WA-NYR-TradeRumours Start with the fact that America's richest hockey team owes fans better. Much better. No matter what they do tonight in Columbus; these Rangers, their coach and their manager owe their fans an apology. They might noteven make the playoffs. There's absolutely no excuse for the losing treatment they've laid on their fans this season. The Ranger alibis would make great comedy except that 99 and 44th 100 percent of their fans take their hockey seriously. This abject collapse is no joke. Apparently more seriously than their beloved Fat Cat players. Since somebody had to talk to the media post-game last night, goal scorers Vin Trocheck and Adam Fox were made available. Listening to Trocheck I nearly choked on my chewing gum. "We weren't ready in the first forty minutes," Trocheck said, with a straight face. Weren't ready? WEREN'T READY? What, in Heaven's name do you think the referee was doing at the start of the game – practicing puck-dropping? And he wasn't ready! Stop with this "weren't ready" applesauce? Nor do I want to hear another word about "We gotta look in the mirror?" If you looked after last night's charade you might have seen a three-toed sloth. Somebody asked Fox if, perhaps, the Rangers took the undermanned Penguins for granted. Adam did a cha-cha-cha around that one but punctuated it with a rather pointed exclamation point. "The Penguins are a well-coached team!" Sometimes I wonder whether the Rangers even have a coach!
