They’ve already played a ton when you include the busy exhibition schedule traveling to Switzerland before a successful sweep of the Lightning in Prague. Then the Rangers returned home and got some much needed rest before pulling out their home opener last night over the Blackhawks despite not playing their best which drew the ire of Tom Renney, who knows his team needs to be better if they’re to continue their best start since 1989-90.

Tonight, the competition goes up a couple of notches in the City of Brotherly Love when they visit the archrival Flyers in front of “hockey Mom” Sarah Palin in their home opener. If you’ve seen mine and Hasan’s predictions, we both like this Flyer team a great deal and believe they’ll come out on top in the ultra competitive Atlantic as beast of the East. As for right now, that remains to be seen.

Figure a talented roster which includes Daniel Briere, new captain Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Joffrey Lupul, Scott Hartnell, Scottie Upshall, a healthy Simon Gagne, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Martin Biron to be a very good early test for the Blueshirts when they drop the puck in a couple of hours. They’ll be plenty rested too and full of energy.

The question is how does Renney play this back-to-back in a critical stretch which includes three in four nights when they return home to host another division foe the Devils Monday. Considering that he’s got three extra forwards to work with, the affable coach can bring in fresher legs if he so chooses. It would be wise to give Dan Fritsche a go tonight along with Petr Prucha. Heck. Even Patrick Rismiller stepping in for solid penalty killer Blair Betts might make sense. Though Renney is extremely loyal to the fourth line center and club enforcer Colton Orr perhaps to a fault.

There’s no doubt that the Ranger coach is a diplomat who never wants to diss players who have helped the franchise get back on track making the postseason the past three seasons. However, if he wants to take that next big step, Renney can’t play favorites here. It’s about what’s best for the team. Winning must take precedent. Even without Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka and Brendan Shanahan, expectations remain high for a younger faster club that features Nikolai Zherdev along with vets Markus Naslund and Wade Redden.

Giving a blow every now and then to a Betts or another support player takes advantage of the surplus of forwards he has been provided with. You have to figure at some point, the issue of only six D will get addressed by Glen Sather. For now, Renney can shuffle guys in or out. So, if that means sitting a Nigel Dawes for Prucha or Fritsche due to the left wing’s slow start, he should consider it.

When you have this kind of roster, spots can’t just be handed even if I like Dawes and feel he’s important to how the team performs. Competition can be a plus cause it will make players compete harder and realize that if they don’t give their best, they could be out of the lineup.

The next week promises to be very challenging with two Atlantic battles over the next three days before the Sabres and Maple Leafs visit MSG Wednesday and Friday. Oh. And this hectic schedule of six games in nine days concludes with a back-to-back visit to the defending champion Red Wings next Saturday. Factor in the Stars visit the following Tuesday and it’s seven in 11 days against pretty good competition.

This is an early opportunity for the team on Broadway to set a tone for 2008-09. Like Scott Gomez said last weekend in the Czech Republic, they can’t use the schedule as an excuse. They’re young and deep enough to get through these sort of stretches. That’s why Slats changed the roster increasing team speed.

It all begins tonight.

Hey everyone. My name is Lenny and I’ll be doing some New York Rangers blogging. It’s been a busy couple of days, so let’s get right to it.

July 31- Rangers sign Marcel Hossa to a 1 year, $780,000 contract. Hossa earned a $180,000 raise from last season. Hossa played a large part in helping the Rangers get to the playoffs last season, playing on the top line with Jagr and Nylander. He scored 10 goals and had 8 assists in 64 games.

August 1- Sean Avery awarded $1.9 million for 1 year by an arbitrator. NYR accepts. Avery registered 10 goals and 12 assists in 29 games with the Rangers last season.

Both of these moves were strong moves for the Rangers. Hossa provides a strong board presence, plays a strong, physical game and has always been tabbed as “underachieving” when it comes to his point totals. Avery seemed to rediscover himself in New York following the trade last season. Instead of being an arrogant distraction, Avery became an agitating, intimidating force that had surprising offensive talent. Avery also provides penalty killing ability, which the Rangers took a hit on when Ortmeyer moved on to Nashville and Cullen was traded back to Carolina.

