Thoughts and Musings

It’s Thursday. You know what that means: Thoughts and Musings. Or, my once a week appearance on the site. Seriously, thanks to Dave and crew for allowing me to write a post while I’m nowhere near the Rangers. And now that many sports streaming sites have been shut down in the past few days, it will be even harder. Have to hope for Versus games (like the Pittsburgh one) or hope the play the Flyers. It’s tough. But, we plug on.

-I did get to watch the Penguins game. Loved the start, didn’t mind the finish, didn’t like the middle. Getting Cally and Dubi back is obviously a huge coup for this team. Getting Prospal back will be a huge coup for this team. I don’t mind losing in a shootout. It’s a crapshoot. We got the point, and we move on.

-Still, if Crosby and/or Malkin were playing last night, hard to imagine even getting to a shootout.

-And why did Wolski, MZA and pretty much everyone go 5 hole on Fleury? Wolski and Zuke are known for their moves, not for the shot. Have to use a deke there. He clearly wasn’t giving anything up in the 5 hole.

-Speaking of shootouts, I loved the Skills competition in the All-Star game. I think the game is largely unnecessary. No defense, it’s kind of boring. But the skills competition was fun. Get to see the players relaxed, having a good time. I enjoyed it.

-Back to Rangers. I think the Prospal return will not only help the Rangers as a whole, but help Gaborik specifically. He’s struggling, no doubt. He had a lot of success with Prospal last year. Hey, maybe they catch lightning in a bottle, and Gaborik gets hot again.

-As much as I love Boyle, I don’t think it’s a good thing for a 3rd line center to be your leading goal scorer. He’s been great, and is so important to this team. But you’re paying Gaborik to be the leading scorer, not Brian Boyle.

-I think it was a classy move by Prospal to give up the A. Staal has earned it. He should keep it. Classy move.

-On the same token, I don’t think Drury should give up the C. I may be in the minority here, but I do think he’s a good captain, and his willingness to accept a reduced role and not complain about speaks volume about his character. Cally is the next captain, and will be once Drury is gone. But, there are worse captains than Chris Drury.

-We’re sure that Sauer and McDonagh are rookies, right? I mean, they’ve been terrific. Talk about a lot of young building blocks on defense. Staal, Girardi, Sauer, McDonagh, MDZ when he gets his game together, plus the guys in the minors. One of these guys can be used to get a good center. Good thing.

-MDZ really needs to spend time in the AHL, still. He looks better offensively, but defensively he’s lost. He’s 19, which can be hard to remember. He has a lot of potential, but also a lot of time. No need to rush.

-I also think they should bring back the Wolski-Stepan-MZA line and keep them together for the rest of the year.

-Snow interlude: Can the snow stop?  Like, now? Thanks.