To watch this "kind and gentler" Tortorella is amusing because you can take what he says in the media with a grain of salt right now. Look at what is not being said but watch his actions as you can see that Tortorella is giving those four or five unnamed players all the rope they need to hang themselves out of his lineup.
It is as if Tortorella has his own plan to run the Rangers and it does not include Glen Sather's ideas. Schoeny and Tortorella have their own system from their days in Phoenix, they have always preferred attack hockey instead of the Sather puck carrying defenseman.
Tortorella is going out of his way to praise his very fragile team and you just know that is not him. If there are any players that you can get an idea as to who Tortorella wants to build the team around then watch Drury and Dubinsky not Gomez and Naslund.
Yes I know that Tortorella is not playing to lose but it is in his best interests to lose these 3 games right before the trade deadline. Lose these 3 and the Rangers have a very good chance to drop all the way to 10th in the standings.
The goal has to be to handcuff the kinds of moves that Sather would want to make at the trading deadline. You have to think that Schoeny talked Sather into hiring Tortorella and forced the issue by refusing to coach the Rangers for the second time.
The one question has to be asked is where exactly does Schoeny fit in with all of this? How does he really go from not wanting to coach the Rangers to willing to jump in as one of Tortorella's assistants?
This may come across as some kind of "X Files" plot but you have Schoeny with his former assistant now as the Ranger's head coach, next season Tortorella gets his old assistant Sullivan from Tampa freeing Schoeny to return to the front office. So why not think that losing could force a "palace coup"?
Think back to right before the lockout when Sather called both the fans as well the media "assassins" for the way he felt he was being treated. For those of you who think that those "Fire Sather" chants are worthless think again.
You are correct that James Dolan is not going to fire Sather but those chants can force Sather back into the shadows where he was for the first 2 years after the lockout. In those 2 years, Maloney ran the front office, Schoeny Hartford and Renney had a say in who was on his roster.
We never saw or heard from Sather, it was Maloney or Renney doing all the talking. Now it is Tortorella's time and IF you really want to see him make it then increase the volume of those chants. Make the Garden the last place Sather wants to be.
Make Sather hate the Ranger fans again to the point when he lets Schoeny, Clark and Tortorella make the moves. If you really want to see the Rangers win then hope for the losses and then help Tortorella with your voices.
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Just Chris Doyle in action on Thursday evening as his Prince Edward Island Rocket lost to the Halifax Mooseheads 4-2. It appears the number 2 was the key to Doyle's evening as he was a -2, took just 2 shots, took 2 minute minor (which gave the Mooseheads the power play that led to their first goal) and only won 2 faceoffs.
Nobody is talking but that injured disc in his back that bothered Doyle earlier this year has to be why Doyle has been so ineffective the last month. Doyle has seen his monthly point totals shrink to next to nothing.
On December 28th, Doyle was 21-29-50, now he is 24-37-61 so it is very hard to think that he simply stopped playing but rather his injured back is what is hurting his game. 3 goals in the last 2 months (with 2 coming in 1 game) say that perhaps it might be best for Doyle to shut down and get fully healthy.
Nobody is talking but that injured disc in his back that bothered Doyle earlier this year has to be why Doyle has been so ineffective the last month. Doyle has seen his monthly point totals shrink to next to nothing.
On December 28th, Doyle was 21-29-50, now he is 24-37-61 so it is very hard to think that he simply stopped playing but rather his injured back is what is hurting his game. 3 goals in the last 2 months (with 2 coming in 1 game) say that perhaps it might be best for Doyle to shut down and get fully healthy.
1 comment:
Tortorella's system has already been a significant improvement. The team has been dominating and getting chances left and right, but the problem is simple: Lack of conditioning from the Renney system and the fact that we have no one who can score! I'd give anything for a Kovalchuk if it meant dumping Drury and Gomez.
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