Sather: Rebuilding Was The Plan, But It Takes Time

Rebuilding in New York is very hard. Fans aren’t patient enough for a complete rebuild, which includes tanking a few seasons in a row. Fans will call for a General Manager’s head long before the tanking rebuild is complete. However, fans won’t deal with mediocrity, or below mediorcity, either. Just look at the 2000-2004 Rangers, who tried to fill every hole imaginable with an expensive free agent. Pierre LeBrun at ESPN has a brilliant interview with Rangers General Manager Glen Sather, who expressed that his desire to rebuild in New York was always the plan:

“It really hasn’t been a change from anything we’ve tried to do,” Sather told ESPN.com from his team office Wednesday. “It takes time for these kids to develop. The problem with free agents is, if you don’t have kids that are ready to play, you have to fill the holes with somebody. I don’t think the market in New York is a place where people are patient, so you try to build from within and build from without at the same time, all the while not giving up your draft picks and not trying to restrict the development of the players.”

Following the lockout, the Rangers have drafted incredibly well, and only dealt young players who no longer fit in with the team (Petr Prucha, Nigel Dawes, etc). However, that has been overshadowed by the egregious contracts dolled out to the likes of Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, and Wade Redden. Now, with most of the big contracts set to expire after the 2011-2012 season, the Rangers are going to have significant roster space for all these draft picks.

The draft picks that Sather is most anxious for? Well, he names Roman Horak, Carl Hagelin, and Chris Kreider as those who he is most excited to see contribute down the line:

“I think [Roman] Horak is going to be a good player, [Chris] Kreider for sure, [Carl] Hagelin has a good opportunity. We’ve got lots of good kids coming,” Sather said.

That is no slight on the likes of Evgeny Grachev, Ethan Werek or any of the other forward prospects, but it is telling that Slats mentioned those three specifically. Horak (5th round, 2009), playing in the WHL, has a line of 9-11-20 in 12 games this season. Kreider (1st round, 2009) has had a relatively rough start to the season in the NCAA at Boston College, with a line of 0-1-1 in 6 games, but he is just 20, and is the Rangers top ranked prospect on Hockeys Future. Hagelin (6th round, 2007), has had a very successful college career at Michigan, and has started his senior year averaging a point per game through his first 8 games (3-5-8).

On defense, the Rangers have already seen the youth movement take its hold, with five of the seven defensemen being homegrown Rangers. Waiting in the wings are Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko, both acquired in the Scott Gomez trade, as the most obvious choices, with dark horses Tomas Kundratek (3rd round, 2008) and Jyri Niemi (acquired from the Islanders for a 6th round pick) looking to impress as well. Depth on the blueline could be the Rangers greatest strength in the coming seasons.

The Rangers will have a few roster spots open to some of the kids next season, when Alex Frolov, Vinny Prospal, Todd White, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Steve Eminger all depart via free agency. Most of the kids mentioned won’t be ready, but the Rangers could fill holes with prospects bound for bottom six minutes, like Dane Byers, Dale Weise, or Brodie Dupont. In two years, when Chris Drury, Michal Rozsival, and Sean Avery come off the books, the Rangers will find themselves with key holes to fill. It is refreshing to think that the Rangers won’t have to fill those holes with expensive free agents. It’s been a long time coming for Ranger fans, but the future is here.