News Article: Ryan Callahan retires (appreciation and memories of him)

[Fitzy]

I was at that game, which was the memory I opened the thread to share. Fun game.

Sauer scored that game, if I remember correctly. One of his few NYR goals.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Who was the better player Callahan or Dubi? I feel like Dubi was more talented but did less with more.

 

[thethirdhockeyman91]

Who was the better player Callahan or Dubi? I feel like Dubi was more talented but did less with more.

Cally and Duby will forever be joined at the hip for me.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Who was the better player Callahan or Dubi? I feel like Dubi was more talented but did less with more.

More skilled player probaby Dubinsky, but better overall player Callahan, esp in those primes years from 2008-2013.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Who was the better player Callahan or Dubi? I feel like Dubi was more talented but did less with more.

Dubi was the better player.

Cally got more out of what he had.

It's sad to see BOTH of them go out the way that they're going out.

 

[Savant]

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan was a fun unit to watch play.

I didn't appreciate Callahan's absurd contract request pre-trade, but that's business. Not everyone is willing to take a discount.

Wish he hadn't dived to break his foot blocking a shot in 2011, but I doubt that would have made a difference in the series.

I will always think that the ridiculous David Clarkson contract ruined any chance of Callahan resigning.

Admirable player that deserved a better end. The scene with his grandmother on the 2012 Road to Winter Classic (how does one watch that series again) episode came really close to bringing me to tears.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

Greed got the best of him. Can't blame him for going for the money. However, to me his loyalty to the organization was greatly diminished. His contract demands were absurd. He was asking for what 65+ point player should get. He only had 50 points in one season as a Ranger. His career playoff numbers were abysmal. Unfortunately, a lot of players on that team thought they were much better than they really were.

 

[Edge]

Callahan was the epitome of an over-achiever.

He was an older draftee in 2004, who then also went back to the OHL for an over-age season.

He started out as a kid who projected as a fourth line energy type , with a shot at the third line. But he just never stopped working, really unlike any prospect I’d seen in a long time.

He managed to translate the offense at the AHL level and then turned himself into a legit scoring option in NHL.

Never the biggest, nor the fastest, nor a “skilled” highlight reel type prospect, he just would not take no for an answer.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Greed got the best of him. Can't blame him for going for the money. However, to me his loyalty to the organization was greatly diminished. His contract demands were absurd. He was asking for what 65+ point player should get. He only had 50 points in one season as a Ranger. His career playoff numbers were abysmal. Unfortunately, a lot of players on that team thought they were much better than they really were.

Are we really talking "loyalty"? Tell that to Zucc and Hank. This is a business, there is no loyalty.

 

[Rempe73]

I loved Callahan, even though he was not as skilled as some other guys. Warrior. And like some others said, the contract situation was understandable.

 

[Leonardo87]

I will always think that the ridiculous David Clarkson contract ruined any chance of Callahan resigning.

Admirable player that deserved a better end. The scene with his grandmother on the 2012 Road to Winter Classic (how does one watch that series again) episode came really close to bringing me to tears.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

BTW in case anyone is wondering, he is living back in his home city in Rochester with his high school sweetheart and kids. I know he works at one of the elite private high schools and works with the hockey team there, director of player development.

source - sister lives up there and people see him around pretty frequently.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

BTW in case anyone is wondering, he is living back in his home city in Rochester with his high school sweetheart and kids. I know he works at one of the elite private high schools and works with the hockey team there, director of player development.

source - sister lives up there and people see him around pretty frequently.

You sound like you were about to provide an address.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

You sound like you were about to provide an address.

All i've heard is , "big house" haha

 

[RangerBlues]

Callahan was the epitome of an over-achiever.

He was an older draftee in 2004, who then also went back to the OHL for an over-age season.

He started out as a kid who projected as a fourth line energy type , with a shot at the third line. But he just never stopped working, really unlike any prospect I’d seen in a long time.

He managed to translate the offense at the AHL level and then turned himself into a legit scoring option in NHL.

Never the biggest, nor the fastest, nor a “skilled” highlight reel type prospect, he just would not take no for an answer.

He was a Torts kind of guy.

 

[Roo Returns]

I have a lot of memories of Cally. Following the Pack during the Mitch Beck Howlings Days and hearing he scored every game. Kind of getting on his bandwagon when he first got called up. He became the player I kind of adopted to personally root for.

I saw him play many times. Twice during his rookie year in that Boston matinee where Thomas Pock scored with like 20 seconds left and they won in the shoot out, and then that wacky Islanders game end of the season where Dubliwecz was in goal.

I was at opening night the next year when he switched to #24 and scored against the Panthers.

I remember him hitting the post in Game 3 vs. Washington in 2009 and Backstrom coming back and scoring.

Becoming Captain.

I'll never forget some of those early games in 2011-12 when I was at MSG quite often. Even that snowstorm in October.

