Hello Dobberites!

First off I would like to thank Dobber, Angus and of course the PG staff for allowing us to be able to post our thoughts and fantasy insights on our favourite teams. In this section you will find up to the minute Ranger news and some post games thoughts from myself and of course, other Dobberites. I will also discuss the Rangers prospects as I try to watch as many games that the prospects are in (mostly OHL).

Oh and how about a little background on myself. I currently go to school in Ottawa which is probably making people wonder why they’re getting fantasy insight from someone who’s over 700km (He’s Canadian!) from MSG. I’ve been following this team basically since Pavel Bure was dealt to the squad back in 2001 and immediately fell in love with NY (so long Florida!). In 2005 I purchased centre ice and since then haven’t missed a beat.

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Here are some notes random notes on the Rangers after 22 games:

Lines:
Frolov-Stepan-Gaborik
Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
Prust-Boyle-Fedotenko
Avery-Christensen-White/Boogaard

D (seems to switch every game)
Staal-Girardi
Del Zotto-Eminger
Gilroy-Sauer

Top PP
Frolov-Gaborik-Stepan
Del Zotto - Girardi

Frolov-Stepan-Gaborik
- Derek Stepan has 6 pts in his last 6. He’s been playing steady time on the top line with Gaborik and Frolov.
- Alex Frolov has 11 pts in 22 games, 7 of those 11 pts have been scored with Gaborik in the lineup (4 of those 7 pts came in the same game)
- The Rangers are 6-3-1 with Gaborik in the lineup

Boyle:
- Brian Boyle’s Cy Young bid was snapped with an assist 2 games ago. 9G-1A
- Brian Boyle had 5 minutes and 3 seconds of PP time last season. He already has 10:58 this season (only 0:29 a game though)

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan
- Anisimov’s PP average TOI was 43 seconds last year, 2:47 this season
- Ryan Callahan leads the NHL in hits with 91 (9 above 2nd place Cal Clutterbuck). Boyle sits in 16th and Fedotenko sits in 21st
- Brandon Dubinsky’s shooting % is at a high 23.1% (good for 6th in the NHL)
- The Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan line has been in tact all season, but Dubinsky is not a LW on Yahoo!
- Dubinsky is in 4th in draws on the team, that’s probably why

The D
- The Rangers lead the NHL in blocked shots
- Dan Girardi is leading the way with 68 blocked shots (13 above the 2nd placed Lydman)
- The only top 10 category in the NHL Del Zotto is in is giveaways for D-Men
- Del Zotto is trying to play more defensively this year, could be why he has 6 pts in 22 games
- Dan Girardi scored his 1st goal in 20 games, now has 13 pts in 22 games playing top PP and a huge chunk of time even. (Note: Talked to Girardi’s parents in the offseason (haha) and they said that in his end of year interview Tort’s said ‘the biggest mistake I made all year was keeping you off the PP’)
- I don’t like Steve Eminger

The PP
- Rangers are 3 for 24 on the PP in the last 7 games.

Goalies
- Rangers are 5-2 in last 7 (Biron has won 4 of them)
- Biron has only allowed more than 2 goals in 1 start this season out of 7.

Boogaard:
- Derek Boogaard has 31 PIMs this year with 5 fights. That is $320,000 a fight so far (Pro rated thats around $64,000 a fight...how much do UFC fighters make?)
- If you want to convert that into dollars per goals...that’s $1.6M for each goal scored.
- According to hockeyfights.com voting, Boogey sits at 3-1-1 in tillies this season. Prust sits at 6 and 1

Avery:
- Avery has been playing around 7 minutes a night lately. Thats because of the emergence of Stepan and maybe he ticked off Torts somehow.
Injury Updates:
- From Andrew Gross: Rozsival participates in Rangers practice in non-contact jersey. Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal also on trip.
- Chris Drury is on the bench watching, will skate today (after team practice). Prospal will not
- Vinny Prospal is slated to come back mid-December
- No Steve Eminger is not injured


Random stuff:
- Olli Jokinen was luckily suspended for his return to NY yesterday. I wonder what the crowd would have done if Staal hit him instead of Stajan.
- As horrible as this sounds, it kind of felt good seeing that hit after last year when the Rangers lost Drury and Dubinsky in the same game against the Flames.
- Rangers have sold out only 5 of 12 games this year. Last year they sold out every game but one (against Nashville 13,128 of 18,200 on Feb 10, wow!)
- The Rangers new alternate jerseys are sick!
- Chris Drury should boost the Rangers faceoff % by a good 3%
- Christensen’s last 5 games of TOI: 10,13,13,13,10
- The Rangers have 7 games in the next 14 days: TB (A), FLA (A), NSH (A), PIT (H), NYI (A), NYI (H), OTT (H)
- FLA/NSH is B2B and NYI’s B2B games are home and home.
- From Zipay: NYR rankings after 1 week All Star voting: Staal, 43; Lundqvist, 49; Gaborik, 57; Avery 60; Dubinsky 92; Callahan 118.From me: Callahan has 3000 less votes than BizNasty2Point0.
- Connecticut Whale (Hartford Wolf Pack) has unveiled the jerseys for their arrival:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...64066240297808 In a facebook album?!
- Next Ranger game to appear on Canadian TV: Sens @ Rangers 5pm Sunday December 5th


