The Dark Ranger: Tying Up the Last Loose End

Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More fourteen years ago, this site emerged as a means (or an outlet) to tell some truth'isms about the game post-lockout, rather than the crud fed to us through knuckleheads like Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings universe. Today, there are a hundred Rangers sites and is thankful and grateful to all those that have come after him, but honorable thanks go to his fellow Dark-writers, Graying Mantis and J_Undisputed. And "Let's Go Rangers!"

Bio of General Ganz

General Ganz is a cynical yet well-informed student of the human spirit. He's a professional of sorts, with a post-graduate education, some experience working in real companies, and some limited athletic ability. The total small package. He got picked on a fair bit as a kid, and he experienced his first human-non-relation kiss in his teens. He also grew up on the other side of the tracks, thereby helping to cultivate a healthy contempt for dreamers and optimists whose rosy upbringing gave them something to smile about, even when "life produced lemons." Like it or not, his only mission is to point out the potholes you're lucky enough to miss on your drive to work. To find the blemish on your daughter's carefully-stitched (and not-yet-paid-for) wedding dress. To take that little smidgen of hope that your favorite hockey teams fill you with, and pour orange paint on it. Oh, and he is a Blueshirts fan, and takes most of his fashion direction from Ron Duguay (whose name he dropped as a way to close the deal on that first kiss).

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Tying Up the Last Loose End

I know this news is a little late, but here’s my take on the Fredrik Sjostrom deal. Freddie was the last Ranger who wasn’t signed, so acquiring him was the last player that the Rangers needed to worry about locking up. Sjostrom signed a one year $840,000 contract, and as I have said in prior posts, I love Sjostrom’s game. Tom Renney and Glen Sather love Sjostrom’s game. Fred plays what I like to call “high-octane hockey”: he hits hard, skates fast, is defensive minded and has a nice scoring touch that I believe is about to burst. Renney said in an interview during last season’s playoffs that he wanted to give Sjostrom more playing time than he was getting, but his main goal was too shift Sjostrom into a Ranger’s role at a slow pace, avoiding any stalls in his New York Ranger development. Sjostrom can play on the second, third or fourth line, and fit very comfortably on each. He has a defensive head on his shoulders much like Jay Pandolfo, he can take the body like Darcy Tucker (circa 2001) and can skate faster and dangle nastier than he is given credit for. When given the necessary time to settle in and develop chemistry with the most likely trio of Dubinsky centering Prucha and Sjostrom (Great 3rd line, so keeping my fingers crossed on this one), don’t be surprised to see him explode to a very attainable 20-25+ goal(s) season. Sjostrom can be used on the penalty kill as well, as we saw the coaching staff utilize his speed and defensive capabilities at the end of the season in 2007, playing with Gomez, Drury and Dubinsky on more than one occasion and killing penalties in vital playoff situations. Especially if our beloved Brendan Shanahan is out the door, Sjostrom is a more than substantial fill-in for the veteran PK killer. There’s a nice piece over at Blue Notes by Steve Zipay who has an e-mail from Sjostrom talking about next season and his signing. A dear journalist friend of mine by the name of Marty “The Moose” Hunter got in contact with me yesterday with interesting tidbits about the summer musings of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, but I’ll keep that on the DL for now, or at least until my next posting…

~syr11~