Opponent’s scouting report: Ilya Bryzgalov

Next up in our opponent’s scouting report series is everyone’s favorite Flyer, Ilya Bryzgalov.  Since I’m all about full disclosure, I will admit up front that I have a huge (humungous big) soft spot for Bryz.  On one hand, he does everything in his power to reinforce the stereotype that goalies are completely out of their minds (which isn’t completely true), but on the other hand, he is ridiculously entertaining.  Same criteria as always applies, general style, strengths, weaknesses, and how the Rangers should approach the matchup.

General Style

Bryz is something of a throwback without being much of a throwback.  What I mean by that is he embraces everything about modern goaltending, from the equipment to the save techniques, but completely omits the new generation movement paradigm.   He relies mainly on a his size (6’3”, 208lbs) and his solid positional game to neutralize offenses.  It is very rare that you see him utilize the butterfly slide as a movement vehicle and generally relies on extension and reflexes to stop shots on rebounds or lateral passing.

The perception of this (in contrast to Sergei Bobrovsky, who is one of the most agile goalies in the NHL) has maddened Flyer’s fans since the start of the season.  Since Bryz does not give the appearance of all out effort to stop every shot, it seems like he isn’t really trying, or allowing goals he shouldn’t.  However, the truth is that Bryzgalov puts himself in the best possible position to stop the shot and trusts that the shot will hit him because of this.  When he was slumping earlier in the season, his positioning wasn’t as sharp as it usually is.

Strengths

As I just mentioned, Bryzgalov’s biggest strengths are his size and positioning.  He is a fairly level headed goaltender and doesn’t attack the puck aggressively.  He simply puts equipment in front of the puck.

Bryzgalov is a very competent puck handler.  He is no Smith or Brodeur but he runs laps around Lundqvist or Fleury.  He is also a strong skater, with quick strong shuffles and a solid up and down game. The theme with Bryzgalov’s strengths is that he is a jack of all trades and a master of none. There is nothing in his game that he does at an elite level, but there is nothing he is particularly weak at.

Weaknesses

The biggest weakness is Bryz’s well balanced game is his lack of elite mobility around the net.  Because he is a strong skater with good balance when executing shuffles and butterfly recoveries he can mitigate this to an extent.  However, it makes him more vulnerable to rebounds and deflections.  Lateral passing isn’t as much of a problem as the other two examples because he is usually able to get a strong directional push, but  changing directions gives him more of a problem.

His recent hot streak notwithstanding, he seems to be having trouble adjusting to the goalie graveyard that is Philadelphia.  Because the fan base there hasn’t had a goalie that was embraced by that town in earnest since Ron Hextall, they have given Bryz almost zero margin for error.  The fact that he was miscast as an elite goaltender by his contract hasn’t helped his case when dealing with the fans and media.  He was brought in to be a savior, and that is simply not in his skill set.

How the Rangers should approach the matchup

Exactly how they have been throughout this season.  The Blueshirts have taken advantage of his adjustment to a big market and big expectations by jumping on him early and often.  He hasn’t seemed comfortable at MSG in his two games there this season, and the Rangers know it.

Assuming his hot streak of late is simply a sign that he is settling down and won’t be as easily rattled going forward, the Rangers need a tactical game plan.  My advice would be to make him change directions as much as possible.  When the Ranger’s shooters (especially the point men) are dealing with a low-probability shot, they need to avoid shooting locations that will allow Bryzgalov to control the rebound.  Shots need to be hard and low, forcing bounces and taking advantage of his lack of mobility in scrambles.  Traffic in front never hurts either.

The bottom line is that Bryzgalov is a very talented netminder, but hardly the elite goalie is he being paid to be.  His contract was a function of supply and demand combined with a Philly team that was desperate to cure their goaltending ills.  He is an above-average starter, no doubt, but not one of the most intimidating matchups the Rangers could face on their quest for Lord Stanley this spring.

Up next is the goalie we Ranger’s fans love to hate: Marty Brodeur.

Season Turning Point: Calling up Hagelin and Mitchell

With a playoff spot clinched, we are running a new series about turning points in the season. These posts will focus on moves the Rangers made that effectively turned their season from mediocre to great.

