Via Steve Zipay, Ryan Callahan has been named the sole alternate captain for the time being. John Tortorella will apparently wait to see if another candidate emerges, presumably giving them the second A.
Congrats to Cally, good to see his hard work didn’t go unnoticed.
According to Andrew Gross, restricted free agent and holdout center Brandon Dubinsky has finally signed for $3.7M over two years. I guess rumors of him lowering his demands were greatly exaggerated. Obviously the Rangers caved in, so amazingly the holdout worked. Good for Brandon. He’ll make $1.7M this year and $2M next, putting his cap hit at a manageable $1.85M. “The only part that made me nervous was the thought that they might possibly trade me. I wanted to be here,” is the money quote, no pun intended.
The important thing now is that he will skate later today at the team’s practice facility. Dubinsky is a week behind the other guys, so he’s going to have to bust his tail to get ready for the season.
Update (Dave) 4:30:Some interesting numbers are starting to be made public. Steve Zipay is reporting that Dubinsky was initially requesting four years and $16 million.
The initial reports that Dubinsky was asking for $1.4 million were puzzling, as it seemed absurd that Sather would be haggling over that little money. This realization that Dubinsky wanted $4 million a year shows that it may just be about the money for him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn’t stay too attached to him. He is not worth $4 million a year. This deal ($1.85 million cap hit) is just right.
Via Larry Brooks, the Rangers have signed winger Vinny Prospal to a one year deal worth $1.1M. Prospal played under John Tortorella for a few seasons in Tampa, but managed to miss out on the club’s 2004 Stanley Cup Championship while playing in Anaheim. It’s worth noting that Vinny’s best seasons have come under Torts, so maybe there’s hope for him in this system.
Me? I don’t love the move, but it’s not terrible. Prospal’s pretty much a lock for 20 goals in the run-and-gun system, and his deal is pretty cheap and easy to back out of. Plus he can fill in at center if needed. He’s essentially taking the spot vacated by Nik Zherdev, which is funny because they’re both the same kind of players: lots of talent but they disappear at times.
In some unsurprising news, Carp passes along a report that former Blueshirt Nik Zherdev is indeed heading home to Mother Russia to play in the KHL next year. The translated article doesn’t say much, but there’s enough there to get the point across that Nik will join Yulaev Salavat Ufa, a team that also features former Rangers Vlad Vorobiev (remember him?) and Dmitri Kalinen.
Update: Turns out he isn’t heading to the KHL, yet anyway. Via Beyond the Blueshirts, Zherdev’s agent basically denied the report.
Steve Zipay of Newsday tweets that Ryan Callahan has signed a contract, avoiding the arbitration hearing set for later this month. Still don’t know the terms, but Zipay says that “it is believed to be a substantial raise and a multi-year deal.” Good for Callie, he’s earned it. We’ll post the numbers once we find ‘em.
Update (8:36pm): Zipay now tweets that Lauri Korpikoski has been traded to Pheonix. Details to come.
Update (8:39pm): SNY’s Ranger Blog says the Korpedo was traded for Enver Lisin, a restricted free agent. Lisin scored 13 goals in 48 games last year, and Hockey’s Future says he has “significant offensive upside” and is a fantastic skater. I like the move, sounds like a damn fine addition for the third line with the potential for more in the future.
Update (9:12pm): Back to Callie, he gets two years, $4.6 M. If my math is right that’s a $2.3M cap hit. Not bad at all.
Steve Zipay reports that the Rangers have agreed to terms with unrestricted free agent winger Ales Kotalik. Kotalik went 20-23-43 in 75 games split between Buffalo and Edmonton last year. Various reports say it’s a three year deal worth $3M per, basically market value. He earned $2.5M last season. A teammate of Chris Drury in Buffalo, Kotalik has averaged just over 22 goals per 82 games played in his career.
The move adds depth and another scoring winger to a team in need of one, but it likely spells the end for Nik Zherdev’s brief tenure on Broadway.
I don’t have any fancy powers to edit threads I didn’t create, so let’s start a new one.
Mike Cammalleri is heading north of the border to Montreal, where apparently salary cap restrictions don’t apply. He got five years at $6M per. Obviously he would have been a great fit for the Blueshirts, but that’s a lot of scratch.
