Rangers News: WJC, Transactions, etc.

by Brandon LeBourveau
on

Well, it seems as though the Rangers currently find themselves in the midst of yet another 4 game losing streak this season as they head into Dallas for a game on New Year’s Eve. The Rangers should have won their last 3 games, all losses to Nashville, Carolina and Atlanta. The 2nd year Thrashers destroyed the Rangers last night in every category en route to a 4-1 victory. Mike Richter came back from injured reserve, but he didn’t look any better than what he did a week ago. However, as ironic as it may seem, there is some bright spots currently in Ranger Land and it comes from their prized young prospects, who are currently performing well at the World Junior Championships in Moscow, Russia. Here is some news on how they are doing, and some other transactions that have occured in the last few days.

World Junior Championships

  • Jamie Lundmark and team Canada have played 2 games since I last updated. Lundmark scored a goal on a 2-on-1 in Canada’s 2-2 tie with Finland yesterday, and today Lundmark went scoreless in a 3-1 loss to highly touted prospect Ilya Kovalchuk and the mighty Russians. Lundmark currenlty has 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) and 2 penalty minutes in 3 games so far. Canada is currently 1-1-1.

    • Read more»

Blockbuster Deal Bruin???

by Shane Walsh
on

The only thing falling faster than the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the attendance level at the Fleet Center; home of the Boston Bruins. Owner Jeremy Jacobs is not pleased that attendance has fallen over 10% since last season, and has submitted his approval for management to make necessary changes to put people back in the seats.

A top on the agenda is the search for a superstar to draw attention. While it’s impossible for Mario Lemieux to trade himself, there has been a rekindled rumor of a possible trade involving the Bruins and the Phoenix Coyotes. Allegedly, the Bruins would receive Massachusetts natives Jeremy Roenick and Keith Tkachuk, winger Shane Doan and hold out goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. In exchange, the Coyotes receive center Joe Thornton, winger Sergei Samsonov, goalie Byron Dafoe, and a conditional first round draft pick should Roenick and Tkachuk agree on contract extensions.

The Bruins are fighting for a playoff spot, something they have missed twice in the last four years. It’s evident to the organization that fans are not supporting the team in this rebuilding period, and changes are imminent. The primary focus is to bring in a mix of size, skill, and experience; key ingredients the Bruins are lacking.

“We have some areas of concern,” said Bruins GM Mike O’Connell. “It looks like we need to do something, we‘re looking for help. We have to be more consistent. I don’t know if we have that in our organization.”

This is not the first time Khabibulin and Roenick have been mentioned in trade rumors involving the Bruins thi Read more»

Czech Republic vs. Kazakhstan WJC game recap

by Robert Neuhauser
on
Just 18 hours after they celebrated the 2:1 win over Sweden, the Czechs were again
in the CSKA Arena in Moscow to play a WJC game. This time it was one of the weaker teams of the Group A,
team of Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs had the confidence down after their 1:9 loss in the opener
against Team USA. So the Czechs had a compulsary win on the schedule. They could score some goals
and mainly take care of themselves, nobody wants to get injured in a game against a weaker team.
Only forward Vadim Sozinov, a Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick and an Ottawa 67′s player
is a more known player on this team. But about a half of this team are players born 1982 or younger
and they may have some chance at the NHL draft after they become more experienced. Because
this Kazakh team knows he is not going to win the WJC – they want to gain experience.But there may
be a little problem with the Czech hockey players at the international stage – when they’re going
to face an easy opponent, some of the players don’t give their maximal effort and say to themselves -
this are ONLY Kazakhs, we beat them anyway. So head coach Jaroslav Holik had to ensure that all of
the players are motivated. The teams went on the ice and it looked like he succeeded in this task.

Just after 2 minutes of the game Radim Vrbata stole the puck and went with Ladislav Vlcek on the net
of Kazakhstan. Vrbata passed the puck to Vlcek who deked the Kazakh goalie Kolyuzhny and scored the
first goal. But after three minutes Vadim Sozinov showed why is he a Maple Leafs draft choice and
why is he able t Read more»

Czech Republic vs. Sweden WJC game recap

by Robert Neuhauser
on
The young Czechs opened their schedule at the WJC on Tuesday, December, 26th with
the game against Sweden. The event took place in front of 1500 spectators at the CSKA Arena
in Moscow at 4:30 p.m. (Russian time). The Swedes presented much less hyped squad than last
year when their roster included the likes of Daniel and Henrik Sedin or Henrik Zetterberg, all
of whom are expected to be future NHL stars. But don’t judge the Swedes wrong, their players
have loads of talent and also this year’s team has NHL prospects on the roster, for example
Henrik Lundqvist, NY Rangers goaltending prospect, Lars Jonsson future Boston Bruins rearguard
and a lot of prospects at forward – Jonas Andersson and Daniel Widing (both Nashville), Jari Tolsa
and Per Backer (both Detroit), Jonas Nordqvist of Chicago or Tim Eriksson, a Los Angeles Kings
talent. Two huge talents contains also the Swedish roster, Boston Bruin Martin Samuelsson and a
2001 highly touted prospect Fredrik Sjostrom. So it’s for sure that the Swedes aren’t weak – they
are never weak at the WJC. And this team was the first opponent of the Czechs on their way to
defend the championship title.

As goalie Tomas Duba stated in an interview, the whole team was nervous before the puck dropped.
But after this happened, there was no sign of nervousness. The young Czechs played great defensively
and it was clear that this game won’t be a high-scoring contest. The Czechs were faster, more
aggresive and created some scoring chances. Tomas Duba in the net wasn’t very busy during
the first period. Henrik L Read more»

Sens prospect update

by Richard Polonsky
on

The look at Senators prospects and how they are doing this year.

Petr Schastlivy:

GM G A P +/- PIM
14 12 3 15 3 7

Anton Volchenkov:

Volchenkov is Ottawa’s only first rounder not playing in the NHL (Daigle being the exception). He will need time to develop, so don’t expect him for another couple years. He is physically strong and solid on his skates. He has made the Russian squad for the World Junior Championships while playing for Krylia Sovetov of the Russian second division. Scouts said he was the best blueliner at a recent 1981-born tournament in Sweden.

Teemu Sainomaa:

Playing for Jokerit of the Finnish elite league, Teemu is getting limited ice time because of his age. He has been selected to play for Finland’s National Junior team for the WJC.

Todd White:

Leads Grand Rapids in scoring (27-19-15-25) and is a major reason for their early success.

Alexandre Giroux:

Was invited to Canadian National Junior selection camp but was among first cuts. Among the leaders in QMJHL with 63 points in 38 games playing for the Hull Olymiques.

Simon Lajeunesse:

Having a bad year on a bad team sportng a 3.95 GAA to go with a 9-19-1 record.

Antione Vermette:

Right behind Giroux in the scoring department with 62 points in 41 games for the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL.

Jan Bohac: Read more»
HF Boards