Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Around The Rink 02.24.09

-Tom Renney is out and it appears John Tortorella is in as head coach for the New York Rangers. Renney's demise came after 10 losses in their last 12 games and just a complete lack of desire coming from the Rangers side of things. Tortorella was released by the Bolts in June and should be a great fit for the New York media, especially Larry Brooks. You have to wonder if the combination of Brian Burke and John Tortorella being united in Toronto could just block out the rest of the hockey world with the amount of quotables given in the center of the hockey universe??

-With that, all four coaches who started the year with those NHL Premiere games in Europe have now been fired. With the next round of teams announced to be taking the European Vacation, you have to wonder if those coaches may sit this one out in hopes their assistants get fired over them.

-The Buffalo Sabres playoff hopes could be riding on how Patrick Lalime does if Ryan Miller's ankle injury is severe. Miller was run over by Scotty Gomez and suffered a mild high ankle sprain which has him sidelined indefinitely. Lalime could possibly carry the workload, but he wouldn't be the first option to go to in this situation. You'd have to wonder if there's a rental out there the Sabres could be in the market for just in case Miller is out for an extended amount of time and Lalime fails horrificially.

-Speaking of goalies, Martin Brodeur could be back in the line-up for the Devils as early as Thursday. This will put the Devils in an interesting position that they haven't had since '92-'93-- a goaltending controversy. Do you go with Brodeur, who is arguably the best goaltender in this era or stick with Scott Clemmensen, who has played very well in the absense of Brodeur?? It's a good situation to be in, however-- two decent goalies at your disposal for what could be a deep playoff run.

-With the trade deadline coming up, the thought of who is buying, who is selling, who will be bought and who will be sold pops into everyone's head. While there's plenty of rumors, there's plenty of indecision as well. With some names out there, there's pros and cons to all the deal will be there and it could change any fate of the season. Plus, my thought as a GM is that you could always trade them before or at the Draft in order to get them out of your hair while still dealing with the possible playoff run.

-The Lightning may be in the market for defensemen, but we all know they don't like them at all. However, it could be necessitiy because of Paul Ranger and Andrej Meszaros being out for the season for torn labrums in their left shoulders. It's amazing how you can go from little defensement to negative defensemen like that. But, it's just another chapter in the Bolts circus of stories this year. If they need young defensemen, there's always a captain by the name of Lecavalier they could deal out if need be

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