Mark my words. Or don’t…

Come two to three months in, as during last season, the Rangers will want for a defenseman that plays the body first and the puck second, inspires a little honest fear in the heart of opposing teams’ forwards lest they get a little too comfortable camped out in front of Henrik, and judiciously applies a few bruises to these same offenders.

Strudwick won’t do that, Pock won’t, and Staal won’t either.

Cap or no cap, Renney/Slather — no disrespect intended toward Tom by that grouping — should of found a math to allow for Kasparaitus’s return to Broadway.

One can only now hope, for Kaspar’s sake, that a team in need picks him up; yes, not easy, given his price tag vis a vis the realities of the cap. But this athlete deserves an opportunity better than Hartford.

Sean Avery, Vindicated and $600K Richer

The New York Rangers resolved their salary arbitration with Sean Avery today, agreeing to pay the season-saving catalyst $1.9 million for the coming year. The Rangers organization had initially low-balled Avery, offering him $1.3M, while dusting him up in its brief with devaluing, if not demeaning language.

In the “Business is Business” category… sub-folder: “Hockey is Business, Too” with the notable exception being when the business in question is utter bull%$&*, we have the strange and unfortunate case of the Sean Avery/New York Rangers salary arbitration.

As reported by NY Post sportswriter Larry Brooks (a prince among men with a word processor) Rangers General Manager Glen Slather labeled Sean Avery “a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team,” in the team’s salary arbitration brief submitted in Toronto today.

Huh? Since when did playing the hard ball of business mean throwing at the head of one your most effective players?

Sean Avery, it’s widely supported by Rangers’ faithful, helped salvage a season that at one desperate point was slowly sinking fast – kind of like James Cameron’s depiction of the Titanic without a Kate Winslet around to make it just a little more watchable. (But only “just”).

Upon Sean’s arrival, not only did he surprise many by not taking the undisciplined penalty. But he evidently surprised opponents too, who cut an edge-worn path to the box themselves, unable to goad Avery into retaliation, despite the many cheap shots he withstood from them.

Then, on top of that, who knew he was such an ever-present and exciting offensive threat? The Garden buzzed with anticipation virtually every time Avery took the ice. He had speed. Indeed, even before Avery donned the blueshirt on Broadway, Coach Tom Renney, commenting on his acquisition, remarked how Avery possessed as much speed skating with the puck as without, and noted his considerable on ice intelligence.

“…reasonably effective…detriment…” ? Is Slather giving an object lesson on how to effectively de-motivate a player before the season even begins? Take a leadership seminar, Slather. Because business is business except when it’s bad business. And it’s bad business to alienate one of your newly arrived, tough-as-nails competitors with the sort of cheap shots better left to the competition.

It’s so rare in recent years that a New York Ranger player has so immediately blended in, become part of, if not created a chemistry and contributed following the seemingly never-ending, disappointing series of Dvoraks, Nedveds, Kamenskys…I could go on, but what would be the point but to inventory old scars only recently healed.

Finally, the presence of Sean Avery at MSG brings Elisha Cuthbert to the rink.

And that’s not a bad thing, repeat, not a bad thing indeed.

Our Hero - He Could Play Then, He Can Play Now

As reported yesterday on MSG.com by hockey maven and future NHL Hall of Famer Stan Fischler (a minor deity in the Iceman’s humble opinion, and I offer that in obeisance and completely without irony), Stan chanced to run into former Ranger and present Hartford Wolf Pack team member Darius Kasparaitis riding his bike in Central Park.

Stan remarked in his post how great Kaspar looked - years younger, twenty pounds lighter, and determined to return to Broadway.

Let it be said, Rangers coach Tom Renney has my utmost respect, esteem, and admiration. The guy is extremely articulate, thoughtful, and systematic in the way he approaches the game, his players and the natural vicissitudes of an NHL team plowing its way through an 82-plus game schedule. Renney’s shift-by-shift, period-by-period awareness of the granular details of the game, matched by his Fortune 100, progressive CEO-like leadership are astounding, whether considered in or out of the game of hockey. A world of henchman (see Pat Quinn), old school disciplinarians out of touch with modern athletes (see Ken Hitchcock), and GM’s of the most reprehensible interpersonal, managerial and communications skills imaginable (see Bobby Clarke and the Roger Neilson affair).

