Is there a chance this man will be supporting the A on the ice sooner rather than later? (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Believe it or not, the Rangers played their 24th game yesterday meaning that we are at the halfway point of the season. (I know some people have said they like the shortened season but for me…I don’t like the fact that there are only 24 games left to play. Before we know it, we will be without hockey again and that just doesn’t seem fair.)

The Rangers have amassed a 13-9-2 record on the season. Considering only six guys, not including goaltenders, have played every game I would say this is a pretty good record. (Bonus points to anyone who can name them without looking.) Unfortunately being only slightly over .500 isn’t enough and the team will need to do better during the second half. Assuming they can stay healthy, I think they can.

Speaking of the teams’ health, a few odds and ends to start off your week.

Last night, Kevin Dupont of the Boston Globe tweeted this little nugget out of the blue:

To say that would be amazing news would be an understatement. I’ve said all along that “out indefinitely” could mean two weeks or two years. To me, the fact that he hasn’t been placed on IR yet says that it is closer to the first length of time rather than the second. (If they knew he was going to be out for the season, they would’ve placed him on IR by now.)

The problem was no one else confirmed this report until late this morning when Andrew Gross reported the following:

The Rangers will neither confirm nor deny a report from the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont via Twitter that the team expects defenseman Marc Staal to return in two to three weeks.

Interesting. Due to the fact the Rangers refuse to discuss injuries this could mean nothing but I find it intriguing that they didn’t deny it. Guess we wait 2-3 weeks and find out. (By the way, that would bring us to a return of around April 1st which would give Staal plenty of time to get back to normal for the playoffs.)

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This past week has been an up-and-down one for Brian Boyle, to say the least. A couple of days ago, I assumed his days in New York were limited. (I still think that may be the case.) Yesterday, he got back in the lineup and not only had a decent game but scored his first goal of the season. Obviously he was relieved but later in the evening, he tweeted this:

Haha! Fans put pressure on players who aren’t scoring but it’s amazing how much pressure these guys put on themselves. That tweet tells me he was even more relieved than we all thought. As cute as monkeys are, glad that one is gone. Next up to get rid of one? Taylor Pyatt.