Tonight The Mouth Talks to the Ranger GM who Picked Four Players over Niklas Lidstrom in the 1989 Draft !

 

Tonight On Blueshirt Banter Radio The Mouth talks to the man who conducted the 1989 draft for the New York Rangers former interim GM Joe Bucchino.  

Joe served as GM for the Rangers for 54 days between the Phil Espositio and Neil Smith regimes.

The Rangers had four shots to pick Lidstrom before Detroit took him in the middle of the Third round. 

The four Players The Rangers selected ahead of Lidstrom were

Round 1   Steven Rice

Round 2   Jason Prosofsky

Round 3   Rob Zamuner

Round 3   Louie Debrusk

To be fair a lot of GM's passed on Niklas Lidstrom, but imagine what the Rangers would have been with Niklas Lidstrom and Brian Leetch on the backline ?

Join us Tonight at 8 PM when The Mouth asks Joe Bucchino about his 1989 draft as well as his meteoric rise in the Ranger organization, which is a great story in of itself. 

The Mouth promises you it's going to be a great show.

As always we take your phone calls (646) 478-4692

Listen to Blueshirt Banter Radio on Blog Talk Radio

Savoir Faire Lucky Pierre Is Everywhere ! Rangers vs. Quebec Nordiques 10/27/84

Pierre Larouche was one of those few Rangers that did what he was supposed to after being acquired. He scored goals.

In the Mouth's opinion he ranks up their with the top Five finishers to ever to suit up for the Rangers. In this video Pierre can be seen burying the puck twice as the Rangers took on the Quebec Nordiques at the Le Colisee on October 27th, 1984.

The Mouth cranks up the time machine hardcore and even treats us to a classic Planters Peanuts commercial.

The video quality is a bit darker than the Big Man would have liked it, but it is some great footage of the Nordique's hosting the Blueshirts at Le Colisee.

A building that The Mouth deems at least for this game "The Worlds Most Quietest Arena."

Jody Shelley For Dummies Video : Rangers Are Building A Team Of Atomic Supermen !

The Mouth and his fellow Ranger fans have uttered the phrase "I just don't get it" about a million times this season when trying to understand the Blueshirts direction, philosophy and especially their lackluster play on the ice

The most recent "I just don't get it" moment came with the Jody Shelley transaction that went down late last week.

A deal in which the Rangers sent a 2011 Sixth Round draft pick to San Jose in exchange for Shelley a 34 year old brawler.This latest acquisition still has The Big Man and most of his Ranger com-padres scratching their head.

Why The Rangers felt the need to add yet another enforcer, just a week after acquiring Brandon Prust, a player whom by the way fits that bill nicely, has everyone thinking that Glen Sather is off his meds again.

With only about only 20 games left in the Rangers season, what are they trying to accomplish with this move that sees them giving up a sixth-round draft pick in next years draft ? What can be gained ?

The Mouth shares his concerns as well his skewed views on the subject in this short and concise video.

Rangers Take On The Ugliest Uniforms Ever : Rangers vs. Canucks 11/28/83

The Mouth thinks it's pretty much a consensus amongst Hockey fans that the worst main uniform of any team that has come down the pike in the last 30 years are the Vancouver Canucks absolutely awful Halloween jerseys they wore in the early 1980's.

The Rangers took on the players wearing that uniform on November 28th 1983 as the Canucks came to MSG showcasing their new rising star Tony Tanti. Tanti would up with 45 goals that season.

The video has some great points of interest. The first being the Patrick Division standings. The Rangers and Islanders are battling it out for first place while the New jersey Devils are in the cellar with a 2-20-0 record. 

Boy, Things have sure changed.

The Mouth also muses that in the video John Davidson who is just starting his MSG broadcasting career can be seen between periods strongly resembling Groucho Marx with bushy eyebrows and all.

Brandon Prust For Dummies Video : In Brandon We Prust

 

Brandon Prust is exactly what the doctor ordered.  A player who will actually fight every night and stick up for his teammates without thinking twice.

He’s an Aaron Voros type, but one who will not actually embarrass himself when he does decide to drop the mitts.

Brandon who really is just a tad under 6ft reminds The Mouth of Darren Langdon, he takes on all comers, who most times takes on opposing teams enforcers who have every physical advantage.

Fortunately or unfortunately this spells the imminent demise for Donald “The Big Rig” Brashear who the Mouth is strongly speculating maybe loaned to the KHL or either traded back to the Capitals or possibly the Panthers.

