MSG analyst Joe Micheletti is with the new-look Rangers in Europe as they prepare for Saturday’s opener with the Lightning in the Czech Republic. He discussed his thoughts on the upcoming NHL season with The Post’s Justin Terranova.
Q: With this European trip, is there a danger of the Rangers getting off to a sluggish start when they return to the U.S.?
A: I don’t know if there is a danger with this year’s Rangers as much as with teams that did this in the past. The Ducks got off to a horrible start last year after starting the season in London. That team didn’t come straight home. They stopped on the East Coast, then played four or five games before going to Anaheim.
The Rangers have five days before they play again, where they will be home and not on an extended trip, so I think they are going to be fine.
Q: Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery and Fedor Tyutin are gone. Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Aaron Voros and Dmitri Kalinin are in. Did this team need to make those radical changes?
A: Last year they were in the bottom 10 in scoring, and that was a problem. They looked at it and said, ‘We are a team that needs to get younger.’ And when you watched the Stanley Cup Finals last year, the Red Wings and Penguins were two teams that won with speed and puck control. So that’s the direction the Rangers went in.
Q: Are they capable of winning the Cup?
A: I think they have the potential to go further than they did last year, based on the way the game is played and based on their personnel. I think a guy like Markus Naslund is going to be the sleeper on this team. Yeah, he is 35 years old. [But] watching him here, he is still in tremendous shape.
Q: The Devils’ biggest moves were signing Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik. Is the team improved?
A: I talked to Lou Lamoriello in the summer and he said he likes what is on the way in terms of the kids. He feels really good about what is in his organization.
Q: Was firing Ted Nolan the right move for the Islanders?
A: The team is going through a transition period right now. And if Nolan and GM Garth Snow had a difference in philosophy, then, yeah, I understand it. This team is going to be based a lot on young kids, and if Nolan didn’t agree that was the best way to build this organization, then guess what – the boss wins.