Renney’s handling of Darius Kasparaitis last season, however, is where the Iceman becomes confused. (Granted, I can be easily confused; and my sentimental feeling for specific Rangers of yore sometimes overcomes my good judgment, i.e., Michael Nylander, Theo Fleury, Matt Schneider, Derek Sanderson, and my ability to let go).

But the logic of why coach Renney banished Kasparaitis to Hartford last season is beyond me.

When Darius finally returned to the Rangers’ lineup after a protracted period of healthy scratching, being a big Kaspar fan, I remember watching with special interest. And what I remember - and please correct me with comments if I am far off base, or just plain wrong - is that Kasparaitis played serviceably, but not badly, and sometimes played well: clearing the net of opposing campers lest they become a little too comfortable pitching their tent twenty feet from Lundquist’s property line; making the simple outlet breakout pass to the winger on the boards and avoiding the cutesy, up the middle or cross-zone pass that frequently was a Ranger curse, and often the cause, of losing efforts. I remember thinking ‘All right, he’s back. Not a hundred percent, perhaps, but he’s finding his legs, sharpening his timing.’

The Iceman also believed Kasparaitis brought an edge, and a much needed physical threat to a team largely defined by speed and finesse, and mostly comprised of European-born D-men who collapsed and poke-checked when standing up a rushing attacker at the blue line was in order. (Yes, the former need has been amply addressed with the acquisition of Sean Avery - God bless him, and, for once, bless Glen Sather for that matter. While the need for the latter has been alleviated by the blueliner phenom, Dan Girardi.) But there were many a dirty goal surrendered both on the road and at home that might not have happened if the opposing poacher were aware that Kasparaitis was about to clock them the moment they looked down at their skates to find the puck laying in the slot, or the loose in the corner.

But as keenly anticipated, or momentarily celebrated Kaspar’s eventual return to the Rangers’ lineup was, his brief, ghostlike appearance (sorry, but it’s an apt pun) and summary dispatch to Connecticut was an inexplicable and disappointing shock. This was Darius Kasparaitis - who only a year previous helped turn the post lockout Rangers from terminal lightweights and losers to NHL surprise and playoff contenders.

In two awe-inspiring schedules of peerless judgment, authoritative decision-making and remarkable resilience, last season’s handling of Kasparaitis was coach Tom Renney’s singular travesty of player management. And don’t get me wrong. I love the guy - and the New York Rangers hockey organization - because, let’s not kid ourselves, professional sports franchises are no longer ‘clubs,’ and some would argue hardly teams anymore - the New York Rangers hockey organization is fortunate to have Renney.

But the Rangers are also fortunate to have a character blueliner who brings color, grit and passion - to say nothing of one of the sport’s most identifiable mugs and hairstyle - to the game. If not an NHL hockey player, Kasparaitis once said he’d prefer to be an actor. Infectiously likable, candid and natural, one can easily imagine him in a supporting role in a series television drama, or as a character actor in an offbeat independent film.

There was an interesting article on Kasparaitis in New York Magazine of all places…see link here: http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/15496/

Rangers’ fans, and fans of Darius Kasparaitis, let’s hope Darius has a great camp, and come October, is back on the stage playing at Madison Square Garden where he still belongs.

In the first round of NHL Entry Draft, held on Friday, June 22, 2007, in Columbus, Ohio, the New York Rangers chose Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov.

“To me, this game has no boundaries,” said Rangers’ coach Tom Renney about signing Cherepanov, whom many teams passed on because of the lack of a transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation, and lingering questions about Cherepanov’s character. “We owe our fans the best team possible. To exclude a player because of geography or politics is the wrong thing to do.”

Cherepanov, seen here a few days later with three friends at the Gay Pride Parade in New York City, is rumored to have a fondness for Ecstasy-addled female impersonators.

Lo’ and behold, by September we will see one centerman Scott Gomez take the ice in a Rangers uniform. As someone who counts Scott among his all-time favorites, I cannot say enough about my anticipation regarding this Event.

