Changing Shooey

[rinkrat]

As the rest of New York shakes the ticker tape out of its hair (congrats, Yanks), I bid you hello from Calgary, where the Rangers will be playing on "Hockey Night in Canada” for the fourth time already this season. And while the Rangers made their way over from Edmonton, I got a chance to catch up with an old Blueshirts Blog favorite, ex-Ranger and current Flame Freddy Sjostrom, who’s right at home in Calgary.

Sjostrom has no complaints about where he wound up, though he did regret over the summer that he couldn’t make it back to New York (which wasn’t terribly surprising). He wound up signing in Calgary for two years and $1.5 million over the summer, returning to a place of comfort where he played his junior hockey for the Calgary Hitmen. He’s played 14 games for the Flames this season and has scored just one goal, but what a goal.

Sjostrom said that his agent and the Rangers “had some negotiations, but it fell through and I was a free agent. It happens, that’s the way it is. I loved my time in New York, it was an amazing year and a half there - great city, great organization. No hard feelings whatsoever on my behalf. But it worked out - Calgary, they wanted me, and I thought this was a good fit for me, being here before. It all worked out in the end.”

The speedy Swede scored seven goals and 13 points as mostly a fourth-liner and penalty-kill specialist for the Rangers in 2008-09. “I didn’t know what to expect after (last) season. I wanted to stay, it didn’t happen,” he said. “You’ve got to move on too. I don’t have anything bad to say about anything of my time in New York.”

Brent Sutter has had the speedy Sjostrom on all different lines so far (he was playing with Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow for a time recently) - “left and right, wherever; it’s been fun,” Sjostrom said. “If you’re going in the game you get to play more, and if you don’t play up to standards, someone else will play. It’s pretty much whoever’s going is playing.” Sounds familiar.

The Flames’ other ex-Ranger, Nigel Dawes, has four goals in 14 games, and Sutter said: “Some players have to establish themselves, and Nigel’s at that stage right now. It comes down to consistency, and playing the way you’re expected to play at this level night in and night out.”

Rangers skate in about an hour, so we’ll check in from the Saddledome. In the meantime, enjoy the afterglow, Yankee fans. Your happiness is not exactly shared outside the NY area, particularly in those other AL East cities. I spotted a copy of Thursday’s sports section in the Toronto Star, the day after Game 6, which carried the banner headline: “Yanks’ mercenaries pay off.” Ah, feel the love.