Blue, white and red — Has anyone other than Adam Graves ever called the colors quite in that way? — stocking stuffers to fill the NHL’s most civilized 48-hour Christmas break:
The Rangers are not getting Brad Richards, the Star in the middle, this season. The Broadway star in the middle is Derek Stepan, the 20-year-old man-child whose ceiling appears limitless.
And just think that over the summer, it was Ryan McDonagh and not Stepan who was the Badger that was going to make every day a great day for hockey at the Garden.
But all it took was one day of training camp — seriously, one day — to recognize the Rangers were going to have themselves something special in Stepan.
First Tom Renney and now John Tortorella; so what exactly is the fascination of Rangers coaches with Michal Rozsival in the shootout unless it’s the hope that some of old partner Marek (Harry) Malik rubbed off on him?
If we’re talking about defensive tandems, the 2005-06 Malik-Rozsival pair is on the post-lockout Rangers All-Star team, second unit behind Marc Staal-Dan Girardi.
Sorry to say, it’s all but impossible to identify a third pair at the moment, but suffice to say Sandis Ozolinsh wouldn’t be on it.
Career Tom Poti supersedes career Mike York, and who other than Glen Sather would have foreseen that — little help that it did the GM or the Rangers?
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So if the Rangers had claimed Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan with their two first-round selections in 2004, would that Entry Draft be celebrated in franchise history as a two-run homer?
But they didn’t, so how to grade that draft now, with Dubinsky having been selected 60th overall and Callahan 127th overall, after Al Montoya was picked sixth overall, Lauri Korpikoski 19th, and four of the club’s top eight selections (Darin Olver 36th, Bruce Graham 51st, Zdenek Bahensky 73d, Billy Ryan 80th) never made it to the NHL?
You grade it the same way, because it’s not every year a team walks away from the table with a pair of cornerstones.
Or do you think the Red Wings beat themselves up over 1998, when they took Ryan Barnes 55th, Tomek Valtonen 56th, Jake McCracken 84th, Brent Hobday 111th, Carl Steen 142d and Adam DeLeeuw 151st — players who combined to play a total of two games in the NHL — before selecting Pavel Datsyuk 171st overall?
Then (1998-99): Tomas Sandstrom, Tony Granato, James Patrick, Darren Turcotte.
Then: Sandstom and Granato for Bernie Nicholls; Nicholls (plus two others) for Mark Messier; Patrick and Turcotte for Steve Larmer.
Then (1991-92): Doug Weight, Tony Amonte.
Then: Weight for Esa Tikkanen; Amonte (plus one other) for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan.
Then: 1994, and a Stanley Cup title.
Now: Impossible in a hard cap system.
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So where, if at all, at the moment does Mats Zuccarello fit into Tortorella’s mix, on a second line with Artem Anisimov and Alex Frolov while Chris Drury shifts to the fourth line with Sean Avery and Erik Christensen?
If not there, where, assuming Marian Gaborik returns on Monday to face the Islanders?
If I’m the coach, then I want Gaborik to play the same way he has played throughout his career, by the way, and I am focused on ensuring he is put in the best possible position to succeed, not so consumed with telling everybody almost every day that, “The onus is on Gabby.”
Of course we wish Derek Boogaard, who seems like a fine enough fellow, a speedy end to the headaches he has been suffering after taking that blow to the face from Matt Carkner a couple of weeks ago.
It is, however, impossible to envision Boogaard ever getting into the lineup again for the Rangers, unless it’s simply a CYA move for games against the Flyers.
Don’t want to make a big deal out of this, but would Sean Avery have gone before Martin Biron if Thursday’s shootout against Tampa Bay had gone deeper into the Garden night?