Marian Gaborik is still out there, but he’ll be way more expensive than Cammy would have been. Martin Havlat isn’t going back to Chicago thanks to Marian Hossa’s megadeal, but is the price right?
Update (6:14pm): Mike Komisarek got five years at $4.5M per from the Maple Leafs. Toronto also finalized the Kubina deal, getting Exelby and Colin Stuart from Atlanta for Kubina and Tim Stapleton.
Update 7:00pm: Dave here, thanks Mike for watching out while I was MIA.
Steve Sullivan re-upped with Nashville, 2 years, $3.75 annually.
Steve Begin to the Bruins, 1 year $850k
Sami Pahlsson to CBJ, 3 years, $2.65 annually.
Still no big splash for the Rangers, Gaborik and Havlat still out there.
Update 7:05pm: Chris Neil to make his decision tonight, it’s between the Rangers, Oilers, and Leafs.
If the Rangers sign him to a four year deal, Sather will have officially burned out all his brownie points for dealing Gomez.
Gaborik wants 10/$75 million.
If he gets that deal, what does the over/under start at? 300 games over 10 years? 400?
Update 7:15pm: The Rangers offer to Neil is 4/$8.8 million total.
Update 7:30pm: Matieu Garon to CBJ, 2 years, $1.2 million per.
Update 8:20pm: Gaborik to the Rangers (!!) 5 years, $5.75 million a year (!!!) Great deal! 5 years, $7.5 mil a year. Still a good deal.
Gionta reunited with Gomez in Montreal, 5 years, $25 million.
Neil staying in Ottawa (whew) 4 years, $8 million.
Michal Rozsival was seen limping around with a knee brace after the game yesterday thanks to a Sean Donovan check, and chances our he’ll be out of action for at least a little while. He’ll be getting an MRI sometime today, and will almost assuredly miss Tuesday’s game against the Wild.
No one in Hartford will be able to replace Rozy’s 22:00-plus quality minutes per game, but Michael Sauer will get the first shot at it. The 21-year old from Minnesota has played in 59 games for the Pack this year, notching 6 goals and 16 assists to go with a impressive +19 rating. At 6′-3″, 215 lbs, he also offers a nice amount of size.
Take a good look. Tonight is probably the last time you’ll see this team as presently constructed because their next contest won’t come until after the March 4th trade deadline. With the team riding a 2-8-4 stretch that has sunk them to seventh place in the Eastern Conference, just two points out of tenth, there’s little doubt in my mind Glen Sather is going to make some kind of move soon. Is that going to be a push for a top six forward or stud defenseman, or is it going to be a selling off of older vets in exchange for younger building blocks? That might depend on what happens tonight.
The Avs have basically been in a season long funk, and have gone 6-14-0 in the last month and a half. They did just get franchise center Paul Stastny back from missing nearly two months with a broken right forearm, so that’ll be a nice shot in the arm. I dunno about you, but it just looks weird seeing Colorado in last place in the standings.
Here’s tonight’s hodgepodge of lines, courtesy of Jane McManus:
Naslund – Gomez – Zherdev
Dubinsky – Drury – Callahan
Dawes – Korpikoski – Prucha
Sjostrom – Betts – Orr
Staal – Girardi
Rozsival – Redden
Mara – Kalinin
I guess Mark Bell couldn’t force his way into the lineup. Enjoy the game.
Photo Credit: Mark Lennihan, AP
According to Jane McManus, the Rangers have fired head coach Tom Renney and assistant coach Perry Pearn. No word on their replacements yet, but the John Tortorella rumblings can’t be far away.
The move comes on the heels of a stretch in which the Blueshirts went 2-7-3, picking up just seven of a possible twenty-four points. The team was outscored 43-21 during that stretch, and have dropped to sixth place in the Eastern Conference, just two points out of ninth.
Well, we certainly can’t say it was a surprise move, this has been anticipated for weeks. The next head on the chopping block is likely GM Glen Sather’s, who’s built a team with little roster flexibility and serious cap issues down the road. With the trade deadline just over a week away, we’ll see how Sather reacts to the heat.
Update 1:00pm (Dave): New coach will be John Tortorella. Sather got this one right. Let’s hope Tortorella lights a fire under this team’s ass.
Update 3:50pm (Dave): As per Steve Zipay, the Tortorella deal is all but done. The league is helping broker a deal with the Lightning, who want compensation because he still has time left on his deal with Tampa.
