- Reports indicate that the Hartford Wolf Pack will be
changing their name to the Connecticut Whale at some point this season, likely
around February. A group led by Howard Baldwin,
one of the old owners of the old Hartford Whalers, has reached an agreement with
the Pack to control the team’s business operations. Baldwin has been aggressively trying to bring
the Whalers back to Hartford,
and this agreement is a compromise of sorts. Apparently the Whalers were often referred to as “The Whale,” thus the
new team name. Not quite as intimidating
or catchy as the Wolf Pack if you ask me.
- The team’s fourth-round-pick in June’s draft, Andrew Yogan,
will undergo shoulder surgery this week to repair a labral tear. Apparently Yogan played with the injury last
season and the Rangers were unaware of it when they drafted him. Maybe the injury provides some insight as to
why Yogan has really struggled with consistency, but it never bodes well for a
prospect to miss serious time shortly after joining an NHL franchise. Also not sure how the Rangers could have
missed that injury when deciding on Yogan. Not good.
Yogan had this to say, via Jim Cerny on Twitter: "I'm
not too worried about it, I'm still really young, which is main reason they
want me to do this now.”
- Andrew Gross just Tweeted that fellow prospect Ethan Werek
left the ice during this afternoon’s scrimmage and seemed to have injured his
leg.
- Glen Sather spoke to the media yesterday and had a few
interesting things to say. You can read
his quotes here. The key point: Sather still isn’t interested
in taking on bad contracts, wants a hungry and talented group, and won’t trade
his youngsters. Also of interest: Sather
seemed to be enjoying his job as much as always and certainly isn’t close to
leaving the Rangers willingly, and we know James Dolan isn’t eager to get rid
of him. Sather has done a much better
job the last couple years, but it’s obviously alarming to many Rangers fans to
hear that Sather plans on staying in the GM position as long as the team will
have him.
- John Tortorella seemed generally pleased with how the
Rangers performed during his grueling conditioning tests. Tortorella didn’t say that anyone stuck out
as extremely good or bad. But, those in
attendance reported that Ryan Callahan had speed to burn and that Werek pushed
himself so hard that he collapsed after one of the conditioning skates. Dane Byers ran the fastest two-mile on the
team at 11:32.
- In yesterday’s scrimmage Alex Frolov scored a hat-trick
while playing left wing on a line that included Derek Stepan and Marian
Gaborik. Obviously good signs from
Frolov. On BB Plus we discuss Stepan’s
chances of making the team and the impact of Chris Drury’s injury.
