This is Tom Renney’s team from top to bottom and the coach has put his stamp on the Broadway squad down to the last man on the roster.

Not since Herb Brooks stood behind the bench has a Ranger team been built for the coach. The Blueshirts of the mid-1990s were designed for Mark Messier and in the early 2000s squads were based on star driven talent, many times with no direction.

Even when Renney started after the lockout, he had of tailor a system to the talents of Jaromir Jagr. After No. 68 left for Russia over the summer, Renney saw a chance to remake the Rangers in his image. Instead of a star driven offense, behind Jagr and Brendan Shanahan, the Rangers have a roster filled with up and coming younger players and veterans of unselfish systems.

It has allowed the Blueshirts to a better 2-way unit. It’s one that is designed to cut down on the number of opponent’s shots – and utilize Henrik Lundqvist to his fullest – while taking advantage of the team’s speed, peppering the net with pucks.

It was a risky move, because of the possible chemistry issues. Yet, with 142 Ranger wins – now fourth on the team’s all time list – and three playoff appearances under his belt, Tom Terrific has earned the right to do what he wants.

When he took over the team from Glen Sather, right before the lockout, Renney was thought to be a stopgap. He name wasn’t sexy enough to coach on Broadway and his one coaching stint in Vancouver was considered a failure.

But something changed in Renney after the NHL came back from its one season hiatus. The coach learned how to deal with the NHL ego. He let Jagr be Jagr, while slowing integrating Lundqvist into the league. It gave him the first Ranger playoff appearance since Messier and Wayne Gretzky played together and also a lot more say in how the team would be shaped in the future.

Slowly over the past two seasons, the roster changed. What was a European based system became a North American style team, built from not just free agency but the draft as well. Although the Rangers have notable names like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Markus Naslund, and Wade Redden, the roster also heavily relies upon draft picks such as Brandon Dubinsky, Marc Staal, and Lundqvist, which gives the Blueshirts a good blend of experience and youth.

The result is a 9-2-1 record, the best record in hockey so far.

And here’s the scary part: The Rangers haven’t fired on all cylinders yet.

Early on this season, Drury has been slow at the start and Gomez is still searching for his offensive touch. Even Naslund looks a little lost out there, but is starting to come around. It’s forced Renney to stay on his team to keep them on target to the task at hand.

Take last night for instance. With a pedestrian first period on Long Island, Renney focused his team during the final half of the game, leading to a 4-2 win. As the game moved along, the Rangers got better and better, much like they did in Columbus last Friday and at home against Pittsburgh on Saturday. “The guys realize they have to be on the same page,” Renney said. “The idea was to play 60 minutes. They need to complete the deal in an intelligent way. I thought we did that.”

Renney helped move it along. He sent a message in the first by benching Brandon Dubinsky, after the young center took two bad penalties in the first 5 ½ minutes of the game.

This is not a Plaxico Burress situation. Dubinsky is a good kid and has produced this season. He just made a few bad plays. But Renney not only sent a message to the budding star but the rest of the team as well. Stupid mistakes will not be tolerated.

“Just wanted Dubi to understand there’s a way we have to play and the guy behind the bench is the boss,” Renney said and added, “I am not going to discriminate in that matter.”

Besides playing with discipline, Renney also has the team in great shape. By strongly encouraging the squad to arrive at training camp almost a month early, the Blueshirts were able to get into midseason form in September and the Rangers’ conditioning allows them to outplay opponents in the third period.

“We certainly make sure we get under the time in all the stop watch drills,” said captain Chris Drury. “It very well could be. We are very well aware of how important the third is.”

It’s that complete game with no lapses that Renney keeps preaching.

Of course, it’s still early and no one knows if the hot start will continue. But one thing is for certain: If the Rangers are going to go far into the spring this season, it will be first and foremost because of Tom Terrific and the stamp he put on his team.

With options dwindling, the 36 year-old future Hall of Famer decided leave the NHL and signed a three year contact with Avangard Omsk in the new Continental Hockey League, the team Jagr play for during the lockout.

“It was the toughest decision in my life, hockeywise,” Jagr told the Canadian Press on Friday. “No question about it. I hate making changes … I’m thankful for the three years I had in New York. They were great years. I understand that I’m older and the team decided to go in a different direction because they couldn’t get the deal done.”

Without the Rangers, who decided to sign former Vancouver captain Markus Naslund, the decision was easy, because Omsk offered the most money and team general manager Anatoly Bardin public wooed the right wing starting in March. He also got a contact offer from the Edmonton Oilers.

“I kind of always got the feeling,” said Sather in a conference call on Thursday, “that maybe there was something in Russia that is really looking at him and if there was enough money to stay here he would’ve stayed but we never got down to that situation where I knew exactly what he was looking for, whether it was a one-year or a two-year, or a longer-year term. There was never any discussion like that. It’s pretty tough to negotiate with yourself.”

It’s believed Jagr will be making approximately $7 million U.S. tax-free a season and adds instant credibility to the new league.

But now for the first time since 1990, the NHL will be Jagr-less. He ends his North American career with 646 career goals, 11th on the all-time list and 1599 points.

Rangers sign Mara: Although they let their biggest free agents walk, the Rangers will have Paul Mara on the team next season. The defenseman confirmed to the Journal News he signed a one-year deal worth $1.95 million.