Prospects:
- Christian Thomas is doing phenomenal in the OHL with 10 pts in his last 2 games (like the ramblings mentioned). Another Stumpy? Type in his name in ‘Google images’ if you want to see every other Christian Thomas in the world. As his points dictate, he has looked phenomenal this season...
- Thomas has 33 pts in 20 games in the O (good for 12th in the league)
- The Rangers dealt Nigel Williams today for Stu Bickel, no fantasy relevance
- Wade Redden 15 pts in 21 games, back to 50 point form...in the AHL
- Newly acquired Kolarik has 5 pts in 5 games for the Whale
- MZA the Norwegian Hobbit has 11 pts in 10 games this month. This is after 2 pts in his first 12.
- Tim Kennedy is being finely groomed for another team right now with 13 pts in 15 games in the A.
- Red flag: Grachev has 3 pts in 15 games (1 pt in last 11)
- Roman Horak had an 11 game pt streak this season, 29 in 21 games (2nd on team)
- Ryan Bourque ranks 2nd in PPG in the Q, picking up steam with 15 pts in 9 games
- Chris Kreider has 6 pts in 12 games so far this season...looks like he’s being used as a secondary forward this season for BC
- Dylan Mcilrath started the season with a dreadful -9 in his first 8. Since then, a +8. You won’t find offense in this guy as everyone should know by now

Some Ranger highlights this year:

Staal wiping out Stajan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfS4xpSjwm4
Footage of Bigfoot...I mean Boogaard’s lone goal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Qu4HSiofs
Nifty play by Dubinsky for Callahan’s ‘easiest tap-in of his career’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xenxq3RJbYo
Heavyweight bout between Orr and Boogaard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqsiOcPcSlA
Wiz saying Avery does something... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYeKEA5AoY
The ‘Suckerpunch’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNeERJeDnRM

If you like what you see, stay tuned as I’m going to be updating all year! I’ll get you guys up to the minute Rangers news and any questions I will do my best to give you the answer.

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Follow me for some fantasy hockey tweets @thelandshock

Nov 24: Michal Rozsival skating with team once again this morning wearing non contact jersey.

Nov 24: Torts says Rozsival should practice full tomorrow and is on target for weekend return

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Where will Drury slot in once he returns? Does he take his place next to Gaborik (like he did in his first, yet short comeback game this season) or will he play on the 3rd or 4th line? Who's the odd man out once Drury returns: Christensen or Stepan or maybe someone else?

Thanks.

Drury didn't mesh well with Gaborik last year so I doubt he'll take that spot back. The only reason he was in that spot when he returned earlier this season was because the team was desparate for offense and Stepan wasn't playing well. Now, Stepan is playing both ends of the rink and always seems to be finding the holes in the D.

I anticipate that Drury will man the 3rd line and Boyle will be pushed back to 4th line center. That'll be one tough like with Avery-Boyle-Boogaard. It's Stepan's job to lose on the top line and he isn't showing any signs of slowing up. With Christensen falling out of favour with Torts (like he has with numerous coaches prior), I anticipate that he'll be the likely candidate for the healthy scratch spot. Although, he may rotate with Boogey and White on the 4th line.

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Follow me for some fantasy hockey tweets @thelandshock

hey great stuff from you as always. even being a devil fan i still have interest in the rangers. mainly bc i own lundy in 2 pools.

so can we get some updates on lundy this season. whats going and is he going to return to form? has it been bad play on his side or the teams lack of defense??

Also for a rangers prospect. can we get the scoop on Werek.

thanxs again.

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12 team H2H Keeper League
g/a/+-/PIM/PPP/SHP/SOG/W/GAA/SV%/SHO
play 4c/4lw/4rw/6d/2g (2min start)
Center: Datsyuk, Getzlaf, Marleau, Ribiero, Brian Boyle
RW: Hossa, Horton, Downie, Franzen, vrbata, Cole
LW: Kovalchuk, D.Sedin, Semin, Fleischmann,
Defense : Enstrom, E.Johnson, Goligoski, Wisniewski, Hamilton
Goalies: Lundqvist, Brodeur, S.Mason, Garon

Farm noteables: Niederreiter, Avtsyn, Greiss, Frazee, Kinkaid

great stuff littleranger, welcome to the team.

