Within the past week, the Washington Capitals announced that they will retire Mike Gartner's #11 on December 28th vs the Toronto Maple Leafs. The right winger is one of the most underrated players of all time. He had 1335 points in his career with 708 goals and 627 assists. He was the 5th player to score 700 goals while only having broken the 50 goal plateau once in his entire career. His 15 consecutive 30+ goal seasons were only matched by Jaromir Jagr, finishing with a total of 17 30+ goal seasons. The consistency of Mike Gartner has been unmatched. Unfortunately, he never won a Stanley Cup and never even got to the finals. He never won a major NHL award either. All of this was probably due to the fact he was playing in the shadow of guys like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, and Mario Lemieux. His skating was unparalleled as he holds the record for the fastest skater at the All Star Game. 
He is my favorite player of all time even though I didn't get to see him in his prime. I still hate Neil Smith for trading him during the 1993-1994 season. The last possible day, he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Glenn Anderson primarily. Why? What reason? Mike Gartner is one of the best goal scorers in the history of the National Hockey League and you trade him for Glenn Anderson? Yes, Anderson was instrumental in the Cup run but what could he do that Mike Gartner couldn't? Mike would go on to have a good career but never that Stanley Cup ring. 
He finished his career with the Phoenix Coyotes in their formative years and went to the playoffs a couple of times but never got past the first round.
Overall, Gartner is my favorite player of all time and is the most underrated. I hope to be able to watch the retirement night somehow and see more of his play with the Capitals. So here is to Mike on a good career and an honor he definitely deserves.

Image found here via google images

The New York Rangers released their training camp roster with many names on it. Obviously the guys who will definitely make the team are on it but so are prospects who are trying to find their place within the Ranger organization. Players like Artem Anisimov, Corey Potter, and Greg Moore are young guys looking to make the Rangers out of camp. If they do not make it, they will be among the first guys who will be called up to play for the Rangers if injuries or inconsistency arise.  Petr Nedved is on the list after being given a tryout by the Rangers and he certainly will be looking to make some noise and give the NHL one more shot. Maxim Kondratiev, who was apart of the trade that brought Sandis Ozolinsh to New York for his brief stay is being given a try out. He is looking to have a better go around and finally stick with an NHL team for the long run. Although, with a top 6 in terms of defense almost set, he will be competing for the 7th defenseman spot or for one in Hartford.  The entire Traverse City roster has been invited to the camp. While a few of them may have a shot at making the team, most will be looking to make a first impression with the Ranger organization and learn new things for the future. 
The biggest area of concern is in the bottom six of the forwards. Players like Fredrik Sjostrom, Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha, Patrick Rissmiller, Aaron Voros, Colton Orr, and Dan Fritsche are all fighting for 6 slots on the roster. Assuming that Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, and Brandon Dubinsky take the top 3 center spots, it really leaves 5. Obviously a couple of wing spots are open in the top 6, which may be limited to a few players for consideration but that doesn't help the logjam in the bottom of the forwards too much. 
I still believe that a small move will be made to not only free up this logjam but also give a little bit of cap space back to the team just in case the team needs to get that small piece at the trade deadline. For the sake of cap space, it would make sense to trade Prucha considering his salary of $1.6 million isn't ideal for the cap. But I do not think Prucha is going anywhere nor should he. He can score. He has scored and he will. I don't care if he played with Jagr or scored those garbage goals, someone has to do it.  When looking at who could be traded, someone like Ryan Callahan would be a better candidate for trade. Don't get me wrong. Callahan is a good young player who is not afraid to do anything. He can score, he hits, and isn't afraid to get in opposing player's faces. But that kind of player is the type that can be easily replaced.  Overall, the roster is pretty strong and the amount of young players on it is astonishing considering 5 years ago most Ranger fans were looking at a roster of all older players with a future that was nothing but a mere twinkle. September 16th is the day Ranger fans. I have been wearing a New York Ranger jersey everyday I have been at school. Start getting them out!