Rangers Let Euro Scout Go

As per the Edmonton Journal, the Rangers have let long time European scout Crister Rockstrom go. With the team since 1989, Rockstrom’s best find was none other than Henrik Lundqvist, but that was his last big find for the Rangers. Other big European finds for Rockstrom include Fedor Tyutin, Marek Zidlicky, Kim Johnsson, and Niklas Lidstrom. Rockstrom was also the key influence behind the Rangers selecting Niklas Sundstrom 8th overall in the 1993 NHL draft.

Three years ago, the Rangers hired Anders Hedberg, who has been the leading scout on most of the Rangers European signings, including Mats Zuccarello-Aasen. Most of the Russian players are found by Vladimir Lutchenko.

It is rumored that Kent Nilsson could be in line to replace Rockstrom.

The Dumbest Rumor of All Time

Let me begin by saying that I absolutely cannot believe I have to write a post about this stupid rumor. I am going to quote the asinine rumor:

Another rumor that just broke is the Rangers are considering trading Marian Gaborik to the LA Kings and signing Kovalchuk. Very interesting rumor indeed. We all remember Gaborik had wanted to play in LA going into last summer’s UFA period prior to signing in NY.

Let me ask you this: Why in the world would Sather do this? This serves no purpose in the grand scheme of things for the Rangers. Trading one superstar to sign another one to a larger cap hit? Is anyone even taking a step back to think about this? Marian Gaborik is actually the better all around player. When he’s healthy, he actually scores at the same pace as Ilya Kovalchuk. Remember, Gaborik scored at a point per game pace in Minnesota under Jacques Lemaire.

Let’s ignore the fact that Gaborik is signed to a manageable $7.5 million a year. Kovalchuk wants $10 million for the same production. Let’s also ignore the fact that Gaborik actually had more goals and more points, albeit by one in each category, than Kovalchuk. Let’s ignore the fact that Gaborik carried this team in the winter. This is the single dumbest rumor of all time. General managers do not trade superstars so they can sign a different one. It does not happen.

Let’s define what a credible source is when it comes to rumors. A credible source is a beat writer. A credible source is pretty much everyone working for TSN. A credible source is James Mirtle. These are credible sources.

Let’s define people that should never be taken seriously: Eklund at HockeyBuzz, that guy from NHLSourcesSay, or pretty much anything from Bleacher Report. If you believe anything from any of these sources, then you deserve any kind of stress or worrying you encounter.

Look, GMs are always calling each other. There is constant chatter between GMs. In this scenario, what likely happened was LA missed out on Kovalchuk, so Dean Lombardi called Sather and asked about Gaborik. Sather probably told him the cost it would take to get him out of NY (probably something like Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, and a 1st rounder to start the conversation), and Lombardi probably said thanks by no thanks. General managers in the NHL, or any sport for that matter, talk all the time. Hockey is a business, and constant chatter is a part of the business. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say over 90% of any kind of chatter amongst GMs is just tire kicking (Note: I am just using logical reasoning here. I am not in the business, thus I am not a credible source for much of what was said in this paragraph. Thus, I made use of the words “probably” and “likely”).

I am going to give everyone some advice. When you hear a rumor, take a step back for a second, and ask yourself these questions:

• Does the rumor make logical sense?
• Does the rumor help make both teams mentioned stronger?
• Does the rumor work under the salary cap? (check CapGeek)
• Do any of the players involved have no-trade or no-movement clauses?
• Does the rumor make logical sense? (This is not repeated by mistake)

By following these simple steps, you will save yourself a lot of aggravation.

Marc Staal’s (eventual) New Deal

As the ‘summer’ continues to roll by (with rain by the bucket load here in the UK) and Marc Staal remains unsigned many people are wondering why. One thing that has come to my mind is whether the Kovalchuk saga affects a new Staal deal. While being the Rangers best defenceman Staal is not yet at or near the top of his class like Kovalchuk is so wont command the same kind of commitment from the Rangers but there is a chance that with the new scrutiny the league appears to be showing that Sather will find it difficult to be creative when it comes to the contract (assuming they even agree numbers).

