Bathgate and Howell??

[Jerrydevil]

Yep, saw the game tonight (skipped the ceremony, saw it in the highlights). Really thought it was stupid to have all the 94 guys there, Richter just talked about how good Messier would be as a coach or GM. They have no place there, they have no idea what they're talking about. I mean, honestly, I was reading through the histories of these guys (they had some really long timelines on the Ranger website the other night) because I was curious why, and they were some pretty illustrious careers. I mean, the Devils have (and probably will always) more discretion in their retirings (otherwise Johnny Mac would be retired), but Bathgate and Howell seemed deserving from their timelines. It's really a shame that the Rangers took 40 years to get their acts together and yet for someone like Graves, who is questionable at best to have his jersey retired, gets it 10 years later or whatever. I just really don't like a lot of things about how the Rangers are run.

I guess what it comes down to is that the Rangers, being an Original Six team, and MSG, being an old building, have supposed "history". But when all you talk about it 94, and to the random spectator who walks in and sees RICHTER, MESSIER, GRAVES, LEETCH, they think it could be an expansion franchise. If you're going to be consistent about retiring undeserving jerseys, the rafters at MSG should be falling off. But they're not. Whatever. I'm just glad Lou (and the rest of the front office) have some frickin brains.

I think you pretty much nailed it.

[MantaRay]

What a SAD ceremony. Half of MSG is EMPTY and the fans that were there BOO Drury, Gomez and Naslund during the ceremony. Gone to the well once too often.

[devlman]

Im a big hockey fan, but ill be honest - i never even heard of these two players until last month.

Im surprised Messier didnt come out and parade the cup around weeping uncontrollably.

And that arena was chock full of empty seats

[devlman]

If those guys were franchise players who deserved to have their numbers retired, isn

[overtime98]

When is Kevin Lowe night?

Or Esa Tikkanen?

Or even Joey Kocur?

Maybe they should "retire" a 1994 roster banner?

What a joke.

Oh by the way, I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to Michaletti during a rangers game.

[Jerrydevil]

Oh by the way, I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to Michaletti during a rangers game.

The beauty is that you can do both! Which one is more fun? Not sure.

[Legion15]

The people in the stands who were there during the ceremony were more interested in making goofy faces and the "suck it" gesture behind Bathgate and Howell when they noticed themselves on camera.

sounds like typical ranjerks fans. i wish just for a while though they'd stop over-promoting the rangers and for that matter stop over-glorifying the original six. yes, they are historic, yes they had great players, but it sounds like anything special the league does centers around those 6 teams. They're the ones getting promoted in other countries with exhibition games, not teams that are better today, they're the teams on half of the commercials, you rarely see someone else besides crosby, ovechkin malkin, etc. i never see a devil getting endorsements, we never get considered for a foreign exhibition game, we get passed over for national exposure (NBC vs. sharks - even though a national game can be a hex for us) it's just annoying that the league has focuses only on those teams or teams with household names. i know that's what sells, but maybe they can actually try promoting good hockey teams instead of the "a-list" teams and players for once?