AGRI Biz

The Rangers' signing of Derek Boogaard isn't great news for the team. Boogaard is an enforcer, brought in to protect Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist. Donald Brashear was brought in to do that last season, but he proved to be too much of an on-ice liability to be effective. Brashear's game was incomplete, his fighting wasn't great, and he ultimately proved to be more of an albatross than a safety net. Brashear wound ...

Mediaweek is reporting ESPN and ABC are supposedly interested in getting NHL broadcast rights back from Versus and NBC . The NHL needs to make this happen. Versus has tried to be good to the NHL They've given it prominent placement on their network. They've promoted the NHL online and offline. And the NHL has seen a slight uptick in ratings. But it's just not enough. Not enough households get Versus. The lack of mainstream exposure contributes to ...

The Rangers' season has been defined by one sad but simple fact: The winning streaks have quickly been followed by losing streaks. Going into Tuesday night's game against the Buffalo Sabres, the Rangers were 6-3-1 in their last 10, and 5-0-1 in their last six games. Rangers winning streaks have been built upon smart, strong defensive play which gradually dissipates as the streak continues. And that recurring failure is on Rangers coach John ...

Can an NHL team be too healthy? Perhaps. While injuries can devastate a team and completely derail a season (witness the Flyers right now and the Oilers all season), they can also strengthen a team, teaching players to step up and form a cohesive bond around the healthy players. Injuries teach the remaining players to play through adversity, forcing teams to play above their previously-thought limitations. The Rangers have not had to deal with ...

Right now the Rangers are five points out of the last playoff spot with just 10 games left in their season. They haven't been mathematically eliminated, but their dropping three in a row (having scored just five goals in those three games) gives every indication the team has given up. There will be plenty of blame to be assigned in the offseason, but for now, if the Rangers wish to salvage anything ...

When the post-mortem is conducted on this year's Rangers' season, there will be plenty of blame to go around. The construction of the team wasn't ideal, with just one pure goal-scorer. The defense was very young, and the two experienced defensemen weren't very good. And the forwards were too small, with the team not getting any bigger until the season was pretty much gone. The coaching was, at times, erratic. But a fair question to ...

New York Rangers coach John Tortorella is one of Team USA's assistant coaches, which is very convenient, as head coach Ron Wilson has done what Tortorella has struggled with: found successful roles for Rangers Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury. The U.S. easily beat Switzerland in Team USA's Olympic opener. The American team is star-studded, but Callahan and Drury played more of an energy role, coming out in limited minutes to forecheck ...

It's really not easy being a big name coach. When you're a big name, you assume you're being hired for your coaching philosophy, so the tendency is to go straight into your signature coaching style, without really thinking about what's best for the team. The New York Knicks and the New York Rangers have both fallen victim to this Big Name Coach trap and both teams, and their coaches, seem to be ...

How can you not love the NHL's Winter Classic? It's an exciting day, with national TV coverage, pomp and circumstance, all coupled with the beauty of outdoor hockey. And the massive media coverage makes the Winter Classic feel at least as important as a Bowl game. It's huge for the NHL. But taking the media attention and aesthetic beauty out of the equation, the Winter Classic is also a celebration of hockey's outdoor ...

There's nothing inherently alarming about goalie Martin Brodeur getting pulled in the first period of New Jersey's eventual victory over Atlanta Saturday night. Brodeur gave up three goals on six shots and was obviously having a tough time of it. The smart, humane thing to do was to pull Brodeur, who was starting his 13th consecutive game. But Brodeur's getting pulled does bring up the issue of his workload, which has been ...