The Hockey Rodent offers a very sober and sad, if true, requiem for Petr Prucha's career with the New York Rangers.
He hammers on a few points that we've been making over here at the RangerPundit for ages:
- Tom Renney has destroyed, "killed," a very talented young player, Petr Prucha.
- Tom Renney has taken the fun out of going to Rangers games.
- Tom Renney hockey sucks.
The Rodent reads the tea leaves and concludes that Prucha's career in New York is history. He finishes his Renney rant by saying:
The gospel truth is that I do not hate Tom Renney. I genuinely like the guy. He's dapper. He's articulate. He's got the team higher up in the standings than they deserve to be.
I just hate how he's so thoroughly sterilized this club and how he's converted virtuosos into robots. He's blanded the brand so much I feel as if I've crossed the Hudson River.
Prucha was a reliable break from the meat and potatoes. Admittedly dreadful on the backcheck. Yet his anarchistic attack dared give this club a modicum of personality. But no. Tom couldn't have too much of that.
Renney killed Prucha. And now he's killing Zherdev as well. And "yes". I'm angry
Amen brother. Amen.
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The neglect of Petr Prucha was the thin edge of Renney's excitement-reduction system. Since noticing that neglect so long ago, the coach's system has fully flowered in all its glory. So many times I had a feeling that next week Prucha would be gone, then nothing, then a feeling, then...
Of course, he is not traded away quite yet, but it does seem like sooner now rather than later.
I actually still do not understand how you could not want a player like Petr Prucha.
The guy has so much heart, not to mention skill, that he is going to help some time make their drive. But, he could have been doing it here, that's the shitty part.
"He's blanded the brand so much I feel as if I've crossed the Hudson River."
That line kills me.
Because even though it's terrible to talk of Prucha as the past, this is the Rangers future, too. It's not just Prucha, it's everyone who is out of line with the "system," including Zherdev, who the Rodent specifically labels. We're everything Ranger fans complained about the Devil's being. Say what you want about Avery, Jagr, Shanahan... they were their own individual people. Maybe that's why, despite the "defense first" system, last year seemed less monotonous and boring. I find Ranger hockey difficult to watch these days.
I, for one, don't like Tom Renney and I want him gone. Say what you want about him squeezing points out of opponents; I'd rather see the Rangers dead last in the league, playing hard, aggressive hockey that PRUCHA is known for, than watch these boring shootout victories night after night.
Face it: Pruchamania was over last January, and the exit of Jagr sealed the deal. Shame. I hope he does great things elsewhere. I'll be cheering him on, no matter where he goes.
Prucha's four game return was like a great band coming back for one more encore performance before being dragged off the stage. Hey Jude, Pruchamania will always have it's fans. I guess the show moves on to another town. I would love to see him stay close, so he could torture Renney/Slats in the future. How about Boston?
Having a "personality" is a big strike against a player in the Renney system. Having swagger, or style, or an edge in your game is one fast ticket out of here.
Putting it another way. Renney is like Darth Vader launching the Blair Betts clone wars for the the Dolan Empire.
I think Rangers fans would like to be cheering for the rebel alliance. Zherdev as Han Solo, Prucha as Luke Skywalker, Avery the as Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca. And Shannahan as Obi-Wan.
Yoda was let go to Siberia.
Here is a beauty, pick which bit of it you like most! It's a Renney quote from http://njmg.typepad.com/rangersblog/2008/12/live-blog-rangers-at-devils-1212.html
"We'll start that way," Renney said of the previous game's combinations, "we'll see if we can get some consistency through it. We have moved people around, we've had line combinations, we've had pairings. Really being able to solidify that look will help us, no question about that. I think our special teams, on one side of the equation, has been really good and, on the other side of the equation, not at all what we need and I think that has a tendency to seep into your 5-on-5 play."
I like the part about special teams. Whoooah...not so fast there Tom. Let's talk about that part of 'special teams' which just happens to be the most putrid mess a person could possibly envision? How's about talking for a spell about that?
What planet is this guy from?
the rangers are as exciting as watching baseball. thank god i have the hockey package