It would be quite easy to sit here and marvel at the amount of wins the Rangers have put up just 28% of this still very young season but however there are a few loose ends that need tying up.
First things first on the injury front, we heard some new fresh news with the health of Marc Staal. He talked to reporters after doing some light skating with coaches on Thursday. It's good enough news that Staal is able to start skating to begin with. He also said that his return is quite 'a ways away' and didn't want to put a definite timetable on when he could return. I did speculate with little knowledge of the situation on twitter that Staal might be back in time for the Winter Classic, but now I think we are looking at sometime late February-early March. Staal was ordered by doctors to shutdown from physical activity earlier this season which he admitted did a number as far as his conditioning goes. Once he is cleared by doctors to resume working out and getting his conditioning to the level it needs to be, barring any setbacks which would probably sideline him for the year, I think we'll get a better sense of where he is as far as a timetable for return.
Tis the season for trade rumors. Last week we were treated to the first big trade rumor of the season and to no one's surprise the Rangers were right in the thick of things. However one has to decide whether it is such a good idea to break up the Rangers right now given how well they have played since Halloween. We all know that NJ product and Anaheim Ducks winger, Bobby Ryan was the center of attention in the hockey world given that the Ducks were ready to trade a 24 year old kid with three 30 goal seasons already under his belt. Looking at this from a Rangers standpoint, I'm all for trading away Dubinsky for a guy of Ryan's caliber, but it was what else the Rangers had to throw in to satisfy Ducks GM Bob Murray's demands. Originally when this story blew up, there was report thrown out that the Ducks were demanding a top 6 center, top 4 defenseman and a high draft pick/prospect. Immediately, the Rangers top prospect Chris Kreider, who is currently in his junior season playing for Boston College was thrown into the trade talks, and I believe this is what put the brakes (at least in the minds of Ranger fans) on the team acquiring Ryan. The Rangers have invested far too much time already waiting on Kreider to sign a pro contract to simply trade him away a season before he's likely to leave school for the NHL. However, the opposite side to this is that Bobby Ryan already is what you expect Kreider to be a couple seasons from now however Ryan comes with a much higher cap hit than Kreider will have for the next 3-4 seasons. With the Rangers playing so well at the moment, why get greedy? They've waited this long....
Which brings me to the enigma known as Brandon Dubinsky. Doober is still sitting on one goal this year, however he's been setting up his teammates for some wonderful goals as well. You can see the Rangers for the past couple games have been trying to force him the puck to get him going but it obviously hasn't been working. My one and only theory on Dubinsky is that there's little pressure on him to score goals this year. Last season, Gaborik got hurt very early last season, followed by Callahan going out twice from injuries. Dubinsky stepped up to the plate in Callahan's absence and even when Gaborik came back and only scored goals in bunches, Dubinsky was that force that drove the Rangers into the playoffs last season. Now that Gaborik is in the middle of a career season with Stepan and Anisimov reaping the rewards of being on that line and with the addition of Brad Richards and his chemistry with Ryan Callahan. The only way to get him going is probably a swift kick in the ass from Torts although if it hasn't happened already it probably won't if the Rangers keep consistently winning.
Finally, the HBO cameras will be starting to film the Rangers on Monday 12/5. With the Rangers currently rolling through their schedule, I hope the cameras don't become a distraction.
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