Back in the Saddle
Written on 9/15/2010 by Jim Cerny
As Steven Tyler of Aerosmith has sung for years: "I'm Baaaaack! I'm back in the saddle again!"
For several reasons---some in, some out, of my control---Rink Rap was on a distinct hiatus these past several months. But now, well, yeah, sing it Steve....I'm Back!
Of course I wasn't completely away from hockey. In fact, I wasn't away at all. Been covering the Rangers throughout the summer at my day job with the team's official web site and official Twitter.
In fact one of the hockey highlights this summer was my week-long stint in California covering the Rangers' every move leading up to, and the days of, the NHL Entry Draft. The live video chats with Rangers Director of Player Personnel Gordie Clark and his assistant Jeff Gorton (see photo of me on left and Jeff on right) stood out for me, as did rollerblading along the beach and unwinding at the best dive beach spot in Santa Monica, Big Dean's (that's an official Shout Out!).
Covering free agency, prospects mini-camps, and now pre-training camp workouts the past few weeks have kept me hopping. And hopefully you have hopped right along with my every word on the Rangers site and Twitter.
But the start of NHL camps is now three days away, and I have much ground to cover around the league.
So today I warm up the keyboard with a little chat. And moving forward I've got the Coolest Game on Ice (remember that one?!) blanketed for you.
I'm Baaaaaaack! Back in the saddle again!
Follow me on Twitter: @jimcerny and @thenyrangers If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to our feed
Greetings, I am a big fan of defense and the status of the D. Obviously a tough question for you as you have to cover the Rangers, is Redden gone and Roszival on the trading block?
I now envision a D pairing like this
Staal and Girardi
Del Zotto and Exelby
McDonagh and Gilroy(Roszi if not traded)
with Sauer(delete due to Roszi) or Emminger
whats the scuttle butt?
Rozsival will be on the Rangers this season, I am confident of that, especially based on his strong finish of a year ago. With the salary cap where it stands at present, I can not foresee Redden on the team.
Staal and Girardi are givens. Rozi and Del Zotto make four that will be on the team. I believe Steve Eminger will be the 6th or 7th d-man.
Then it becomes a battle between Gilroy---who must earn John Tortorella's faith again---Ryan McDonagh---who must show he does not need any seasoning in Hartford---Alexei Semenov and Garnet Exelby---both in for tryouts---and posisbly Mike Sauer for the two remaining spots.