On November 24, the Rangers had lost two games in a row to the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. It wasn’t so much that the Rangers lost the games, it was that they were getting beat to every single loose puck in those games. They looked slow, and even looked slow in their six wins prior to those losses. The two players made an immediate impact, and the Rangers won their next five in a row, including three in a row against Washington, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

But those wins weren’t just ordinary wins. The Rangers looked faster, and for good reason. Hagelin and Mitchell eventually replaced the revolving door of Erik Christensen, Wojtek Wolski, and Sean Avery (with a little Andre Deveaux as well). Only Avery had some sort of speed out of that trio. Their success paved the way for the removal of all three spare parts (and distractions) from the Rangers locker room, permanently. It was not only addition by speed, but addition by subtraction.

It wasn’t just speed though. Something was different. Both players immediately bought into the John Tortorella system of forechecking, two way hockey, and grinding out games. The Rangers had the puck more often, and it showed. Their time of possession in the offensive zone shot up noticeably, and the Rangers were generating more offense off the physical offensive zone play. They had the puck more, it’s as simple as that, and it was mainly due to Mitchell and Hagelin.

Puck possession is an easy enough metric to figure out, as it’s defined by the stat Corsi. Corsi is a stat that counts the number of shots directed at your net (missed, blocked, saved, or goals) versus the number of shots directed at your opponents net (missed, blocked, saved, or goals) while a specific player is on the ice. All shot attempts for – all shot attempts against = Corsi. Essentially, the more shots directed at your opponents net, the more you have the puck, and vice versa.

Relative Corsi (I’m going to abbreviate this as RCorsi) takes Corsi to a different level. Generally speaking, the better teams in the league will dominate Corsi. RCorsi accounts for this, and takes the Corsi of the player (as described above) and subtract the Corsi of the team when that player is off the ice. This makes for a more balanced measure of puck possession, as it eliminates the team concept and focuses solely on the player, and how he affects the team.

Now that we’ve explained RCorsi, it’s easy to see why Hagelin and Mitchell were instrumental to the Rangers long term success. They boast the two highest RCorsi among forwards on the team. Mitchell’s RCorsi is 13.1, and Hagelin’s is 12.6. To really put a value to this, the next best Ranger is Brandon Dubinsky at 8.5 RCorsi. Brad Richards sit’s in 4th at 2.7 RCorsi.

What’s even more impressive about their RCorsi is that Hagelin starts less than 50% of his shifts in the offensive zone (46.5%) and Mitchell is barely above 50% offensive zone starts (51.1%).

The best part is that these guys are showing they made a difference on the ice and on the scoreboard. Despite playing 20 fewer games than the rest of the team, Hagelin still sits in the top five in scoring on the team (14-23-37). Average that out over a full 72 games thus far for the Rangers, and that’s 18-30-48. That’s Calder discussion worthy. As for Mitchell, he has 15 points (5-10-15) while playing mostly checking line duties.

The Rangers didn’t just call up two AHL guys, they called up two difference makers. These two almost single-handedly righted the ship for the Rangers in what could have been a disastrous stretch. Just think Mitchell was acquired from Toronto for a 7th round pick, and Hagelin was a 6th round pick in 2008. Not bad Mr. Sather.

Does Tortorella deserve blame for the opening brawl? (Updated)

“You know when you get old in life things get taken from you. I mean that’s, that’s part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches. So is football.”

As some of our older readers might recall, this quote is an excerpt from one of the greatest cinematic coaching speeches of all time. Though, if Any Given Sunday had been about hockey and I were John Logan (the SAG member who likely fed Pacino that quote), I would have adjusted the quote to say…

“You find out life’s this game of adjustments. So is hockey.”

Last night’s opening brawl against the Devils is yet another example of how important it is for a hockey coach to make the right adjustments and get the right matchups out on the ice. If you missed this sequence, let me recap.

Peter Deboer, who is the away coach, must put his players out on the ice first. Deboer deployed Ryan Carter (who beat down Dubi earlier this month), Cam Janssen (goon), and Eric Boulton (goon) for the opening draw. Realizing the message Deboer was about to send our bench, Torts countered with Brandon Prust, Michael Rupp & strategically placed Stu Bickel at center. As expected, an all-out brawl ensued and the crowd feverishly got behind our boys.