While The Rangers will never need to front load deals to the extent of other clubs looking for ways around actual salary, Sather and co. may have been looking for a way to stretch the deal out and ease the cap burden on the club. Will they be able to find a way considering the leagues new stance on deals?

Would Sather even be willing to lock up Staal for a decade or longer while the hugely talented shutdown defenceman is still in his developmental years? Kovalchuk probably wont affect Staal’s deal but the fact this ‘contract’ has happened means there’s more food for thought every time a player is locked up long term. What would the league say if tomorrow The Rangers announced that Staal was locked up for 11 years and 44m? It will be interesting to see what Staal’s deal looks like when (not if – calm down folks) it’s announced.

The NHL Has No Case Against Kovalchuk

In case you missed it, and if you did, you’ve been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, the NHL rejected Ilya Kovalchuk’s deal with the New Jersey Devils. The 17-year, $102 million deal would have paid Kovalchuk $98.5 million in the first 11 years of the deal, with Kovalchuk earning the league minimum ($550k) for the remaining years, save for one year where he would make $750k. The Devils, in a rare PR slip up, held a press conference to announce the signing before the NHL had approved the deal. Less than 12 hours later, the deal was rejected.

The deal, although clear circumvention of the salary cap, is legal within the verbiage of the CBA. The NHL has decided to make its stand against these long term, front loaded, contracts with Kovalchuk, but in reality, the problem started in 2007 when Mikka Kipprusoff signed his new deal with Calgary. The deal included an extra year at the end of the contract for $1.5 million. Not exactly alarming, but it made the loophole in the CBA very evident to the other 29 NHL GMs.

Contracts like Vinny Lecavalier (11 years, $85 million with one year at $1.5 million and one year at $1 million), Henrik Zetterberg (12 years, $73 million with two years at $1 million), Marian Hossa (12 years, $63.3 million with four years at $1 million), Duncan Keith (13 years, $72 million with three years at < $3 million, including one year at $1.5 million), Roberto Luongo (12 years, $64 million with one year at $1.6 million and two years at $1 million) made the loophole the topic of conversation amongst NHL GMs, and the NHL front office looking to put an end to the contracts. The NHL has had a little success, as they declared the Chris Pronger contract to be a 35+ contract, despite the fact that he signed the deal before he was 35 years old, something that the CBA verbiage is rather ambiguous about. The Chris Pronger contract is a separate issue altogether though.

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Fantasy Football Rangers Style

I’m unhealthily obsessed by fantasy sports. I love topping up my yahoo profile with trophies and now, entering the dog days of the hockey summer I thought it was as good a time as any to see if any of you BSB fans fancied taking part in a Fantasy Football season. I will also offer to run a hockey season when the time comes – unless Dave decides to go ahead with an annual BSB one.

Back to football though… I would like to get a football league started with BSB readers. It’d be standard yahoo format but I’d have 6 bench spots with 1 IR spot.  The roster: 1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 K and 1 DEF along with the aforementioned bench and IR.

Let us know in the comments if you’d like to be involved. If so I will create a league and distribute the details; we’ll try and choose a draft date and time convenient for the majority – it will be a Live draft. Any little bit of extra sports related fun will help get us through the dog days of the hockey summer. Waiting for Marc Staal to re-sign of course………

BREAKING: NHL Rejects Kovalchuk Deal

Various sources, via Twitter, are reporting that the NHL has rejected the 17 year, $102 million deal that Ilya Kovalchuk has signed with the New Jersey Devils for blatant salary cap circumvention. The deal would have paid Kovalchuk $92 million within the first 10 years of the deal, with the rest of the contract paid out to bring the salary cap hit down. More details later.

Traverse City Tournament Schedule

The schedule for the Traverse City Tournament, in which the Rangers prospects participate annually, has been released. The Rangers are in the Gretzky division, and have three games:

• 9/11 vs. Columbus at 3:30PM
• 9/12 vs. Carolina at 5:30PM
• 9/14 vs. Minnesota at 3:30PM

The Rangers will play a fourth game, depending on where they finish in the division.

Taking Toughness Too Far?

