Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images1. I know Rangers fans who love John Tortorella more than any Blueshirt coach before or since. (Well, what do you think of that? The Dear Boy is back in the saddle again; now in Vegas. All he has to do is get the loaded Knights into the playoffs!
2. Owners panic when their teams are sitting on the playoff fence. That's the simple story in Vegas and the natural thing to do since Torts is the best available fire extinguisher is to hire him.
3. In Toronto and New York it's different. Rangers' owner James Dolan swore allegiance to Chris Drury and is not likely to change his mind. I say that because Dolan allowed Drury to go public with his "Retool" scheme which is funnier than April First!
4. With that in mind, you have to believe that no change will take place with New York's general staff. Toronto is another story since no promises have been made. But if it was up to The Maven, I'd hire Rangers' 1994 Cup architect Neil Smith, the Toronto native, as Leafs' new hockey boss.
5. Back to the Rangers, Maven Roundtabler, David Perlmutter offers this: "Drury does not have the assets to trade for better players."
6. More From Dave: "Drury should collect as many prospects as he can. If ten percent of the prospects work out, he'll be en route to icing a decent team."
7. Meanwhile, the large number of empty MSG seats tell the story; only the diehards are showing up and a good chunk of them got the ducats from subscribers who want no part of season-ending exhibitions; which really is all they amount to in this very ersatz Centennial Year.
8. On "Third Thought," The Maven would have given the McDonald (Hard Tryer) Award t to the REAL hustler – upside-down-sideways, Dancin' Larry. He works harder in ten minutes than Non-Dancing Z in ten games!
9. Then again, gotta think again re The Dancer. He hasn't gyrated the Rangers into the playoffs in two years!
10. Just wondering; Does Danin' Larry have a "No-Trade" clause?