Obviously my reaction to Torts inserting Bickel at center to face off against Carter was…effin brilliant!

A) Because you obviously don’t want Dubi, Stepan, Richards, or Boyle going against Carter

B) Bickel has fought Carter before

To my surprise and hopefully everyone else’s I was shocked when certain members of the media blamed Tortorella for the brawl and thought he should have countered with our skill players.

As Samuel L. Jackson famously said in Pulp Fiction, “well allow me to retort.”

In a perfect world, yes Torts could have deployed his first line in hopes to get some offense, but this isn’t a perfect world, nor was this even a moment of continuous play where such a tactic could conceivably work. No, this was a neutral zone faceoff to start the contest. The chance of even winning puck possession is 50/50.

On what planet would Torts take those odds and send his skilled players out on the ice to matchup against goons? Did we not learn anything from the Carcillo/Gaborik fight a few years ago? Did we not even learn from the incident where Deboer sent Boulton after Gaborik a few weeks ago?

To be honest, I’m glad what went down last night, so much so that I won’t even point fingers at Deboer for such questionable tactics. But if you are going to make a stink, don’t point a finger at Torts. Point one at yourself for not having a keen understanding of how this game is played.

***Update 2:30pm:

If my own analysis isn’t good enough for you, please read the below quote from Tortorella, which was taken from a series of excellent quotes provided this afternoon by Andrew Gross at Rangers Rants.

I get put in a position when he puts a lineup like that out – and I’m not sure what’s going to happen if I put my top players out – so I have to answer the way I need to answer. Really, just look at the two lineups and some of the things he’s done through the games here, again, I don’t want to coach his team, but just shut up.

- Torts

Gross covers the Rangers for The Record & the Herald News. You should follow him on twitter here.

Opponent’s scouting report: Marc-Andre Fleury

I know I said Martin Brodeur was up next, but since the Pens have gone on an absolute tear lately and seemingly cemented themselves in the top-4, I decided to do the scouting report for Marc-Andre Fleury instead.  You guys know the drill by now, I will examine General Style, Strengths, Weaknesses and How the Rangers Should Approach the matchup.  Let’s get to it…

General Style

Fleury is a very interesting case study for a goalie evaluator.  He is an extremely gifted athlete who has impeccable technical ability.  The interesting thing lies in his unpredictability.  He is a fan of the poke check and can be recklessly aggressive at times.  This generally works in his favor as he can have a little bit of that “Tim Thomas effect” on the opposition when he decides to switch up his style of play.

When he is adhering to his technical game, he is matched by very few in technique.  Fleury, Carey Price, and Henrik Lundqvist are my top 3 goaltenders easily in technical soundness.  He is incredibly flexible and moves with a speed and fluidity that is the envy of most contemporary goaltenders.  Fleury stands at a lanky 6’2” and 180 lbs., which is more than enough size given his movement capabilities.

Strengths

Fleury’s first and foremost strength is his skating ability.  He has almost unparalleled control of his feet and legs and possesses a smooth and powerful butterfly slide.  He has the ability to pivot and carry himself from one side of the net to the other with a single push.  His upper body balance is remarkably consistent and doesn’t often allow himself to be pushed too far forward or backwards, which generally leads to balanced save execution and proper rebound positioning.

Marc-Andre also has tremendous angular positioning.  He is almost always square to the shooter and very rarely gets pulled off his angle tracking the puck.  There was a reason he was a #1 overall pick back in ’03.  Plus, his nickname is Flower and the awesomeness of that cannot be overstated.

Weaknesses

For all his impressive strengths, Fleury also has some considerable weaknesses.  First, he is prone to incredibly streaky play.  From an evaluation standpoint, it seems that when he struggles, he has a habit of over-utilizing some of his less technically sound techniques.  He starts poke-checking more, starts using the double-pad stack and split saves more often.  For Flower to play up to his capabilities, he needs to play within his game and not try to force the issue.  Second, Fleury is a consistently weak puck-handler.  Like almost all NHL goalies, he is serviceable at stopping the dump and chase and moving the puck to an adjacent defender.  However, when put under pressure, his decision making skills and his physical ability to force the puck to safe areas is definitely in the bottom half of the league.

