Make Room for MCCabe

According to TSN.CA: Florida Panthers captain Bryan McCabe has been traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Tim Kennedy and a third-round draft pick. Read the full story here.

In addition to scoring from the Blue line, Perhaps McCabe will be able to use his experience as captain to provide some added calming influence for when things get a little frantic and the teams energy disperses and mistakes begin to snowball. If not, its only a rental till July 1st. At which point, should we decide to keep him or he decide he wants to stay, he can be signed to a new (maybe less expensive contract.

As for Kennedy, he seemed to have a lot of hustle early on and be the type of player that could excel in this young leg, grinding system. Was he another Callahan? I guess the Panthers will have a chance to find that out. The 3rd round pick. Eh well.... A few seasons ago, we seemed like a team that should be grasping for our picks like Rosie O'Donnell for the last jelly donut. But our farm system seems to be a lot more effective with Schoeny back there cracking the whip and helping develop our younger guys. So I'm willing to let a pick slide here and there. At the very least come July 1st, we'll still be free up of Kennedy's money and Kreider would be that much closer to making the team.

Sound Off, Ranger Fans... Will McCabe make a difference? We want your Opinions.

Till next Time Ranger Fans,

J_Undisputed

A Symbolic Knuckle Sandwich, Blueshirts 5, Panthers 0

What a treat!

New York Ranger goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist stopped 23 shots in his eighth shutout for the Rangers against the Florida Panthers 5-0. The Panthers seemed to have little left after pulling out a 2-1 overtime win at Philadelphia on Saturday night as The Blueshirts mauled them from start to finish. The Rangers are now (32-24-8) sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 19 games left in the season. Anything can happen, but these two important wins are proof that this team's offense is coming together. Official recap here.

I am surprised to say this, but the game belonged to our Captain Mr. Jags! Not only did Jaromir Jagr score his second goal in two nights, he reminded us again why he is the All-Star we know -- a sweet 'give and go' to Sean Avery, duping Panthers goalie Vokoun and sliding an impressive goal in net (right! I remember this guy!). Post game he even sounded like our Captain.

"Once you're winning, you feel confidence about your system, about your game," Jagr said. "We had the same thing last year. We needed to win a lot of games at the end of the season to make the playoffs and I think this year we realize it, too."

Trade bait Marek Malik scored his first goal of the season, plus an assist -- hailed by the press as some hero of the game (hardly!) -- truth be told, if he had missed the perfect setup he would have been sent to Hartford -- but he did play a good game of hockey worthy of increasing his trade value by the deadline.....tomorrow.

Speaking of which, there seems to be very little movement this season in trades -- the Rangers are mentioned in every trade possibility - which is humorous - but the most believable trade rumors could be future New York Ranger Dan Boyle from Tampa Bay and/or Bryan McCabe of the Maple Leafs. Tomorrow's deadline strikes and hopefully it's Lightning. ;) Superhero defenseman Marek Malik still must go!

We see a rematch of the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, 7pm EST in Raleigh -- stay tuned and 'Let's Go Rangers!' (feels nice to say that again).

tdr