There are rumors from far away places that there’s interest in free agent Steve MacIntyre. There’s a big difference between interest from another team and MacIntyre signing with Chekhov.

Tom Renney likes his  tough guys. While behind the Rangers bench, Renney employed end-of-the-roster fighters/coke machines/goons who routinely averaged less than 6 minutes a game. In 06-07, Colton Orr and Ryan Hollweg were regulars and fought 16 and 15 times respectively.

In 2006-07 alone, Tom Renney devoted 642 minutes to Hollweg (8:42 a night) and 282 to Colton Orr (5 minutes a night). It is important to remember that these men dressed for a lot of games. Hollweg was an everyday player (78 games) and Orr played a lot too (53 games).

This past season, Renney also employed some tough guys:

I don’t think Renney has found his Colton Orr; we know it isn’t Zack Stortini (I doubt he’s with the organization come the fall) and we suspect it isn’t J-F Jacques based on all kinds of things (including durability).

This is not a Mack Truck (it’s a Peterbilt 351, one of the most famous vehicles in movie history–not. But it should be) and there’s plenty of intimidation when it comes to Steve MacIntyre. I think maybe Tom Renney would like to coach him up to the point where he’s Colton Orr, but might be thinking he can’t get there from here with this player.

The Russian rumor is just that–a rumor. If Mr. Google’s translate works then this is a manager talking about his wish list. I suspect Steve MacIntyre will be back in the fold come autumn–unless there’s a Colton Orr out there.