The interesting thing about Fleury is that despite all his considerable talent, he is not really the type of goalie who flat out steals games from his opponents.  Granted, I haven’t watched Fleury as intensively as some other goaltenders, but rarely have I seen Fleury pick his team up and carry them where they need to go.  He works best in a team environment with everyone doing their fair share.  Now, there is nothing wrong with that type of player, but it makes him slightly less intimidating in a playoff atmosphere than a player like Henrik Lundqvist or Tim Thomas.

How the Rangers Should Approach the Matchup

I wish I could offer some specific fix for beating Fleury, but considering the strength of his overall game, he should be attacked with the natural enemy of all elite goaltenders: traffic in front.  The best way to mitigate the effect of a fantastic goaltender is to take the ability to make saves out his control.  When you get traffic in front of the net, the puck can change direction quickly and obscure the goaltender’s ability to track the incoming shot.  It’s not often that an top tier goalie gets beat by a shot from the outside when he has the benefit of a clear lane.

For the past few weeks, the Rangers have been employing some set plays to take advantage of Carl Hagelin’s speed.  Considering Fleury’s puck-handling prowess, it’s probably a good idea to prioritize this type of play against the Pens.  The Rangers have a tremendous forecheck and if using Hagelin’s speed to force Fleury into more touches behind the net, it’s possible to force him into some mistakes.

Now I know The Suit is going to disagree with my assessment of Fleury’s great strengths, but I’m the goalie guy, so who are you going to listen to? (Just kidding Suit, I get where your coming from).  From my perspective, Fleury is another important piece of an ever dangerous Penguins squad that will give any team fits in the playoffs.  He has a Stanley Cup to his credit, but has shown the propensity to be a mere mortal when his game is not going 100%.  The Rangers need to make his life miserable in front of the net or hope for one of those cold streaks, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Stayed tuned for the most humungous big goalie in the universe: Ilya Bryzgalov is up next.

Anton Stralman: The underappreciated pickup

When the Rangers signed Anton Stralman in early November, it was pretty much an afterthought for most fans. After all, Stralman would need time to get into hockey shape, then more time to learn coach John Tortorella’s system. And who even knew if he was a Torts guy.

A month after his signing, Stralman had played just one game, and many were beginning to wonder if he would ever suit up for the Rangers. In fact, it took a Dion Phaneuf hit on Mike Sauer –and an awkward fall into the boards– to even convince Tortorella to dress the newly acquired defenseman on a regular basis. He was dressed as a necessity, not as a luxury.

Now, three months after the Sauer injury, Stralman has been seeing top four time on a consistent basis. His offensive numbers aren’t too impressive –on pace for about 20 points– but he has been a steady presence on the blue line and filled in admirably for the missing Sauer/Marc Staal at various times.

Looking at his advanced metrics, Stralman’s 4.7 GVT (2.1 OGVT/2.6 DGVT) is currently better than Staal (0.5 GVT in limited ice time), Steve Eminger (1.3 GVT), Jeff Woywitka (1.9 GVT), and Stu Bickel (2.6 GVT). When you prorate that out for a full season, Stralman has been worth roughly two points in the standings (one point currently, two points over 82 games) via the PVT metric.

Going deeper into his advanced metrics, Stralman hasn’t been seeing much time against top competition (-.058 Qualcomp), but his relative Corsi is still positive (0.5), meaning that his teammates have control of the puck more often than not while he is on the ice. That’s a small margin for his relative Corsi, but it’s positive nonetheless. He starts 52.7% of his shifts in the offensive zone, and finishes 50.5% of his shifts in the offensive zone.

It’s actually interesting, because Stralman’s metrics for quality of competition faced, Corsi (a puck possession metric) and offensive zone starts aren’t too strong. Generally speaking, when someone starts over 50% of their shifts in the offensive zone with low quality of competition, you would like to see a better relative Corsi.

Stralman has been a nice find for the Rangers, and he has given them a reason to appreciate his presence on the ice and his contract (one year, $900k). Stralman may not have a long term future on this team, but he has certainly been productive and a consistent body on defense. But looking at those metrics, maybe he has been benefiting from playing with Michael Del Zotto, and not the other way around, which most people have thought.

Stralman has been a Torts guy through and through this year, despite early doubts. Maybe that’s why he fits in so well with this club. Torts guys are tough to find, which makes this pickup fairly under appreciated.