The biggest few questions that remain:
1) Who will be backing up Lundqvist this season? Valiquette? Montoya? Free Agent signing?
2) Who will be centering the third line? Avery? Dubinski? Another prospect? Michael Peca?
3) Who will be the starting six defensemen? Is Kasper back to NHL form?

There are plenty of possibilities that can happen over the next 63 days before the Rangers’ season opener. Feel free to discuss this and let me know how my first try at this looks.

From KK

Over the Summer, diehard Devils fan, Battle of NY blogger, and Kukla’s Korner “broadcast contributor” Steve Lepore will chronicle his trips to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ during it’s ongoing construction, on target for a grande opening on October 25th (for a Bon Jovi Concert) and a Devils opening October 27th (against the Senators).
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By Steve Lepore

Sure, it can be a daunting place to visit. Once in a while, you’ll be propositioned by a man selling cheap roses for Valentine’s Day (even though it’s the middle of July) and the supposed “Newark Boys & Girls Clubs” selling M & M’s. But there’s something that’s a little lost in all the perception and the supposed “evil” that comes out of New Jersey’s second most dangerous city (#1 is Camden, which is basically a suburb of Philly, but no one complains about Flyers games being in a bad neighborhood).

Newark has some stunningly beautiful scenery. The architechture of the buildings, many constructed in the 1960s and 70s, fits the “Brick City” moniker Newark has embraced. The arena will be no different, and add to a beautiful Newark skyline that includes the Prudential building and the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, deemed it’s name by John Paul II in a late 90’s visit that was attended by President Clinton. The perception of Newark as a city of renissance is long gone, but the business and the architechture they started back then are still here.

That’s why, as I headed down toward the Prudential Center on the corner of Broad and Market (Broad Street Bullies? Cam Janssen will have something to say about the moniker) I realized: boy, this place could be something. This is coming from someone who worked for New Jersey’s largets city’s other professional sports franchise: The Newark Bears. Okay, they’re sort of a “minor league” team. But they’re independent of the majors, so who’s to say if their pros or not. What I’m trying to say is that Newark could become a sports town, united by Jeff Vanderbeek’s vision of a sports and entertainment destination for everyone. Remember, the Devils are coming here to be the anchor tenant, but there’s also Seton Hall hoops - in a location much closer to the West Orange main campus than the Meadowlands is - and a Major Indoor Soccer League franchise, while Vanderbeek claims “the usual suspects” (AFL, NLL, etc.) are also in talks to bring clubs here. Hopefully, the Devils are building something.

So after a short visit, and some pictures (I didn’t get as close as these guys, but I tried) I headed home. As I drove back to my suburban home, I saw a huge billboard on the way. It was in big, bold, black letters on a white background and said:

“Stop the Newark Killings! From the Newark Teachers Union.”

It reminded me that there’s a long way to go. In both promoting the sport in the city, and in the teacher’s union’s long fight with the city itself.

But it’ll be a journey that Devils fans will no doubt enjoy.

It’s a slow week. The Islanders made news on Monday and after that press conference there isn’t much noteworthy news to report on the Island. The schedule for 2007-’08 came out and it’s not like the NFL schedule where only 16 games are played and you can break all of the games down. It is nice to see the Isles will face the new look Rangers on the 10th of October. The new guys on the Island will get their first taste of the bitter battle of these rival franchises and hopefully that will be a good way to set the tone for the rest of the year.

And then there is the always ridiculous trade rumors being floated around. Some “experts” and their “reliable sources” say the Isles are in the market to acquire a defensemen, whether it be Ed Jovonaski, Pavel Kubina, or Bryan McCabe, all of which will never happen. Personally, I think that for the next couple of weeks Islanders fans can kind of sit back and relax. I’m going to enjoy the rest of the summer, maybe take a few shots at the Rangers and their growing salary cap problems or wonder why in the world Brent Sutter would ever leave western Canada to coach for Crazy Lou in the swamp. It’s nice to see the other two local teams with problems of their own, makes us Islander fans kind of feel normal. You know, as normal as you a fan can feel when the team owner is insane and our former backup goalie is GM.

Through the innovation that is Islander TV, I was able to see the presser where Billy Guerin was given his brand new jersey complete with number 13 and the captains “C” to boot. I was surprised with the appointment and apparently Guerin was too. In his introduction speech Guerin mentioned that Garth Snow informed him of the decision at lunch yesterday, but Guerin was still “completely surprised, but thrilled about this tremendous honor.” Honor indeed. Guerin will follow the lineage of former great Isles captains like Bryan McCabe, Trevor Linden, Kenny Jonsson, and of course Alexei Yashin.

