January 15, 2008
Last Night's Action: Slides Continue
- Penguins 4, Rangers 1: Don't look now, but the Knicks aren't the only Madison Square Garden team in last place. Jaromir Jagr scored the Blueshirts' lone goal against his former team. The rest of the team seemed awed by Evgeni Malkin, who had a hat trick and led the Penguins to an easy victory. New York has 47 points in 46 games, and, despite being a game over .500, sits in the unenviable ninth spot of the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh has been dominant of late -- it is 9-0-1 in its last 10 games -- and the Rangers have been on a long slide. If they turn it around, there's no reason to think they can't move up into the fifth through eighth spots in their conference, but they'll need to play better to do that.
- Blazers 99, Nets 73: Nothing against Malik Allen, but when he's your leading score, you're probably in trouble. Allen had 17 and the Nets never led in this one. Portland has won 18 of 20 and is taking no prisoners at this point in the season. The Nets look all too much like prisoners themselves right now. They've lost three of four after appearing to inject some life into their season.
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I rarely think firings/trades solve all the woes of last place teams, but some heads have to roll in the Rangers organization--whether it be of the players or coaches. Sather and Dolan are obviously the first candidates, but I think the problem is more endemic than that.
A big trade, like last year's Sean Avery deal, should suffice. You don't go from borderline competent to utterly horrifying this quickly without underachieving. And that's what the players are doing. And with Jagr as captain, you know there's no accountability.
Agreed. I think we should dump Jagr while he might still have some value. It would be a slap in the face to the "captain," but Shanahan's been doing that job for him all season anyway.