Lets not discuss Ilya Kovalchuk here. Or the disgusting contracts the league keeps turning a blind eye to (next CBA anyone?). Lets also not discuss Simon Gagne here other than to say Steve Yzermans stellar first summer on the job continues. What I want to discuss here is an apparent change of emphasis in the Rangers organisation that continued with the minor deal to acquire Matt McCue on Monday.

Looking at the Rangers draft, at the Hartford Woldfpack, deals such as the one for Matt McCue and Boogaard’s signing all have me slighly perplexed. Why the sudden obsession with ‘out and out toughness’? The Rangers were easy to play against last year thats fair to say, they rarely established a forecheck, didnt fight for each other and that had to be addressed but this summer I feel Sather has over compensated.

Several draft picks were almost pure tough guys that appear to have very little chance at the NHL level. With all due respect Randy McNaught, Jason Wilson and now Matt McCue, you’re unlikely to be become Rangers. Were some of these moves therefore wasted draft picks? Call me naive but surely drafting is done with an intent on developing and improving the big club. Drafting an overager such as Wilson doesnt help that. With Brashear and Devin DiDiomete also in Hartford you have alot of ‘toughness’. You can add tough guy Justin Soryal to that group too; a prospect but a marginal one at best. You could even be very harsh and say that when the Rangers drafted Dylan Milrath their concerns over team toughness may have directed them to him instead of another need but we’ll give them a pass on Mcilrath because he was a genuine need and seems like a very good prospect.

However back to Hartford. Over the next 12-24 months the Rangers should have alot of young talented prospects coming through and they need a place to play. Having all these tough guys in Hartford may take up a few of the 50 NHL contracts and as well as that contract issue will there be places for the kids to play? Will talented kids be forced to stay in junior/NCAA for an extra year? 

I know its not that simple or that extreme; McNaught may be in the ECHL, Brashear will be gone etc. but there seems to be a knee jerk reaction to toughness in the organisation. This is just me thinking out loud so please tolerate me; maybe I am the one overreacting?

Rangers Acquire Matt McCue

The Rangers made a quiet move today, acquiring 22 year old defenseman Matt McCue from Anaheim for young forward Tomas Zaborsky. McCue, an undrafted free agent, is 6’5 and 220 lbs, and was signed by the Ducks in 2008. Zaborsky was the Rangers 5th round pick in 2006, and will be playing in Finland after a year in Charlotte/Hartford. This is a very minor deal, aimed to address the relatively thin Hartford blue line.

Kovalchuk Stays in Jersey, Gagne Dealt to TB?

In relatively unsurprising news, Ilya Kovalchuk has decided to remain a New Jersey Devil. Kovalchuk, probably the most prominent free agent in the history of the NHL, announced that he will be returning to Jersey after a prolonged process that included a near-signing with the Devils, and several near signings with the Los Angeles Kings. In the end, a deal rumored to be 17 years and over $100 million was “enough” to keep Kovalchuk in America’s Armpit. Many will call the process dramatic and LeBron-esque, but this was far from it. Kovalchuk never commanded the spotlight like the others. The sick thing is that Kovalchuk will still be a Devil when I turn 40. I’m 26 now. That is incredibly disturbing. Update: The deal is $102 million over 17 years, broken down to $10 million for the first 8 years, and $7.5 million for the next 2 years. The remaining $7 million is distributed over 7 years.

Update 1:45pm: Lyle Richardson (Spector’s Hockey) is reporting, via Hockeybuzz (Eklund), that Simon Gagne has been dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning. More later.

Update 2:20pm: Gagne has indeed been traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Names rumored to be coming back include goalie Mike Smith, and prospects Dana Tyrell and Ty Wishart. Not saying this is a 3-for-1 swap, just saying those are names being tossed around.

Update 2:35pm: Gagne to TB for Matt Walker and a 4th round pick. Walker is a 30 year old defenseman with just 4 NHL goals in his entire career, but does have 444 PIMs to go with it. This was a clear salary dump for the Flyers, as Walker is a $1.7 million cap hit (albeit for three more years), compared to Gagne’s $5.25 million for this season. This was an absolute steal by new Tampa GM Steve Yzerman, who has had a terrific offseason thus far.