Of course I’ve never played in the show and I am sure there is a certain equation when a captain is named to an NHL squad, but is it just me or should’ve Snow and Nolan maybe waited until training camp to see how Guerin interacts with his teammates before giving him the leadership role? Let’s look at some other candidates for the captaincy that could have been chosen instead. Mike Sillinger wore the “A” last year and is a veteran player, but he’s bounced around a lot and probably has a spare suitcase already packed just in case Garth calls him up and says he’s been traded for the 6,391st time. So Sillinger fits in as a good choice for the “A” but not the “C.” Next up is Brendan Witt who also wore the “A” last year. He’s served as a captain before in Washington, but he also wears number 32 to honor the player he looked up to in Washington, Dale Hunter. As an Isles fan, I’m gonna have to pass on the Witt as captain campaign. After that its slim pickings in the veteran leadership department, maybe Trent Hunter but he doesn’t exactly have a captain-esque resume but for the future he could mature into an NHL captain.

With that being said, I guess Bill Guerin as captain makes sense, there really is no other quality choice. Guerin’s a veteran in the league, well respected, and puts up good numbers. Now his playoff performances leave a lot to be desired but before we discuss those merits, well the Islanders will need to make the post season first.

Normally I’d introduce myself to the faithful Battle of New York readers, but we’ll have to save that for another time. Any introduction I could offer would be grossly overshadowed by the huge free agent signings of Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie. As you can see, I am an Islanders fan and a pessimistic one at that.

At first news of these signings I could already hear the snickering from the Ranger fans and the comments from every other hockey know-it-all mocking the Islanders for overpaying to land an aging, past his prime free agent and an under-achieving, diminutive center with attitude problems. I decided to let the dust settle and do some homework before rushing to judge Garth Snow’s first free agent signings.

$9 million dollars over 2 years is a lot of money to you and I, and it would probably net you a nice house in Syosset, a Land Rover, and all the Ralph’s Italian ice you can eat. To other NHL franchises who don’t have the cap room (I’m looking at you Vancouver) this is also a lot of money. But for the Isles who lost 5 of their top point producers from last year and had the money and cap room to spare, it’s a good a deal. No really, that’s not sarcasm, it’s a good deal. Argue all you want about Jason Blake being younger and the Isles losing him for only $500K more and that Guerin is older, but the reality of it is, signing Bill Guerin to this contract is a good deal. The Rangers and Flyers have already gone out and proved that in the “New NHL” teams are going to shell out top dollar to the higher end Free Agents, so the Islanders are just following suit.

Billy Guerin is a solid contributor. He’s a goal scorer and is good to light the lamp about 25-30 times a year. I’m leaving out his two 40 goal seasons with the Bruins as I’m pretty sure I could pot about 15 goals in the show if I was playing on a line with Joe Thornton as my center. Even if Guerin is turning 37 in November, he is still durable and his track record will prove he’s a shoe in to be in the line up every night. Not to mention if this signing doesn’t work out, the San Jose Sharks showed that a team will shell out a prospect and high pick for Guerin’s less then stellar playoff services. I actually like what Garth Snow has done here, it’s not a quick fix, it’s not that long of a contract, and if its not the right fit Guerin can be shipped out for future parts.

Let’s move on to Andy Hilbert’s one time Michigan Wolverine teammate, Mike Comrie. Once again, everyone is going to focus on his price tag ($3.375-million), his lack of consistent production and games played, his lacking defensive game, and we can’t forget his bad attitude. I’m hesitant on liking this pick up, but there is an upside with Ted Nolan who has proven in the past he can get the best out of his players. Is Comrie an ideal first line center? No, Not at all. But was Derek Plante or Brian Holzinger for Buffalo back in ‘96-’97? I think not. With any luck and Ted Nolan cracking the whip, Comrie may just turn out to be a nice pick up who uses a solid year on the Island only to skip town next summer for a better deal. (Hey, I said I was a pessimistic Islander fan.)

These are baby steps Garth is taking and they are baby steps in the right direction. Both signings have potential and for Islander fans, that’s a lot more potential then we had a few days ago.