Inside Dubinsky’s stats: shooting percentage and shots

To say Brandon Dubinsky is having an off-year would be an understatement. Outside of his boneheaded penalties of late, most focus on his anemic goal total and his offensive contribution, and with good reason. Dubinsky is making $4.2 million for the next three seasons following the 2011-2012 campaign, and he has contributed just seven goals and 26 points in 60 games this year.

While the raw point totals are troubling, what is even more troubling is his sharp decline in shots taken and shooting percentage. Dubinsky, who averages roughly 178 shots per season, is on pace for just 147 this season. That’s about half a shot less per game. While that may not seem like much, when you factor in his roughly 10% shooting success over his career, that’s three less goals just based on his career average.

This effect is compounded when you factor in Dubinsky’s current shooting percentage: a paltry 6.5% success rate. That’s 3.5% less than his career average, and almost half what it was the past two seasons. If Dubinsky were meeting his career average in shot percentage, then he would be at about 11 goals this season, and on pace for about 15 total goals. It’s not 20, but it’s definitely better than what he is currently on pace for (9).

So what does all this mean? Dubinsky isn’t shooting the puck as much as he was the past two seasons, and he also appears to be incredibly unlucky when he does get his shots on net.

The good news is that there is progression to the mean possibilities here. It may not be this season, which appears to be a lost cause for Dubinsky, but it may lead to a  2012-2013 season reminiscent of his 2010-2011 season, assuming he takes more shots of course.

Scott Howson likely will be “future endeavored”

Judging a GM based on speculative trade rumors is a tough thing to evaluate. Lord only knows if Sather’s rejected offer (rumored to be Dubi, Thomas, Miller, Erixon and a first rounder) was accurate or just Brooksie’s best guesstimate. What we do know is that Howson likely cost himself his job when he sold out Rick Nash during his post-deadline presser.

When reporters asked Howson why he was looking to move Nash, he said it was because Nash came to him and demanded a trade, thus forcing his hand. This admittance, whether accurate or not, was a very bad move for several reasons.

First off, everyone knows the Blue Jackets have to rebuild and trading Nash will help the organization go in that direction. It obviously was not an ideal scenario, but it was still sellable to their fans. You could have played this situation off the way Boston did with Bourque years ago or the way the Panthers have with virtually every star they’ve produced. You’re giving a long-time contributor a chance to win the Cup. Unfortunately, that PR opportunity is squandered. That is not the path Howson chose to walk.

So what happens now? How many people in Columbus are going to buy Nash jerseys now that they think he’s pulling a Heatley? How many people are going to pay for tickets to see his last few weeks as a Blue Jacket? This organization needs every bit of help they can get to make money and their GM just pissed on the only guy who can open the cash register.

And marketing isn’t their only problem moving forward. Once word got out that Heatley was holding Ottawa hostage his trade value plummeted. I don’t think Nash will end up being traded for a Milan Michalek-type & a second rounder, but they sure as hell aren’t getting Dubi, Thomas, Miller, Erixon, & a first. Not now anyway.

Best of luck Howson, in all of your future endeavors.

A lesson in matchups

Today’s discussion is about the importance of a coach’s ability to figure out what role his player’s fulfill and how he matches those roles against the opposition.

Last night’s battle against the Devils was a very critical lesson in the use of players, their roles and their respective matchups. Tortorella was constantly making adjustments to get the right players out on the ice. These critical moments of a game are so often overlooked and seldom discussed, yet they are crucial to help producing wins.

A great example of this happened last night just before a neutral zone faceoff. Devils coach, Peter Deboer swapped out, I believe it was Parise, for Eric Boulton. In case you are unfamiliar with Boulton, he is a goon, nothing more. So Deboer lines up Boulton opposite Gaborik and he immediately began chirping & challenging him. Recognizing this mismatch before the draw, Tortorella yelled at Arty to get off the ice so he could put Rupp out there and prevent any wrong doing to our sniper.

The refs wouldn’t allow it, which of course enraged John Tortorella. His argument was that Deboer was late sending Boulton to the draw, therefore the Rangers technically should get the final change per the NHL rules. This obviously fell on deaf ears.

