What you can expect from this new-look league

Sep 25, 2005

Rangers analyst John Davidson takes a look at the new NHL, the Rangers squad, and other happenings around the hockey world.

Hit parade

I think that in this new-look NHL, you are going to see more open ice hits than in the past. The players on defense are going to have to be able to skate well to hit the person who has the puck. You can't delay and hit them long after he moves the puck or its going to be an interference call.

There's going to be a lot of transition passes -- long passes up the middle. The receiver of those passes are the ones that could really be in a position where they could get nailed and get hit hard. I think you need speed and body position. You have to be in front of the person. You can't hit behind, you can't use your stick to slow a person down. I also think the defensemen will get used to the timing of it. There is going to be a lot of passes that are long passes up the ice because there's no two-line pass called now. If you can stretch those passes, that will allow the defensemen to really throw some big hits.

Impressive Blueshirts

Henrik Lundqvist, played very well against the Islanders in the second half of the teams' preseason game. He's very good with his rebound control. That's what impressed me the most about his play. He looked very comfortable.

Michael Nylander and that line played pretty well and they could have had five goals. They had breakaways, they hit goal posts, they missed open shots. So, from the Rangers point of view, I thought that was it. I thought Jamie Lundmark worked hard, but Nylander was the best Ranger. Lundqvist also played well. Nobody else really jumped at me.

On the Islanders side, both of their goaltenders were really good and their power play sizzled. You could see they worked at it. You see they're getting ready for it. They were very well prepared to run a power play in their game.

All about Staal

Rangers' draft pick Marc Staal made an immediate impact on the club (AP)

I liked what I saw from Marc Staal. The way the rules were called was tough on Mark, but I thought he didn't show any fear of the position that he was in. He did take four penalties and that's never a good thing even though one or two of them were of the soft variety. He showed willingness to compete with the Islanders, whether it be hitting, whether it be showing speed, I thought he was fine.

He was sent back down to Juniors and he's got a long way to go, but I think it was a real good taste of what a step-up level is all about. He'll find that this NHL is faster and stronger that what he's played against and what he's used to. I think it was good experience for him.

Making a point at West Point

The Rangers special training session at West Point was definitely a good thing. There are a lot of new faces that are going to be on this team, so you have to find ways to blend together as a team. The thing about hockey is you need to have that team concept in order to be able to win. Team leadership has to find itself and everything that they went through up there is all about team building. You can have stars on your team but you can't have individuals. If your team isn't a true team you wont past the test of time.

With all of these new faces, the Rangers have to find out who their captain is going to be and who their leaders are. You go through these exercises to find who those people are, so that's always a good idea.

Around the league

There are two different ways of looking the offseason moves that teams around the league have made. With teams like Philadelphia, Edmonton, and Pittsburgh that made a lot of big offseason changes its going to be very interesting to see how they react and how they develop into a team. Just because they have great players doesn't mean that they're going to be an instantly good team.

Then you have other teams like Ottawa, San Jose, Calgary, and Vancouver who didn't make a lot of changes. They made very few but they were very good teams going into the lockout through the free agent business. So you just don't know what will happen to them this season. It's a big question mark. This is one year you can't predict with a real absolute feeling of who is going to be where.

Edge of the ice

I like the NHL's new marketing campaign. It's edgy. I heard Martha Burk is already chirping, but I have a wife and two daughters and if she finds the new campaign too provocative, she should turn off channel 2, 4, 5, 7 and everything else. I'm very serious. Go worry about Augusta National. Leave us alone.

It's edgy and we have an edgy sport. If she's going to take time to worry about hockey and their disrespect of women she's dead wrong. Hockey respects women. She doesn't know a thing about our sport or what we're about and she should go right back and worry about things that are real. She's just coming from one woman's side of things. Give me a break. That's nuts. She's wasting her time and energy. There are many other issues about women that have problems in life that need to be addressed. The National Hockey League is not one of them.