've personally preferred them to sign Zenon Konopka when he was available since the Rangers really needed help on faceoffs, in addition to that grittiness that they lost when Brandon Prust signed with Montreal, but this is still a decent depth move by Glen Sather. It's a cheap signing that could wind up paying big dividends if Halpern can give the Rangers a steady presence in the faceoff circle. The biggest knock on Halpern is that at he's 36 years old now and is a pretty slow skater, but you don't have to be the fastest of skaters to have a role in John Tortorella's system.

In addition to the signing of Halpern, the Rangers also inked AHL defenseman Logan Pyett to a one-year contract this morning worth $600,000 (hat tip to TheNYRBlog). Terms of the deal haven't been announced, but it's a decent depth move. Pyett, 24, was drafted in the 7th round of the 2006 NHL Entry Level Draft (212th overall) by the Detroit Red Wings and has spent his entire career in their system. Pyett has not appeared in an NHL game yet in his career. He's a right-handed shot - an area the Rangers needed to add depth in - and recorded 9 G, 13 A for 22 PTS in 74 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins last season. He has a little bit of offense to his game and is still pretty young, but this is really just a depth move to stash away in Hartford.

Marian Gaborik Out 5-6 Months With Torn Labrum

In case you didn't think things could get any worse after the way the Rangers saw their season end just over a week ago, think again. 

The Rangers announced on Friday that Marian Gaborik will be undergoing surgery this week to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which Gaborik believes he suffered in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Ottawa Senators during a collision along the boards behind the net. Gaborik is expected to miss five to six months; five months being an absolute best case scenario. That means the Rangers will be without their leading goal-scorer until November or December, and that's assuming Gaborik doesn't suffer any setbacks in his recovery.

Obviously, this is huge news, and very disappointing for a team that already has enough trouble scoring goals as it is. I guess the one good part from all of this (if you can really call it that) is that he's having surgery in June, so Glen Sather still has a long time to make some moves and do what he has to do to bring in another scorer. I'm sure the news on Gaborik will only increase speculation that the Rangers may go hard after Zach Parise in free agency or revisit talks with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Rick Nash, but it's really way too early to assume any of that. All I know is that this team needed offensive help before this news broke, and this only intensifies the need to bring in another goal-scorer.

Gaborik told reporters in a conference call that he never considered sitting out in the playoffs and tried not to think about the injury while he was playing through it.

Here's part of what Gaborik told the press:

"There was no point (in getting surgery during the playoffs). I tried to put it aside and focus on playing because you don't get these situations where you're playing for The Cup (often). I just wanted to go out there and go for it."

 Blueshirts United

For all the flack Gaborik took in the postseason from fans and the media (myself included), you really have to appreciate the heart the guy showed to play through this injury and not use it as an excuse for his inconsistent play. Gaborik never let on that he was injured and never even missed practice throughout the playoffs from what I can recall. He also told the media the injury had nothing to do with his benching in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils, when he played just three minutes in the third period.

You can read the Rangers' press release on Gaborik's injury here, and more on what Gaborik had to tell the media about his injury here.

Also, in some minor news, the Rangers announced that they have signed center Oscar Lindberg out of the Swedish Elite League (SEL). Lindberg, 20, was acquired last May from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Ethan Werek, but really doesn't project to be anything special. He recorded just five goals and five assists in 46 games playing in the SEL with 18 penalty minutes this past season and is really nothing more than Hartford depth at this point.

Rangers Agree To Terms With LW Marek Hrivik

The Rangers announced today that they have agreed to terms with undrafted free agent LW Marek Hrivik on a professional contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hrivik, 20, is a native of Cadka, Slovakia and signed an Amateur Tryout Agreement (which is really just a fancy of saying a minor league contract) with the Whale earlier this year. After recording just one goal in eight regular season games with the Whale, Hrivik skated in nine playoff games and recorded five goals and four assists for nine points, which led the team.

You can read more about Marek Hrivik in the Rangers' press release here.

Hrivik is only 20 years old and has a bit of size on him at 6-foot-1, 197-pounds. He's put up monster numbers while playing three seasons in the QMJHL, including 29 G, 41 A, 70 PTS in 54 games this past season. It's basically a nice depth signing for the Whale with Mats Zuccarello unlikely to return next season. You may recall the Rangers made a similar move last offseason, when they signed undrafted free agent Jonathan Audy-Marchessault to an Amateur Tryout Agreement after putting up strong numbers in the QMJHL. Audy-Marchessault wound up posting 24 G, 40 A, 64 PTS in 70 games with the Whale this past season and, according to some, has legitimized himself as being a real NHL prospect with his strong showing in the pros.