"The Big Rig" who was once a monster in his day, is all but a memory as a Ranger, Brashear’s engine block is cracked and he is completely and utterly out of gas.

Time to welcome a new warrior to the fold, Brandon Prust.

Ranger Crisis and Joe Micheletti finally Meet : Staple Center February 2nd 2010

Joe Micheletti gave a wave to Ranger Crisis at The Staple Center after the Rangers 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on January 2nd, 2010. 

The game was covered by Ranger Crisis roving reporter Fred "The Grump" Wodnicki who was good enough to prod Joe Micheletti to say high to us as well as film his own whole experience at the game that night.

Whether Joe Micheletti said hi to us and the Mouth out of fear for his life doesn't really matter, If there is one thing we know here at Ranger Crisis, is that "The Grump" gets things done and always films with his own brand of skewed magic.

The clip runs about 10 minutes and could be deemed too long by you internet junkies who need your quick fix but lets face it, if you're on the east coast you are probably snowed in.

What else are you going to do ?

So take your Ritalin and enjoy, Fred "The Grump" Wodnicki" live and unsnipped

Fire Glen Sather Rally Organizer Mike Zippo On Blueshirt Banter Radio Tonight

It's gonna be a great night of Blueshirt Banter Radio as we have Fire Glen Sather Rally organizer Mike Zippo on Tonight at 8 PM. 

We also will be discussing Ales Kotalik's and Chris Higgins departure as well as breaking some news on a transaction that is looming in the Rangers future.

Listen To The Archived Version Here :

Olli Jokinen For Dummies Video : Matthew Barnaby Calls Jokinen A Hockey Cancer

 

The Rangers got Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust in exchange for Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins. The deal was primarily done to free up cap space at the end of this season. 

Kotalik was miserable under coach Tortorella and demanded a trade as we first reported on Blueshirt Banter Radio. Kotalik's contract has him making 3 million per over the next two and a half seasons. 

Higgins makes 2.25 per season and will be a UFA at the end of this current campaign,  Olli Jokinen a former first round pick is a bit of a problem child who earns 5 million a year, but he also will be a UFA at the end of the 2009-2010 season.

Jokinen at this point is a rental and one that could possibly help the Rangers offensively this season but for the long term, his days as a Bluehshirt are numbered.  

Kotalik's and Jokinen's involvement in the trade satiates both teams quest to get these absurdly paid underachievers off their respective clubs.

The Mouth of course serves up his own sardonic take on the whole deal in the video and also adds a clip at the end where Matthew Barnaby was involved in some controversy after he unleashed some harsh words about Jokinen when Calgary first acquired him from the Panthers.

Tonight On Blueshirt Banter Radio New York Ranger Royalty Emile "The Cat" Francis joins us as our guest along with longtime beat writer (1960's-80's) for the Rangers Jerry Eskanazi.

The Mouth and Jim are doing Three Hours of commercial free Internet radio so we can get all your views and opinions on the recent trade as well as get in all the stories by a true Hockey legend Emile "The Cat" Francis.

Show Starts at 8 PM EST Tonight !

Listen to Blueshirt Banter on Blog Talk Radio

Monday Night Hockey 1980 : Barry Beck The Destroyer Of Men

Yes, Ladies and gentleman the NHL in the late 70's and early 80's attempted to introduce Monday Night Hockey via the syndicated route to fans all across America.

The game featured in the video is a contest that saw the Rangers host the Minnesota North Stars at Madison Square Garden on December 1st, 1980.

This telecast was a big deal in the city because other than in Manhattan , you were most likely never going to see a televised Ranger Home game. 

This game was broadcast on Channel 9 WOR, a channel that everyone in the metropolitan area could access.

Ranger home games simply weren't available through cable in the other Four boroughs at that time.  

Fortunately or unfortunately for The Mouth he grew up on Long Island and for some reason the Big Man got to see all the Rangers home games thanks to Suffolk Cablevision.

Of course Rangers fans couldn't wait for this particular  Monday Night contest in order to watch their beloved Rangers don the blue jerseys at home live inside Madison Square Garden.

One of the hi-lites of this game is a bone jarring hit delivered by Barry Beck on an unsuspecting Mike Eaves. 

Barry Beck was the hardest hitter in Ranger history, bar none.

Dan Girardi Tests Positive For Estrogen While Gabby Gets Pummeled

The Mouth was so sick when he viewed this he nearly threw up several chocolate chip black and white cookies he consumed watching it with his fellow Ranger fans.

The Big man  was at the Foxwood Casino Viewing Party with about 300 other befuddled Ranger com-padres that was held on January 21st, 2010.