After the faceoff Arty quickly went to the bench and Rupp was dispatched. Boulton, a double digit fighter every season, wanted no part of Rupp and quickly retreated to the bench. I don’t think I need an advanced statistic to tell you how important Rupp’s presence was in that instant. Now picture this moment taking place in the playoffs…moving right along.

Later in the game Deboer again delayed deploying his troops for a faceoff even though the Rangers were ready to take the draw. Torts had an exchange with the refs and was pointing to the Devils bench boss. Filling in the blanks, I think it was evident Torts was frustrated with being the home team and not being able to get the final change due to Deboer’s delaying (if not illegal) tactics.

Torts obviously wanted to deploy certain Rangers based on who Deboer put on the ice. The refs seemingly were arguing that they needed to get the game going. Torts clearly replied, “well then drop the f**king puck,” even though the Devils were just standing alongside their bench.

Again, this illustrates how critical it is for coaches to get the matchups they want. The fact of the matter is John has been making adjustments like these all season, often to the frustration of fans who sometimes do not understand the purpose of line tinkering on the fly. Torts famously out line matched Peter Laviolette at the Winter Classic, despite having the last change, and he made his best attempts last night whether it was Rupp goading Clarkson into a penalty or getting McDonagh out on the ice every time Parise hoped off the bench.

Hopefully this helps explain some of the odd, yet impermanent line combos you’ll see throughout the season and hopefully adjustments like these help John earn a well deserved nod for the Jack Adams.

Goalie analysis: Scouting Jose Theodore

Although I think the system is broken when the team which currently has the 8th most points in the conference gets the 3rd seed simply by virtue of a weak division, that’s where the Panthers find themselves.  They are a good story after an on-the-fly rebuild in the off-season, but as a result, the 6th seeded team draws the easier matchup than the 4th or 5th seed, but I digress.  Either way, a resurgent Jose Theodore has been a big part of Florida’s success thus far.  Let’s take a closer look and see how he stacks up against the Blueshirts if they were to meet in the post-season.

General Style

Theodore is a smallish goalie by today’s NHL standards, listed at 5’11’’ and 182 lbs.  Believe it or not, this is actually Jose’s 15^th NHL season.  Since he started his career in the mid-90’s, there are some remnants of the now “old-school” style of the Marty’s (Brodeur and Biron), but has incorporated elements of the more modern style to keep his game relevant.  Theodore is also a southpaw, which is always fun.

Jose almost a perfect split of the old and new styles that have gained prominence during his NHL tenure.  He is a strong skater, but he does not possess the scrambling prowess of some of his younger counterparts.  He does utilize the butterfly slide too often, but acquits himself well when the circumstances require him to use it.  He has very good positioning, but his smaller frame/equipment makes him susceptible to screens and deflections.

Strengths

Theodore’s biggest strength by far is his positioning.  Because of his size and lack of elite lateral movement, it is imperative that he is square to the shot at all times.  Additionally, because he is a strong skater, his shuffling ability helps ensure he is square to the puck without overshooting his target.

Theodore also has a historically strong glove hand.  Most NHL netminders don’t show a significant strength in one hand over the other, but Jose (at least to the eye test) seems to have a much stronger glove side than stick side.  His stick side is not a glaring weakness, but it’s an interesting point to note.  Left-handed goalies notoriously mess with the angular approach of shooters, since everything is backwards, and Theodore uses this advantage to its fullest.

Weaknesses

Being a fairly vanilla goaltender has pro’s and con’s.  One pro being there are no glaring weaknesses in his game, and a con is that you aren’t particularly intimidating to your opposition.  Theodore is getting up there in age at this point and has seen his play decline annually since his Hart Trophy win during the 2001-2002 season.  This year has been something of a renaissance season for Jose, and it seems he has been able to do this by getting back to basics (that, and a solid Florida blue line).  The point is, Theodore does not possess the elite skills of some of his eastern conference counterparts.  There is nothing in his game that is particularly weak, but there is nothing intimidating about his game either.

How the Rangers should approach the matchup

As boring and un-insightful as this may sound, Theodore is not the type of goalie that the Rangers should alter their offensive strategy for.  His game is fairly standard and his weaknesses really lie in quality execution.  He has played two games against the Rangers so far this season; in one, he played very well, and in the other, he got lit up.  He can be beaten by quality shots and is susceptible to traffic in front, but he’s not going to give up a ton “soft” goals, and he will generally make you work for it.