The Rangers certainly seem to have some good scouts who do their due diligence watching up and coming youngsters playing in the juniors, and that's definitely not a bad thing.

Report: Zuccarello To Sign With KHL If No NHL Teams Come Calling

It didn't take long for Rangers news to start trickling down. A day after their season ended yesterday, word leaked out on Saturday that RW Mats Zuccarello had reportedly inked a two-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL. Zucc's agent denied those rumors,though according to Katie Strang of ESPN, Zuccarello apparently will eventually sign with Metallurg Magnitogorsk if no teams offer him an NHL contract

Zuccarello will officially be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, when his two-year deal with the Rangers expires.

Zucc certainly won't get paid any more by a team in the NHL than what KHL teams are willing to pay him, so the fact that he's holding off on accepting a deal to play in the KHL tells me he really would love for an NHL team to give him another opportunity at cracking an NHL lineup somewhere. We'd heard rumblings over the past few years that Zuccarello wanted a trade or to be released from his contract so he could go back to play in Europe, though both he and Glen Sather denied those rumors on several occasions. Nevertheless, I get the impression from everything I've read that Zuccarello simply is tired of playing in the AHL, and I can't say I really blame him. He's proven he can dominate in Europe and the minors, but when it comes to the NHL his play has been very inconsistent. I definitely don't see a place for him on the Rangers going forward, and I think if he had any value to other NHL teams they would've explored trading for him last year. But teams can never have enough forward depth, so we'll see what happens.

I've never been that high on Zuccarello and have always felt like he was a long shot to make it in the NHL because of his small size. When you're a small player you have to have such good hands and puck control to make up for it, and Zucc really didn't flash much of either outside of a few times. I certainly hope he latches on with another NHL team, though, and can continue living his dream of playing in the NHL.

Reports: Chris Kreider Agrees To 3-Year Entry Level Deal With Rangers

Multiple media outlets, including the always reliable Bob McKenzie of TSN, are reporting that the Rangers have signed their 2009 first round draft pick, Chris Kreider, to a three-year Entry Level contract. The Rangers have not officially confirmed the deal yet, but Larry Brooks of the New York Post says that Kreider will report to the Rangers tomorrow to sign his contract, which will then make the deal official.

Larry Brooks reports that Kreider's deal will be worth $1.3 million per season. According to Bob McKenzie, he'll get no signing bonus for this season or have a salary for the playoffs, but will get bonuses for the remainder of the playoffs for games that he plays in.

Click below to read more on the Rangers signing Kreider.

Chris Kreider's Boston College Eagles Advance To NCAA Frozen Four

If the Rangers really want Chris Kreider to join their team this season, they're going to have to wait a little bit longer. With their dominating 4-0 win against Minnesota Duluth yesterday, Kreider's Boston College Eagles moved on and advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four for the 10th time in the last 15 years. That means, of course, that Kreider's college hockey season isn't over yet, and the Rangers cannot sign him until the season is officially over.

There's no guarantee that the Rangers will sign Kreider immediately after Boston College's season ends, but I'm sure that's their intention. Whether or not he actually plays for the NHL club or joins the Connecticut Whale for their playoff run remains to be seen. I know Glen Sather said he expects to sign Kreider as soon as his season is over and I'm sure the Rangers would love to have him as an addition to their roster for the playoffs, but they'll have to decide if it's worth it to waist an entire year of his Entry Level contract on less than half a season. It also would be a lot to expect the kid to go directly from playing a full college season to an NHL team in the middle of a Stanley Cup run while having to learn a whole new system for a head coach he's never played for before.

We'll see what happens. I don't want the Rangers to rush the kid along and risk stunting his growth just to add another offensive player to the postseason roster, though the Rangers have definitely played it smart with the way they've brought along their recent top prospects like Carl Hagelin, Ryan McDonagh, Tim Erixon and Derek Stepan. It's clear they have a plan in place and wouldn't stick the kid in the NHL if they didn't feel he was ready.

And let's face it - if the Rangers do in fact add Chris Kreider to their NHL roster and they go onto win the Cup this year, that alone will be all that matters and Glen Sather will look like a genius.