Rozsival hurt, Sauer recalled

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.

Game 64: Rangers vs Avalanche

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

Renney fired

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.

When in doubt, try new lines

Jane McManus has the word from today’s skate:

Chris Drury-Scott Gomez-Markus Naslund

Fredrik Sjostrom-Nigel Dawes-Lauri Korpikoski

Ryan Callahan-Brandon Dubinsky-Nikolai Zherdev

Colton Orr-Blair Betts-Aaron Voros

I’m sure you remember that Gomes started year with those two flanking him, but little came of it. It seems like one of those desperate “well they’re our three highest profile fowards, so let’s see what happens” kind of things. Sjostrom has been one of the team’s more reliable forwards, although he hasn’t contributed much offensively, so it’s nice to see him get bumped up a bit and presumably see more ice time. Something about that Dubinsky line excites me. You’ve got a  world class talent, an all out hustle guy and a solid two way performer. It just seems like a natural fit, but what do I know.

The Blueshirts are in Jersey tomorrow night, and there’s a chance Steve Avery could be assigned to Hartford by then. Oh joy.

Hundqvist & Mara sick, and not because of the offense

As Dave alluded too earlier, Corey Potter is back with the club, but not to serve as the 7th D-man. Steve Zipay notes that the flu has made it’s rounds in the locker room, and neither Henrik Lundqvist or Paul Mara skated this morning. With Dmitri Kalinin’s back still acting up and uncertainty surrounding Mara’s available for tomorrow night’s game in Dallas, Potter’s presence was more necessity than luxury.

Jane McManus also reported on some (surprise!) new line combos, as Aaron Voros skated with Scott Gomez and Markus Nasund this morning. The Betts-Orr-Sjostrom and Drury-Dubinsky-Zherdev units are still in tact, while Nigel Dawes was skating with Lauri Korpikosi and Ryan Callahan. Petr Prucha will again be a healthy scratch. I’m sure Dave’s thrilled.

Anisimov sent back to Hartford

Well that was quick. Arthur Staple mentioned it at the bottom of this post, and the AHL transactions page confirms it. Anisimov received 9:27 of ice time last night, getting off one shot and going two-for-five on faceoffs. From what I recall, the shot came in the third period after he used his reach to knock the puck away from the defenseman in the slot. I also remember checking the box score after the first period and seeing Anisimov had 4+ minutes of ice time after the first period, so Renney had him on the bench for most of the final two frames plus overtime.

Speaking of Renney, he apparently ran the team through the gauntlet during the morning skate today, with 35 minutes of brutal skating drills. Check out Staple’s post for the rest of the details. It’s pretty clear this team needs to get back to the basics, they were trying to get far too cute last night. Get the shot off, drive to net, rinse, repeat. Hopefully they start to get message.

Hockey’s Future Q&A with Derek Stepan

Alexander Frecon of the great site Hockey’s Future recently sat down for an interview with the Rangers’ second round pick from the 2008 Draft, University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman center Derek Stepan. You can see the full interview here, but here’s a fun little snippet:

HF: What hobbies help distract you from hockey when you need a break?

DS: Haha. Actually lately I’ve been playing Halo 3. My roommates and I actually had our box broken but [linemate Jordy Muray] fixed it up this winter so whenever we get a little worked up we put that game on and we start playing and it’s nice to relax. We play a lot of video games, it’s pretty much everyone’s relaxer I bet.

I love seeing what these guys do for fun in their spare time, because it’s basically the same exact stuff I did when I was that age. I guess it’s because I subconsciously think these guys are different than the rest of us, when in fact they’re not. Check out the rest of the interview, it’s a nice read.

Update (11:56pm): HF named Artem Anisimov their Prospect of the Month.

Anisimov called up

The Rangers have apparently recalled top prospect Artem Anisimov from Hartford. Still no official word from the team on the move, but the AHL transactions page is about as good a source as you can find. If you’re unfamiliar with Anisimov, Dave profiled him about two weeks ago. Hopefully this isn’t like the Bobby Sanguinetti call up and we actually get to see the kid play.

Hat tip to Rick Carpiniello.

Update 10:00am (Dave): So what does this mean for the Rangers? Hopefully it means a line of AA centering Dubinsky and Zherdev. Hopefully it means Voros sitting. Hopefully it means that the Rangers are sick and tired of not scoring any goals, and are praying for offense.

I say hopefully because in the back of our minds, there’s the thought that he is being showcased for a trade. Now, I would move AA in the right deal (ie: for a top 3 winger), but I don’t think that deal is going to come along, hence the worrying. Let’s hope Sather isn’t going to move him for a rental.

Update by Mike (10:18am): Steve Zipay has gotten confirmation of the move from a team official.

Kalinin hurt

Dmitri Kalinin left today’s game after a knee-to-knee collision behind the net the Bruins’ Dennis Wideman. He skated off favoring his right leg, and is out for at the least the remainder of the game. No word on the severity of the injury, but it looks like we might get a look at Erik Reitz before we expected.

The Bruins lead 1-0 after two.

Finding comparable contracts for Zherdev

One of the biggest issues facing GM Glen Sather this coming offseason is the contract status of stud winger Nikolai Zherdev. The 24 year old is in the final year of the three year, $7.5M deal he signed while with Columbus and will be a restricted free agent after the season, and we already know that the team is trying to lock him up long-term. There is some concern that he could bolt for the KHL, since teams in the Russian league can offer ginormous amounts of money in an effort to steal away players from the NHL (see Malkin, Evgeni).

We’ve seen some of the flakiness that reported plagued Zherdev with the Blue Jackets, as he was visibly pressing and frustrated at times this season. Even though he shows outstanding hands, the goal scoring hasn’t been there as hoped this year (he just snapped a 14 game goal drought). He has done a better job in his own zone, tying for the team lead with a +6. Even though he can enigmatic, he leads the team in scoring and his talent is clearly worth keeping around.

What I want to do is try to get a feel for what kind of contract offer Zherdev can expect from the Rangers after the season. I did this by finding similar aged players who signed long term deals after posting statistically similar seasons to Zherdev. I considered the three seasons before each player signed their deal, roughly approximating an entry-level deal. Granted, this isn’t the most scientific method in the world, but if nothing else it at least gives us a ballpark figure.

The table below is a quick summary of three similar players and how they performed prior to hitting the jackpot. The table reads chronologically left-to-right, so Year 3 is the season right before the player signed long-term, Year 2 is the season before that, and Year 1 the season before that. The age listed is the player’s age when they signed their fat contract.

And now, Zherdev:

* stats for Year 3 are his projected totals for this season, which I got off his ESPN Player Page.

First thought: holy cow did the Kings get a helluva deal on Dustin Brown. Second though, Zherdev fits right in with these players. He lags a little bit in the goal scoring department in his “contract year,” but the point totals are right there. Of course there’s a chance that Zherdev gets hot over the season’s final two months and eclipses that projection, but there’s always a chance he underperforms it too.

So does six years and $24M sound fair? Yeah, it does. Maybe five years, $20M sounds a little more reasonable, but that sixth year might be what it takes to keep him from heading back to the Motherland. I’ll leave contract details like annual payout (a backloaded deal would ease the cap burden) and no-movement protection (no, please) to the professionals. The framework of a five or six year deal with an average annual value around $4M does seem to make sense for both parties, however.

What do you think, too much, too little?