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XBOX 360 Gamertag: praba911

Same thing for me with the Devils haha...I have Marty in a pool and Kovalchuk/Langenbrunner in a couple...the one year I invest in the enemy and look what happens! Haha

Lundy: Its been a little bad play from him, but mostly the lack of defense. I don't think hes to blame because they're hanging him out to try on tonnes of shifts. I can't count how many times he's faced a 2 on 1 or even a breakaway shorthanded. I think you should expect him to regain his composure in due time but its just not gonna be the same numbers as hes used to because they have 4D that are not playing like NHL D.

Eminger/Del Zotto as was mentioned in the ramblings a few days ago, is one of the worst D pairings in the NHL. Del Zotto is working on his D and strength along the boards (he was in Gary Roberts training) so I think its just a learning process for him. I can't count how many times Emingers had pucks chipped past him or when hes thrown hits at the worst times.


Sauer/Gilroy just are not NHL ready. I know they are 25+ years old, but Gilroy still thinks its college and tries to rush end to end or pinches when the forward covering is Boogaard or Prust...so it leaves Hank to fend off an odd man rush.

With this being said, Lundy has faced 30+ shots in 10 of his 15 starts...so maybe its a blessing that Biron is stepping up as he's bound to get more tired than usual with these save totals.

If anyone has any fear of Biron overtaking Lundy for the starting spot, DO NOT WORRY.
Biron has faced (Rank in Goals for): CGY(12th), MIN(26th), EDM(25th), BUF(21st), STL(20th), ATL(7th), TOR(27th).

Ive seen Werek play a few times on K-Town. He's already a pretty big boy a 6ft2 200 pounds. Hes a solid 2 way forward who isn't afraid to block a shot or take a hit to make the play. The one thing I noticed as I've read from many scouting reports is that he isn't the strongest of skaters. Hes above average at the OHL level...but it'll change when he makes the jump to the A. Id say we should expect him to be a 2nd or more likely 3rd line center at the NHL level. Hes still years away so he has plenty of time to work on his skating and improve his already solid 2 way game. I'd compare him to Craig Conroy.

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Thanks man and thanks again for the opportunity!

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Follow me for some fantasy hockey tweets @thelandshock

Lundqvist didn’t play his best game. His rebound control was questionable all night but it didn’t help that the puck was in the Rangers end for 80% of the night. After every whistle you can see an enormous frustration in Lundqvist face with how the D have left him alone quite often and with the TB players making a few runs at him. He looked like a disappointed Old Italian women after finding out her son is involved in organized crime after giving up his 5th goal. In the 3rd period Lundqvist regained his composure and looked great and even stopped a point blank Stamkos clapper.

Stamkos has of course looked phenomenal. I’ve never had a worried feeling in my stomach while watching a regular season game. And this kid along with Marty bring that worry to me every shift they are on the ice. Purcell would make a great short-term pickup with Lecavalier out.

Malone was taking out the garbage all night being all over Lundqvist and behind the D consistently. As the commentator put it, it’s hard for a D to be able to handle Malone due to his size in the new NHL. He gets behind the D man and in front of the goalie and he’s impossible to move.

The Rangers have matched up Staal/Girardi all night against Stamkos and St. Louis. Unfortunately, this has been one of Girardi’s worst games this year as he has been getting beat along the boards and Stamkos has always found a way behind the two.

Torts changed up the lines all over in the 3rd period. Anything to create goals!

Gaborik looked frustrated all game. Like any superstar, he hates to be outdone by another superstar.

Del Zotto doesn’t seem like a viable fantasy option this season. He’s in the sophomore slump and his play just isn’t where it was at the beginning of 09-10. I noticed last year he made tonnes of home run passes so eventually one would work out. This year he has taken this out of his game basically and his point totals are showing that. I could see a jump in Staal’s numbers as recently he’s jumped into a lot more plays than any other season.

The TB PP seemed to get the puck on every rebound and would always win the battles. The Rangers are going to love the return of Drury for PK sake.

Christensen-Dubinsky-Gaborik were out for the start of the 1st Rangers PP. Boyle-Stepan-Callahan jumped on for the second half. Dubinsky-Stepan-Callahan started the 2nd PP. Frolov-Stepan-Gaborik to start the 3rd PP. And on the 5 on 3, they ran 4 forwards with Callahan-Dubinsky-Gaborik-Stepan-Del Zotto.

Brian Boyle continues his Cy Young running with 10G-1A

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