Although Brock Beukeboom –son of Jeff Beukeboom– hasn’t been able to stay healthy during his early career in the OHL, the Rangers have had him on their radar, according to Bruce Berlet. When the Rangers added Senior Beuk to the coaching staff in Connecticut, the interest appeared to have intensified.
Per Berlet, the Rangers were looking to bring in Beukeboom to the now canceled Traverse City Tournament. The former third round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning (traded to St. Louis in the Eric Brewer deal) is now a free agent. Concussions and head injuries led to the Blues deciding to let him go.
The Rangers were not only interested in bringing Beuk to the Traverse City Tournament, but were also interested in bringing him in to a pro contract:
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Well, the summer is almost over. We still aren’t guaranteed an NHL season, but we still have some hockey news to talk about. It’s not necessarily new news, but there are new developments in old news. So let’s get to it in some good old-fashioned bullet points.
- CBA notes: The players and the owners are still at a standstill, and with 12 days to go, there isn’t much hope for them to meet in the middle. There is a fundamental difference here. The players believe that there needs to be revenue sharing, while the owners believe that the players make too much money. The simple fix: a 52/48 split and a revenue sharing program similar to the other major sports.
- There are rumors that the Rangers are offering Shane Doan four years and $24 million. Let’s remember that the source of this rumor (Bruce Garrioch) isn’t exactly a noted source for accurate rumors. I tweeted that this is just the media blowing smoke, and I stand by that.
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With Rick Nash in the mix, there appears to be only one more target for the Rangers, and that is Shane Doan. Adding Doan to the club would solidify the Rangers depth at forward, making them true Stanley Cup contenders, and possibly the Cup favorites come October. Since the Phoenix ownership situation is still up in the air, Doan has already begun shopping his services, which included a visit to New York last week.
The interesting tidbits with Doan though come through his rumored asking price. The rumor mill is stating that Doan is asking for at least four years, and an average of $7.5 million per season. This is where that four year/$30 million price tag rumor comes from. While most are panicking and backing away from Doan, let’s analyze this a bit more, because it really doesn’t make any sense.
Last season, Doan finished with a line of 22-28-50, a ten point decline from his previous season, and 23 points down from his 2008-2009 campaign, the last time he finished with 30 goals and 70 points. The soon-to-be 36 year old winger has actually seen a decline in his production the past two seasons, and at 36 years old, it’s safe to assume that he won’t touch 70 points again.
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One name that has consistently popped up on Twitter in the search for the final pieces to the Rangers’ roster puzzle is that of 37-year-old center Jason Arnott.
Arnott seems like he’s been around forever, but the grizzled veteran still has some left in the tank. He posted 17 goals and 17 assists in 72 games last season for the St. Louis Blues, respectable numbers for a team that struggled to score. Arnott can’t carry an offense, but in a supporting role he is still capable of chipping in.
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There are two bits of news today, which is rare for late July. The first is that the Rangers have traded forward Casey Wellman to the Florida Panthers for a fifth round pick in the 2014 draft. Wellman was initially acquired with a conditional seventh round pick from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Erik Christensen. In the end, the Rangers essentially dealt Christensen for two draft picks, which is a solid return for a waiver-wire pickup.
Also, the bigger news of the day is that Shane Doan is indeed in New York visiting the team. He is meeting with management to work on a deal that could potentially bring the winger to Broadway, assuming he doesn’t stay in Phoenix. This is likely just another step in the process of Doan exploring all of his options. He won’t make a decision any time soon, but it’s good to know the Rangers are at least doing what they need to do to woo him.
As Dave noted last week in our ongoing discussion about Rick Nash, it’s very possible that Nash wouldn’t be the only Blue Jacket coming back to the Rangers in a potential blockbuster trade this summer.
There have been wide-ranging reports of Columbus GM Scott Howson’s trade demands, but the general consensus seems to be that he wants a couple of NHL forwards, a top prospect and a first-round pick (in addition to the Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty).
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For years I couldn’t stand Glen Sather. The man steadfastly refused to stop star chasing and as a result the Rangers failed to make any progress, stuck as a perennial borderline playoff team and incapable of putting together a true contender.
Sather learned his lesson and now just as stubbornly refuses to abandon his plan of sticking with youth by including prized youngsters as trade pieces in pursuit of the latest high-priced stars around the league.
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In their second minor signing of the day, the Blueshirts have reportedly inked 28-year old defenseman Sean Collins.
Collins went undrafted but has been a member of the Washington Capitals’ organization for the last six years. During that time, Collins has seen 21 games of NHL action and registered two goals and an assist. Collins, a right-handed shot, has primarily played for the AHL’s Hershey Bears and has tallied eight goals and 48 assists in 255 games with the club. Read more »
Ever since Rick Nash was formally put on the block last season, we have had quite a bit of discussion on the topic here at BSB. Interestingly, it seems our readers (and writers, for that matter) are pretty evenly divided in the pro or anti-Nash camps. This is understandable given his large and lengthy contract, his (seemingly) declining production and his superstar status on a basement dweller.
If you read here regularly, you are aware that Dave and I don’t necessarily see eye to eye on a potential Nash acquisition. Due to our never ending quest for objective examination, I asked Dave to give me an assist on some advanced stats analysis to dig a little deeper into the merits of rolling the dice on Mr. Nash. Since Nash has experienced a production decline in each year since his 40 goal ’08-’09 campaign, I wanted to know if this was due to actual decline or if the decrease in surrounding talent was more to blame.
Dave was kind enough to run an advanced metric analysis for this post and here is a quick run down of Nash’s past three seasons*: Read more »
In a surprising move late Monday night the Rangers made their fourth free agent signing of the summer, reportedly inking 36-year-old Jeff Halpern to a one-year deal.
The big draw of Halpern (no pun intended) is that he won 58.4% of faceoffs in 2011-2012. That was a major area of weakness for the Blueshirts a year ago.
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