We complete our selection of the perfect Rangers team for 1988-present by selecting the goalies. The blueline wrapped up this weekend with the selection of the third defensive pair. Around two weeks ago, I posted the forwards following the completion of the voting. The forward results are below along with who was selected for right and left defensemen as well as pairings building two teams, leaving us with just two spots per team for the goalies.
In line with the forwards and defensemen, below you will find a list of possible starting and backup goalies for 1988 to present. I have listed the names alphabetically and then posted the poll for each spot. Once the overall team is selected, I then will list all the roster proposals you posted in the prior blog comments along with mine. It be interesting to see how the general consensus compares to each of our selections.
In the poll, I have listed lines for selection to compare to the individual options, as it might also be intriguing to see how the ‘made’ up trios compare to some actual lines utilized by the Blueshirts. In addition, some overlap exists between those already proposed as possible first line options to players listed below for second line based on the names and their role on the team. Therefore, a handful of names you see below were also presented as first line options and I have noted where that is the case.
The battle between Mike Richter and Henrik Lundqvist for first team goalie is on. Is the Cup win, despite the injury history, override the better regular season numbers but a Cup loss? When the All-Time Rangers' team is selected, most take Richter over Hank due to 1994, but it will be interesting to see the vote.
A few reminders of the process for forwards and defensemen :
1) Cut off for eligibility was 170 games or two-plus seasons as a Ranger, but I used some leeway in a several instances. Once we got past the first liners, a substantive number of players that are options for the second and to a certain extent third line skated in far less than 170 games, so I used 110 games as the cut-off point. This number was slightly modified for line combinations.
2) Overlap existed between those listed as first team and then second team due to fluidity of d-man usage in games. Also, I may run the same blog a few times to pick the second team first line defenseman, even though I have tweaked the poll to allow for more than one player to be selected.
3) Selection should be based on their production and role in New York, not output while with other teams
4) If you feel I have missed any names, please let me know and I will add those to the poll. This is especially so for the first liners who readers feel are truly second liners and belong on the list for voting.
5) In the case of Ron Greschner, most of his production is from 71-87, therefore he will be listed there rather than in this blog, since he played just 113 games from ’88 forward.
Starting goalies:
Mike Dunham, Henrik Lundqvist, Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck
Backup goalies:
Dan Blackburn, Bob Froese, Glenn Healy, Antti Raanta, Cam Talbot
Goalie pairs:
Vanbiesbrouck-Richter
Richter-Healy
Richter-Blackburn
Lundqvist-Weekes
Lundqvist-Valiquette
Lundqvist-Biron
Lundqvist-Talbot
Lundqvist-Raanta
Forwards based on the vote:
First team:
Adam Graves-Mark Messier-Jaromir Jagr
Tony Granato-Petr Nedved-Theo Fleury
Esa Tikkanen-Sergei Nemchinov-Sean Avery
Brandon Prust-Brian Boyle-Jesper Fast
(I kept Avery in, based on his early play in New York. Following his departure and return, his play tailed off dramatically. I am still open to thoughts here as debated replacing Avery with Michael Grabner, who is on the second team below and sliding Niklas Sundstrom, who I think was far better player into the second team. Let me know your thoughts as this may be a change I make)
Defensemen based on the vote:
Leetch-Beukeboom
Samuelsson-Zubov
Kasparaitis-Rozsival
(I might have had Lowe here and Samuelsson on second pair, same with Lidster over Rozsival)
Second team:
Alexei Kovalev-Wayne Gretzky-Mike Gartner
Brandon Dubinsky-Doug Weight-Tomas Sandstrom
Carl Hagelin-Derick Brassard-Michael Grabner
Darren Langdon-Dominic Moore-Joe Kocur
Defensemen based on the vote:
McDonagh-Patrick
Staal-Zubov
Tyutin-Lidster
(Staal just edges out Lowe for the second team spot while Tyutin beat out Poti, Johnsson and Malakhov for the spot)
Line combinations:
Graves-Messier-Kovalev
Fleury-Lindros-York (FLY line)
Tikkanen-Nemchinov-Matteau
Gilbert-MacTavish-Kocur
Leetch-Beukeboom
Lowe-Zubov
Johnsson-Kasparaitis
Second team
Straka-Nylander-Jagr
Dubinsky-Stepan-Callahan (the Young Americans)
Zuccarello-Brassard-Pouliot
Dorsett-Moore-Boyle
McDonagh-Girardi
Staal-Stralman
Hardy-Lidster
(Staal-Stralman just edges out Samuelsson-Karpovtsev for the spot)
Now that we are in September, maybe we see a few PTOs. Camp opens in less than two weeks and the Traverse City tournament starts Friday. I will get a blog up previewing the tournament, Also, as an early warning due to all the holidays, I will be out of pocket a lot this month. The dates I will be unavailable, which means I am out of picket starting the night before, are September 10-11, 19, 24-25 and October 1-2.
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