NHL Scheduling Office, You're Awesome As Always

The NHL has released their preseason schedule and, because I'm a biased fool, I only care about the Rangers. And I have to say, what the H, man? Do they really need to make Silver Elite status before the season even starts? We already know they're beginning the season in Europe (yeah, that's fair) but did you know where else they're going and that they basically have a normal U.S. preseason, too, plus several high-intensity matchups in Europe before their official start?

Let's take a look...

Sat, 9/20 -- The Rangers open the preseason in Ottawa. Sure, why not?

Mon, 9/22 -- Ottawa comes to New York.

Weds, 9/24 -- NYR @ NJD. Plenty of good seats still available, as always.

Thurs, 9/25 -- Tampa @ NYR.

Sat, 9/27 -- NJD @ NYR. I'm already sick of the Devils.

Tues, 9/30 -- NYR @ SC Bern in Bern, Switzerland. Come on. Three days after their last game? Couldn't they have given them a week of rest? Time to travel? Time to settle in? I hope Renney sits every significant player and I don't care of Bern wins 12-0.

Weds, 10/1 -- NYR vs. Metallurg Magnitogorsk in Bern, Switzerland. Mertallurg? Isn't that a major at most engineering schools?

Fortunately, that's it for the preseason schedule, but do they really need to be going to Ottawa? Do they need to play many stateside games at all? I know, I know, it's all about the money and without the Rangers, how could the Devils even put 3,000 fans in their arena for a preseason game when they can't sell out for playoff games? (Yes, get used to it -- I'll be hating on the Devils a LOT here).

Whatever, I'm just looking for things to carp about at this point. I'm sure the NHL looked at the Czech-heavy Rangers and thought they'd be perfect for this experiment -- and then Straka and Jagr departed and it hurts a bit. But they're still the NHL's New York franchise and Henrik Lundqvist alone should be a big draw (and yes, I know he's Swedish and not Swiss -- remind me to tell you a story about that, though, sometime).