Happy New Year!  For most teams we are officially half way through the season.  There have been some surprises, but I think the standings are beginning to look like most people predicted.  Washington and Boston have definitely surpasses expectations thus far, and many are surprised by the Devils success without Marty (I’m not) but aside from that the teams who were expected to be strong are playing up to expectations for the most part and teams expected to be weak are at the bottom of the standings as predicted.

I would like to speak about the New York Rangers.  I said from the beginning I am a die hard Ranger fan and the Rangers occupy a large percentage of my overall hockey knowledge.  But, I really was going to try not to focus on the Rangers any more than the other 29 NHL teams and thus far I have not.  This time I am going to because I think it is worth focusing on. Many may look at the standings and have seen the Rangers in first all season and now just a couple points out of first, but below the surface I see one of the most unlikable Ranger teams in many years, and one that will not make the playoffs if things do not change.  Now, here is how I can open this up to not just be about the Rangers.  After reading my upcoming analysis of the Rangers I hope fans of other teams will share through comments hometown analysis of other teams.  It doesn’t have to be negative like mine will be but enlighten us however you would like to.  Local, die hard, ticket holding fans I believe provide the ultimate insight in to a team; better than any website, or ESPN can give us.

So as I said before this is the most unlikable Ranger team that I have every watched (I have been actively following the Rangers since the 88-89 season).  Yes I know they missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons, but I seem to remember still enjoying live games and liking the team.  With the exception of Eric Lindros and Theo Fleury, I can remember having a lot to cheer for even though they were a losing team.  They had lingering players from the 94 team (two of which were Messier and Richter reaching career milestones), and they had exciting players like Mathew Barnaby and Sandy McCarthy that the fans loved.  This current team just does not seem to have anything too exciting.  Not only are they under achieving after a great start but other than Colton Orr having a good fight once in a while they can just put you to sleep watching a game.  Even King Henrik has been mediocre at best for about two months now and he continually throws temper tantrums when he has bad games, which for me is serious impacting his likeability.

This team needs a shake up and they need it quick.  First they need to fire Tom Renney.  I know this may sound crazy considering they have a winning record but that does not guarantee job security for a head coach, just ask Lou Lamarillo.  The Rangers have had success and three straight playoff appearances under Renney but have never had a good power play or played convincingly well for any long stretch of time (with the exception of the very end of the 06-07 season).  This current lineup of players playing under Renney is just not working.  Second, they need to work something out to bring back Avery.  This team looks exactly like the 06-07 Rangers before trading for Avery the first time.  They were flat and on their way to missing the playoffs. Avery came to town and was the spark the team needed, and if you ask me the Rangers of 06-07 from the end of February till they were eliminated by the Sabres were the best I have seen of that team probably since 1997.  They battled from outside of the playoff picture to be a sixth seeded team and gave the president’s trophy winning Sabres quite a run for their money. In fact, I feel if not for that last second Chris Drury goal in game 5 of the conference semi finals they would have won that series.  And finally speaking of Chris Drury, I do not believe the Rangers have him in the role where he performs best.  This guy has always been known as a winner and a clutch player, but not since coming to New York.  Drury performed best when he played more of a supporting role, or even a shared leadership role (like with Briere in Buffalo).  Putting the C on him and expecting him to be any kind of savior for the Rangers is not going to work.  Don’t get me wrong, he is a great captain, but he is not going to do what Jagr did in 05-06.

So there is my mid-season rant on what I’ve seen from the Rangers so far.  Again, this is not just a Ranger column but as a diehard fan I can give the most insight on them.  I hope fans of other teams will contribute to the current column by giving some hometown insight to some other teams with the comments.  Till next time hockey fans!