If you had to choose a focus for the offensive attack, I would try to make the east-west game in the lower part of the offensive zone a priority.   As mentioned above, Theodore does not possess elite lateral movement and does not butterfly slide all that well/often.  If rebounds can be generated or quality lateral passing, it should not be all that difficult to solve Jose.  The bigger difficulty will be navigating the Florida defenders.

*due to the general awfulness of the Southeast Division, I’m going to keep an eye on Washington and Winnipeg to see if those tenders require analysis.  Next up: Martin Brodeur.

The Brian Leetch trade: Eight years later

On March 2, 2004, Ranger fans had their hearts ripped out. In the midst of another losing season, General Manager Glen Sather decided it was time to start over, and began with a fire sale that eventually led to the Rangers we see before us today. The prized piece of the fire sale was Brian Leetch, and Slats shipped him, along with the hearts of millions of Ranger fans, to Toronto for Jarkko Immonen, Maxim Kondratiev, a first round pick in 2004, and a second round pick in 2005.

The trade felt like a punch to the stomach for every single fan. For management, they got what they wanted: two legitimate prospects, and two top-60 draft picks. At the time of the trade, the Rangers got fair value for Leetch. It’s been eight years since that trade, so let’s look at what they got.

Maxim Kondratiev: The Russian defenseman’s time with the Rangers was very brief. After just 46 games with the organization, 29 with the Rangers, the Rangers shipped Kondratiev to the Anaheim Ducks in 2006 for Petr Sykora and a 2007 4th round pick. Sykora helped the Rangers reach the playoffs for the first time in eight years (seven seasons). Kondratiev now plays in the KHL.

The 4th round pick was used on Brett Bruneteau, who is no longer in hockey. Interesting note about this pick: the Rangers had acquired this pick (#108) as a conditional pick in 2005 in the Steve Rucchin trade. Essentially, the Rangers traded for this pick twice.

Jarkko Immonen: The Finnish center draws most of the attention from this deal. Not as a positive, but from a “what could have been.” Immonen dominated his first full season in the AHL (2005-2006), finishing with 70 points in 74 games. His play earned him a six game stint with the Rangers, where he scored two goals in his first two games.

Immonen’s second AHL season was again stellar, finishing with 46 points in 54 games. He played well in the NHL, finishing with six points in 14 games, bringing his totals to 3-5-8 in 22 games. However, it didn’t appear that he was a fit for the Rangers, or maybe he just didn’t want to play in the US anymore. After the 2006-2007 season, Immonen returned to Finland. Immonen is now in the KHL.

2004 1st Round Pick (Lauri Korpikoski): The Rangers wound up with the #24 pick in the draft as a result of the trade. They used this pick and a second round pick (#46 – Adam Pineault) to move up to #19, where they drafted Lauri Korpikoski. The Rangers also acquired an eighth round pick in the transaction (#247), which they used on Jonathan Paiement.

Korpikoski played fairly poor for the Rangers, and it was safe to say he did not meet expectations. He did not provide the offensive flair that made him a first round pick, and he struggled defensively as well. The Rangers gave up on him, and dealt him to Phoenix for Enver Lisin in the 2009 offseason. In Phoenix, Korpikoski has found himself a nice role as a third line player, and has started to finally chip in offensively.

Lisin played one year for the Rangers, and then left for the KHL.

2005 2nd Round Pick (Mike Sauer): The Rangers appeared to have hit the jackpot with Sauer. Sauer battled many shoulder injuries early in his career, but finally broke through and made the Rangers roster out of camp in 2010. Initially used as a rotating defenseman on the bottom pairing, injuries forced him into a full time role, where he exceeded all expectations.

Sauer now plays top-four minutes for the club –when he’s healthy– and is the real gem of this trade.

Trades for prospects and picks are generally gambles. Neither picks nor prospects are guarantees, and the general rule of thumb is to be happy if one pans out to be a solid player. The Rangers got just that in Sauer. It’s tough to call this trade a success, especially when it came from dealing Brian Leetch, but the deal was just that: A success.