Rather than actually give you a description of what the Big Man thinks about the lack of respect for a fellow teammate that Daniel Girardi has concerning Marian Gaborik.

We here think the headline and the video pretty much sum up how The Mouth feels about the pummeling Gaborik got that night, while every Ranger watched.

Dan Blackburn On Blueshirt Banter Radio Tonight Live w/ The Mouth and Jim

Dan Blackburn who's promising Ranger career was cut short by nerve damage in his shoulder, will join us live tonight to talk about his playing days as a Blueshirt and a whole lot more. It's hard to believe but Dan is only 26, even after all this time.

Dan is presently a goalie instructor who has recently been involved in teaching various youth goaltending clinics for the Rangers organization.

We will be taking you calls as always, stop on by and say hi to Dan.

Listen to Blueshirt Banter on Blog Talk Radio

Truth Machine Phil Esposito Crucifies Penguin's Moe Mantha: Rangers vs. Penguins 3/13/86

This broadcast in the Mouth's opinion is a real gem. The game is not so hot, although it does provide some rare footage of Blueshirt goals by both Raimo Helminen and Bobby Crawford. 

The clip is more about the frankness and absolute candor that Phil Esposito brought to the Rangers broadcast. I assure you Phil wasn't doing a shtick, this is the way Phil was and still is. 

Phil provides some real chuckles when he calls Moe Mantha "stupid" and seems to be obsessed with Moe Mantha's horrible plays rather than be focused on the two terrific goals, scored  by those two obscure Rangers that night. 

The Big man would also like you to take notice of Sam Rosen alluding to the Penguins setting their attendance record that year by averaging 12,000 people per game. 

A year which incidentally was Mario Lemieux's second season in the NHL

For you people scoring at home, the Rangers blew the two goal lead and the game wound up in a 2-2 tie.

Donald Brashear Suffers Excedrin Headache # 9 at Hands of Matt Carkner

The Rangers took on the Ottawa Senators last night in a game that was all around brutal to watch for a Ranger fan.

The game saw the Blueshirts go two consecutive games without scoring any goals and to add insult to injury, our geriatric enforcer Donald "The Big Rig" Brashear got his clock cleaned with one powerful shot to the kisser by Senator's fighter on skates Matt Carkner.

Before all you Ranger fans go screaming for Gigantor Colton Orr's help and how he would have dealt with Carkner, Orr basically met the same fate against Carkner on December 14th falling to the ice hard and heavy.

Although with one caveat Colton Orr had dismantled Carkner in a previous hook up on November 17th.

As per usual The Mouth calls the fight.

The Mouth & Jim w/ EX- Ranger Bob Brooke and NYR Prospect Guru Jess Rubenstein

The Wednesday Night show went off without a hitch as the program featured two terrific guests.

The show got off to a great start as Jess Rubenstein of The Prospect Park blog and Blueshirt Bulletin joined us to discuss the progress of our drafted players now playing in college and juniors.

Players discussed where Chris Doyle, Ethan Werek, Tomas Kundratek, Chris Kreider, Derek Stephan, and Ryan Bourque

Te second half of the hour we were joined by Bob Brooke who was instrumental in leading the Rangers all the way to the semi-finals in the 1985-1986 season.

Bob a former U.S Olympian, who played under Herb Brooks for two different NHL teams, shared stories of his time here as a Ranger as well as gave us some interesting thoughts on the game of hockey as it is played today.


To Listen to the Archived Podcast

Rangers Face Off Against Flyers Pre-Season 1982 : Sam Rosen's Hair Helmet In Regular Season Form

Back in the day, even Pre-Season Ranger vs. Flyers games had juice. Both fans of the respective teams and the players themselves just couldn't wait till the regular season to renew the rivalry, so they used pre-season games to settle old scores and even create new ones.

The Mouth cranks up the old crisis time machine and churns out an exhibition game that saw the Rangers take on the Flyers at Madision Square Garden from September 29th, 1982.

The entire game saw both teams playing a spirited and well played affair. All six goals scored by both teams on that night are shown as the Rangers came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie.

This broadcast also has a subtext of wacky hair. Check out Sam's hair helmet and Ron Duguay's Samoan wrestler perm.

P.A Parenteau to be Our Guest on Blueshirt Banter Radio after Devil game Tonight at 9:30 PM

                                   

Due to some cimcumstances beyond our control we couldn't hookup with P.A on this particular night, But what we did manage to do was hookup with some great Ranger callers. 

