Greetings hockey fans! Let me begin by responding to Stratto. Although no longer rookies, Callahan, Dawes, and Dubinsky are still the " young guys" of the Rangers team. Through last season and parts of the season before all three have at some point been looked at as the best up and coming young Ranger. Now with all three of them developing and establishing a more constant role I think Dubinsky has stood out as the best of the three. Dawes and Callahan have been streaky, putting together some hot streaks and then getting quiet for a while (Dawes is quite cold so far this season), but ever since Dubinsky broke the ice and got the scoring going about twenty games in to last season he has not really slowed down. I think you will see him score 30 goals this year, have 65-75 points, a great plus minus, and will even drop the gloves a few times. Of coarse everything I just said was offensively speaking, I have not forgotten about Staal and Girardi. They have both been solid and I feel they will be on the Rangers blue line for seasons to come.

Over the past week we have seen the top dogs continue to play well, but I have changed my opinion on a few teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs young lineup has held up a lot better than I had anticipated. They are still under .500 but have managed to pull out a couple of wins. They are playing tough, taking teams to overtime, and getting themselves some points. My new pick for the worst team in the NHL is the New York Islanders. What can I say, this Rick Dipietro seems to be made of glass and they are just awful. The Ducks and Flyers must have read my column last week and been pissed because both have been racking away the points since I questioned their slow starts...... you are welcome guys! Another undefeated team bit the dust as of Monday when the Senators layed a beating on the Sabres. This game got ugly with a post game altercation involving Jarkko Ruutu in the hallway. Be sure to keep an eye on these two teams when they play eachother! One other thing worth mentioning is that the Wild are still undefeated and continue to win without Marian Gaborik. I had them making the playoffs for sure but can they contend with the Red Wings and Sharks for top dogs in the west? We will have to see how they hold up when they play head to head with those teams.

So aside from recapping the last week I thought I would stir up a little bit of controversy and hopefully some of you out there will have an opinion to share. So here we go: I hate Sidney Crosby and Martin Brodeur!! So you are saying to yourself " here we go another pissed off biased Ranger fan trying pretending to be neutral for the sake of writing a hockey column and he just can't do it" WRONG i've payed careful attention to this for two years and absolutely convinced this is true!! Is anybody else sick of these two players being spoiled by officials. They get every call while there are guys in the league that can't buy a call. Every time I watch these guys I have to listen to announcers praise them but all I seem to see is them throwing themselves on the ice and drawing penalties.

I will start with Brodeur. He will break Patrick Roy's record for wins very soon. I guess you can't argue with that, or can you. He had one of the best defensive teams in NHL history in front of him for more than half of his career, the defense that almost ruined hockey by eliminating scoring (I am referring to the trap). I believe that many, not any, but many other good goaltenders could have posted those numbers facing 15-20 shots per game for 10 years.

As for Crosby well this is easier, I don't even have to argue with numbers because he has not been the best anything since coming to the NHL. His numbers are great, but i'm not saying he sucks, I am saying he is overrated and not the best. The numbers speak for me on that one. He is not the next Wayne Gretzky, there won't be a next Wayne Gretzky, so lets take this kid off his high horse, stop giving him every call and make him stay on his feet and play hockey!

Till next time........ look forward to responses!