It just seems that if you took all the things that the Rangers have been accused of being and put them all into one package then the Rangers are without a doubt the most evil hockey franchise in history.
Here are 3 of the better known ones
The Rangers Prefer That Their Prospects Not Play In The NCAAs
This is one of my favorites as more than any other rumored Ranger crime this one has the least legitimacy to it. Most who make this accusation tend to not know the make up of the Ranger staff.
Yes the Rangers will try to get their prospects to leave school early if they feel they can offer something to the franchise. So does every other team in the NHL but in the case the Rangers when they are told no then they stop, respect the decision and move on.
The big deal being made over JT Miller's change of heart is overlooked by Carl Hagelin's 4 years at Michigan, Max Campbell's 4 years at Western Michigan and Chris Kreider's decision to play another year at Boston College.
While the microscope is all over Miller's decision then how come there has not been one word said about Steven Fogarty's decision to play in the BCHL for the 2011-12 season and THEN begin playing for Notre Dame in 2012-2013?
He is a 3rd round pick we know but he is also a product of the hockey factory AKA Edina HS. It is really silly to see others in the media making a big deal over what is really nothing.
Did we mention that the route Fogarty is taking will mean it could be as long as 5 years before the Rangers even see in in the system? Yep anti-NCAA for sure.
Wonder how many of them know that the guy who does the drafting, the player development and the scouting was a 3 time ECAC First Team All-Star? When the ECAC released their 50th anniversary team there was Clark on the first team.
Yes Clark is so Anti-NCAA that his son Brendan attended Merrimack before becoming a scout for the Rangers. We posted Jeff Gorton's background yesterday and why let a Master's degree get in the way of your career eh?
The Rangers Only Want English Speaking Players
Now this one dates back to when Luc Robitaille reportedly felt that former Ranger coach Colin Campbell had a thing against French speaking players in the Ranger locker room. It is an accusation that was more rumor than fact especially since both parties denied this publically.
Oh well Luc put up 2 twenty goal seasons for the Rangers including a pretty strong 1996-97 playoff run which kind of defeats the rumor by itself. It is just like the NCAA rumor rather silly but since it is the Rangers it gets blown out of proportion.
For a team that only wants English speakers then someone forgot to tell Glen Sather that because Sather spends a lot of time in Europe looking for talent as does Clark and Gorton. And then there is this tiny detail of a European scouting team that has Swedes, Czechs and a Russian.
Do we really need to pull out the "Where in the world is this Ranger from" game?
Artem Anisimov - Russia
Ruslan Fedotenko- Ukraine
Marian Gaborik- Slovakia
Wojtek Wolski- Poland
Henrik Lundqvist- Swedem
You could make a case for the Rangers or rather Glen Sather being Anti-QMJHL despite having Brad Richards (Rimouski) and Marty Biron (Hull), the Rangers have not had a homegrown player from the QMJHL since Daniel Goneau a 1996 Ranger pick played in 53 games over 3 seasons.
The Rangers Are the Ones Who Drive Up the NHL Salaries
This one has been used more by our favorite commissioner Gary Bettman but if you want to point a finger then let us change directions. The Rangers without a doubt do in fact hold the NHL record for the most bad contracts given out.
But they did not start the rocket ship climb that the salaries have been on. That honor belongs to the Los Angeles Kings who upon trading for Wayne Gretzky handed him a nice fat million dollar deal as part of "The Trade" in 1988.
That move changed the entire NHL salary structure forever but the Rangers because off all their bad contracts still get blamed. The Rangers were not the ones who started the "lifetime" contracts either as that was someone who now works for NBC.
And you want to know why there is a rookie salary cap spelled out in the NHL/NHLPA CBA? There was an unwritten one that most NHL teams honored until 1997 when the Boston Bruins broke it by giving Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov contracts which exceeded the unwritten cap on salaries as well as bonus money for rookies.
And the reason I wanted to make sure this part got in was remember that locked out season the NHL went through? Gary Bettman's biggest supporter was Jeremy Jacobs the owner of said Boston Bruins.
Are the Rangers perfect? Absolutely not but what they have not been is the villains of the NHL as they are times have been portrayed by the NHL and the media.
( Logo courtesy of the Rangers)
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