I think the most interesting one was when he scored against Carolina in 2013 to clinch the playoff spot and Stralman tackling him. I was in SoCal partying with some friends and we were all in a tiny apartment in a tiny complex, some of us watching. It was either the first or second day I met this girl that I still keep up with and will hopefully see after covid. She wasn't a big sports fan and was really curious how we all got into hockey and why she was in a battleground room full of Rangers and Islanders fans from NY lol.

I met Cally when he was rehabbing his knee injury in 2007 at an autograph signing. Super nice guy.

I hope he's around the Garden maybe similar to Graves or Ortmeyer or they can eventually get him even once in a blue moon for appearances.

I'd love to see him and Kakko do a YouTube or Twtter spot about #24 together lol.

Ultimately he'll be somewhere in that Graves/Eddie Johnstone./Zuc/Fast camp. I think if Johnstone was in better health and he played in an era when technology was a little better, we'd see him around more too.

 

[Harbour Dog]

It was so unbelievably refreshing to have a team full of heart and soul guys, after the years of bloated decadence.

Cally played a huge role in making us respectable again, and he'll be a Ranger forever.

 

[JT Kreider]

I remember the first playoff win at MSG in what ---10 years? Game 3 against Atlanta. My seats were maybe 15 rows up, halfway between the blue and red line on the side where we shot on net in the 2nd period in which he scored 2 goals.

That and Game 1 against NJ in 2008 where he scored the game winner on the PK, some of the happiest nights of my life.

 

[JT Kreider]

Greed got the best of him. Can't blame him for going for the money. However, to me his loyalty to the organization was greatly diminished. His contract demands were absurd. He was asking for what 65+ point player should get. He only had 50 points in one season as a Ranger. His career playoff numbers were abysmal. Unfortunately, a lot of players on that team thought they were much better than they really were.

I disagree. He had to watch this organization throw obscene amounts of money at players who did absolutely nothing for them, but when it came time to take care of their own, that is where they finally decided to draw the line on overpaying players? It still makes no sense.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

Its funny how im thinking of great Callahan memories and i start thinking of my favorite memories of that period and i keep thinking "man Stepan was involved in so many big moments in his time here". I think of that huge ot goal vs washington and that game after he returned from a broken jaw vs montreal. Callahan i immediately think of him fighting Matt Cooke for the hit on McDonagh and that shift he had no stick vs winnipeg and blocked more shots in a min than Nedved's career.

Great tribute here

 

[Shesterkybomb]

I disagree. He had to watch this organization throw obscene amounts of money at players who did absolutely nothing for them, but when it came time to take care of their own, that is where they finally decided to draw the line on overpaying players? It still makes no sense.

Honestly i think the organization did the right thing then, and i still do. You cant pay a guy for years his body will never let him get to. Unfortunately players like him, Prust, Dubinsky, Girardi, Zuc etc all play so hard and some of these playing well above their weight, they never have long careers, it sucks but if they didnt play this way theyd have never made it. Its part of the reason i think the team might have a problem when Mika gets to UFA with his concussions.

 

[Machinehead]

I was at the game where he scored four goals.

A flawed player, but he got a lot out his talents, and embodied our team for awhile.

He was always destined for a decline and a short career, which is sad.

We may have somewhat overrated him as a player back in the day and he was very much in the right place at the right time in terms of a team that fit his style.

That being said, he was underrated as a leader. People pinned that whole "captaincy weighing him down" thing on him but he absolutely the right choice at the time and had his best years as captain. The fact that we moved on to a different ideology as a team shouldn't change that.

 

[Player big P]

Let us also never forget he scored the dramatic game winner and won us the coveted Victoria Cup.

 

[usekakkorightquinn]

I have no issue with a player wanted to get paid and supporting himself and family. However, what Callahan did was over the top and really was disrespectful to the organization and his teammates. He asked for an absurd amount of money which would have hurt the Rangers ability to put out a deep team. He used his popularity with the Rangers fan base as an attempt to blackmail the Rangers into giving him a ton of money he wasn't worth. It backfired on him. I respected how he played as a Ranger but not what he did when it came time for his first significant contract.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

I have no issue with a player wanted to get paid and supporting himself and family. However, what Callahan did was over the top and really was disrespectful to the organization and his teammates. He asked for an absurd amount of money which would have hurt the Rangers ability to put out a deep team. He used his popularity with the Rangers fan base as an attempt to blackmail the Rangers into giving him a ton of money he wasn't worth. It backfired on him. I respected how he played as a Ranger but not what he did when it came time for his first significant contract.

What he did was not “disrespectful” to the organization or teammates, lets not be overdramatic because he wanted an extra million a year to start negotiations.

To think anyone in that lockerroom felt “disrespected” when they heard what he wanted on his contract is laughable.