The fans were eager to talk about the Rangers focused effort in the 1-0 skills competition loss to the Devils that night

The Mouth apologizes for the internet inconvenience and hopefully we can get P.A on the show in the upcoming couple of weeks

To catch the broadcast live or archived click here

Blueshirt Banter Radio w/ The Mouth & Jim on Blog Talk Radio

Sean Avery " I Get Paid By Two Teams" Avery has last Laugh With Four Point Game vs. Dallas Stars

Sean Avery had his best game as a Ranger this season on Wednesday night against his former team the Dallas Stars. Sean had the ultimate revenge on a team that wanted him off their squad so badly last year, they gave him to the Rangers and then agreed to pay half his salary.

Sean had an awesome game, scoring one goal and adding three assists, recording his first four point game of his career.

The Mouth would like to thank Sean Avery for bringing to the game an attitude that is sorely missing from Rangers hockey and the NHL in general and it's called emotion.

Dallas was off their game from the start because of Avery, even before Sean started working his black magic.

James Neal a terrific player for Dallas elbowed Lundqvist early in the first rather than concentrating on scoring which Neal does best.

He and Brad Richards were pre-occupied with Avery the whole game. The Stars were itching to start trouble, instead of concentrating on the task at hand.

This is when Sean Avery is at his finest. He is a game changer, and The Big Man feels let him loose, no matter what the consequences are during the game or after. On most nights you are going to come up smelling like roses.

After the game Sean did not disappoint with the quotes.

It wasn't as toxic as his infamous "Sloppy Seconds" or "Jarome Iginla is boring", but The Mouth is sure after watching the video it will provide Ranger fans with a chuckle.

Ranger Rally Pregame Show Starts at 5:30 PM EST : Dallas Stars On Broadway

As you know by now the Mouth hosts the best New York Ranger Pre-game show on planet earth. Tonight show is no different as this edition of Blueshirt Banter Radio's Ranger Rally adventures into uncharted waters of Ranger discussion.

No player charity fluff pieces  here folks !

The Mouth spews forth right up till game time at 7PM when the Rangers take on the Dallas Stars.

Now that the Team USA has claimed gold in the World Junior Championships (as The Mouth predicted) combined with his beloved Rangers actually winning a home game on Monday Night against the Boston Bruins, to say the very least the Big Man is revved and ready to go.

Please join us in this can't miss, pregame show.

To Listen Click here on Blog Talk Radio

Ex-Ranger John Ogrodnick On Our Radio Show Tonight at 8 PM

Former Ranger John Ogrodnick joins The Mouth and Jim Tonight On Blueshirt Banter Radio. John had a pretty formidable goal scoring season with The Rangers in 1989-1990 scoring 43 goals. Johnny O. in his career wound up with a total of 402 NHL goals. This ranks John up there with some of the highest scoring Left Wings of all time.

In our Hartford Wolf Pack Spotlight, brought to you by Crossroads Consulting, our friend Mitch Beck of Howlings.net will be bringing us a special guest in Hartford Wolf Pack agitator Devin DiDiomete. The rough and tumble DiDiomete has amassed 71 Penalty Minutes in only 17 games.

This promises to be a great show of both past and present Ranger talk, You can show the live at 8 PM or listen to the podcast by clicking here :

Blueshirt Banter w/ The Mouth & Jim on Blog Talk Radio

Rangers Show No Mercy April 27th 1986 : MSG Crowd Whipped Into Ape Frenzy

In a galaxy far, far away almost 25 years ago. Madison Square Garden Rocked before Mark Messier, and Brian Leetch even got a chance to.

They don’t talk about it much on MSG network because as far as they are concerned Ranger History started n 1994. That’s why we have The Mouth. To crank up the time machine and bring us these gems.

This video provided is one of the loudest, raucous Ranger games in history. The game took place on April 27th,1986 as the Rangers took on the Washington Capitals in Game Six of the Patrick Division Finals.

Enjoy watching, John Vanbeisbrouk make spectacular saves and marvel at the mighty Pierre Larouche who single handily sends the MSG crowd into a complete and utter ape frenzy.

It was one of those rare Nights the Rangers showed No Mercy and sent the Washington Capitals to the golf course.

Pictures Of Sean Avery and Girlfriend Hilary Rhoda Skating At Central Park Rink

 

A couple days ago The Mouth reported that Sean Avery invited Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Hilary Rhoda to the Rangers Christmas party in Central Park, and the two lovebirds later went for a skate on Wollman Rink.

Above are the pics of said rendezvous.