Because apparently in New Jersey, you can go home again.

The Devils general manager started shopping on Tuesday looking for more offense and he came up with some very familiar names. First he inked Brian Rolston to a four year, $20 million contract and then took back Bobby Holik on a one year deal for $2.25 million.

Both players won Stanley Cups with New Jersey and will be looking to do it again in the twilights of their careers.

Rolston, 35 played for New Jersey from 1994-99, when he was traded to Boston for Claude Lemieux. The left wing continued to be productive into his 30s and scored 31 goals and 28 assists for the Minnesota Wild last year. Although he shows no sign of dropping off, the contract does run until Rolston is 39, making it kind of tricky.

The same can’t be said for Holik, who will be 38 in January. The checking center was a Devil from 1992-2002 when he signed with the Rangers. The Blueshirts bought him out after the lockout and he played in Atlanta the last three seasons. He had 15 goals and 19 assists last year.

Joining the two veterans will be Jay Pandolfo and Bryce Salvador, both of whom Lamoriello signed before the 12:00 p.m. opening bell, but he is letting Sergei Brylin walk away from the Prudential Center.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have an opinion.

If the reports are true, general manager Glen Sather is making a terrible mistake allowing both Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr to walk. After covering the two players since the lockout, it crystal clear the Rangers need them in order to be a winner team in 2008-09.

First, let’s start with Avery and the facts are clear. When the Rangers acquired him back in Feb. 2007, they went from a lackluster team to a winning club and since then they went 50-23-13 with him in the lineup and 24-35-9 with the winger wearing a suit during the game. That alone should tell Sather the value Avery brings to the Rangers and how irreplaceable he really has become.

Sure, you have problems with No. 16. Opponents hate him, while some in the locker room may have grown tired of defending him all the time. But who cares? All great teams have players who get under opponents skin. It’s the mark of winning and most Blueshirts will overlook Avery’s antics and outside distractions to have a solid chance to win the Stanley Cup. The fact is Avery give the team that edge.

Without Avery, Sather will have to sign someone like him [Darcy Tucker?], yet there is no one on the market who is Avery’s age, skill and has his fine fashion sense. For what he’s asking, $4 million a year seems to be a bargain. They should pay the man and get it over with.

As for Jagr, it’s a little more complicated. At 36, his skills have diminished and there is a supposed huge offer on the table from don Omsk-Avangard of the Russian Continental League. Even with that, Jagr still wants to play for the Rangers if the price is right.

Without No. 68, the Rangers will have to get another first line forward and with only Marian Hossa out there on the market, Sather will have to pay the Penguins free agent or suffer maybe a crippling loss.

With Jagr, the Blueshirts will be pretty much still intact with the offense focusing around Scott Gomez, Chris Drury and No. 68 himself there shouldn’t be too much of an adjustment period next season, unlike the past one where both Drury and Gomez went through some sort of early season slump. [Drury’s was greater than Gomez’s].

Jagr is also a proud man, who seems to thrive when people are telling him he is finished or his team will struggle. As evidenced by the last month of the regular season and the first round against New Jersey, the future Hall of Famer carried the team on his back. Jagr can still be a central figure on the team.

Now Sather shouldn’t break the bank for Jagr. It would be silly to give him more than two seasons and if he walks because another team gives him a long term deal, then so be it. But based on what the right wing said when the team broke up at the end of the season, he only wants to be in the NHL for two more years and then return to the Czech Republic.

Yet, that’s years away and right now both Jagr and Avery are needed on Broadway. Unless something is done by Tuesday it may be a long season at MSG, much like the one I am experiencing now at Shea.

Think about it, do you honestly believe the Devils will take two games at the Garden, a place where they are 9-2-1 against the Devils in the regular season since the lockout and the two regulation losses had Kevin Weekes in goal? Sure the Devils beat the King twice at MSG in the 2006 playoffs, but remember he did have the hip flexor and migraine headaches back then.

With the Garden rocking and a determined Ranger team, it’s going to be tough for the Devils.

Bottom line, the Blueshirts should win this series, unless a 2004 Yankee-like collapse occurs.

Before we get ahead of ourselves and look at the Montreal matchup, there are still two games to be won and unlike last year’s Atlanta Thrashers, which saw Kari Lehtonen meltdown, Marty Brodeur won’t go out that easy. Tom Renney knows this and will have his team ready.

First the Rangers will need to put more pressure on Brodeur and get more pucks to the net. With only 13 shots through two periods, the team will have to play like they did in the third tonight, while keeping Lundqvist well protected.

It’s not going to be easy, but I am keeping a quiet confidence.  

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After sitting out last season deciding what to do, Brian Leetch finally made it official and retired from the NHL after 18 seasons.

The Daily News reported today the Rangers all-time leader scorer for a defenseman finally packed it in. He finished up with 240 goals, with 741 assists in 1129 games as a Rangers, while winning the Calder, the Norris twice, and Conn Smythe trophies. He was a 10-time All-Star and won the Stanley Cup with the Blueshirts in 1994.

He is second only to Rod Gilbert in overall scoring for the franchise.

Leetch spent most of his career with the Blueshirts, but when sent packing to the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 2004 and then, after the lockout, played for the Boston Bruins in 2005-06.

It was rumored Leetch would come back to the Rangers last season, but that never materialized.

Yet, just remember the good times.

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