Gomez is distinguished by his end-to-end puck commandeering capability, to be sure. But what’s always particularly struck me about his game is the way he handles the puck, and the way he skates. To my knowledge, there’s not another player with the zigzag, one-two-three, crossover style of skating and puck handling in the league. And Scott came to the NHL with that singular ability as a rookie. Who was his master in developing this ability; or was it Scott’s own sui generis? I’m not sure. And it’s ironic to me that no one in the mainstream hockey television or print press has ever called attention to it, or celebrated Scott for the pure, stand-up-and-out-of-your seat excitement, and Michael Jordan-like game changing aspect of attack it clearly represents. (The long shadow of publicity averse Lou Lamoriello perhaps, who wouldn’t value the marquee attraction of anyone in the Comintern atmosphere that is the Devils’ organization, regardless of the seats that went embarrassingly empty even through playoff series?)

Beyond the playmaking, end-to-end ice sense, finishing finesse and big game confidence he’s demonstrated across the Hudson and in the Garden since Day One – does anyone remember the nationally televised hat trick Gomez delivered against the Rangers in his Garden debut? – what has always stood out for me is the diagonal ability Gomez shows on his skates. Not another in the history of the game – yes, and that includes the Great One – exhibits so effortlessly the turn-on-a-dime, Porsche cornering precision since Bobby Orr. My opinion, yes, humble as it is. But watch the tapes of these three masters and you will see what I’m talking about. Orr had it, albeit minus the crossover – he simply set an edge and veered at will beyond any defender’s ability to counter – and opposing teams were at his mercy, much as they are today, when Gomez rushes the puck.

The advantage it gives Gomez, and with him, his line mates on any given rush – the ability to swerve and change direction at will – can dominate, and often does, an opposing team’s defensive posture. Its advantages on a power play – yes, Rangers’ fans, we may finally have the first PP quarterback since the departure of Leech (does anyone remember Theo Fleury in the role? Not half bad, while he was sober) is highly anticipated.

And that’s anticipated, as in, get me a 300 Level ticket before floor seats for the MSG reunion of The Police, thank you. –Saw them at Live Earth - while they might have been once, not anymore, they ain’t all that.

As we Rangers’ fans survey the upcoming season, still several months out, and giddy from the rush of the marquee acquisitions…Is there anyone among us that feels the least bit ambivalent about the departure of one Michael Nylander?

Please, hop over the boards and be counted, for I can’t but remark what so little or no protest the non-move to retain Nylander’s services was met with from sportswriters and Garden faithful.

True, Gomez is one of the most exciting players in the game; no argument that Drury is hockey’s version of a “Mister October,” or as Jagr put it in an interview, “a closer…a Mariano Rivera” that the Blueshirts most definitely need.

But does anyone recall with any clarity how many shows Nylander put on with increasing frequency toward the end of the year and into the playoffs when it really counted?

The stock devaluing analysis always heard from the cheap seats - nothing against the cheap seats, it’s just a metaphor - was that ‘Nylander doesn’t shoot, Nylander doesn’t shoot, Nylander doesn’t shoot. Hmm, but damn if he didn’t scorch the top corner again’ - the guy posted career highs in goals (26), assists (57) and points (83) in 79 games, with 6 goals in ten playoff games last season- ‘he needs to shoot more, he always looks to pass.’

Consider also, the wide berth opposing players would give Nylander because of his mesmerizing puckhandling and playmaking ability. Very few players across the NHL were ceded the kind of space Nylander was allowed in the attacking zone, spinning, reversing. He made D-men dizzy trying to track him. And the short choppy strides, and time-shifting manner in which he could lull defenders, or in a shootout, goaltenders, to a state of catatonia, defied the medium of the game.

Hockey is a business. Sing it with me - yes, we’ve heard it before and it’s not a very interesting song; it’s got a beat but no melody. We all know.

And in business one often has to make hard decisions.

But in this game, in this City, on this team (!), winning combinations and player chemistry are so very rare indeed. Jagr and Nylander had it, nearly every game. It was proven, tested, and evidently immune to the pressures and distractions of the Apple to which so many New York athletes historically succumb. (Nylander has six kids, God bless him. And the demeanor of an Amish farmer.)

He was also a gracious, and a consummate and refreshingly humble professional. If anyone recalls the NBC Saturday afternoon broadcast post-game interview he did last season, during which he unselfconsciously let slip an expletive, you will remember Nylander as down-to-earth, spontaneous and downright hilarious too.

To see the Nylander interview go to… http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zgy6XSRRwk0

While understanding the economics and math of caps, age and free agency, this Ranger fan is more than a little disappointed to see one Michael Nylander go.