It should come as no surprise, but Glen Sather fleeced a rival general manager yet again.
After months of speculation and negotiations, Sather’s patience finally paid off this afternoon as the Rangers completed a trade for Rick Nash. Derek Stepan wasn’t involved in the deal, neither were Michael Del Zotto, Chris Kreider or Ryan McDonagh.
According to Larry Brooks, Glen Sather may have the intention of trying to entice Shane Doan and Rick Nash to New York. Should the general manager manage to pull off that coup what would it mean to the Rangers immediate future?
First and foremost, like many others I believe that Shane Doan is a longshot to land on Broadway despite his meeting with Rangers management within the last week. Doan has an obvious preference toward Phoenix and a man that has played in hockey afterthoughts such as Arizona is likely to prefer the western conference than change completely and play in the media capital of the world, New York.
However, assume for a moment that Doan lands in New York and Sather adds Nash through a trade. All of a sudden the Rangers are the Stanley Cup favourite; ahead of Vancouver, ahead of LA, ahead of even Pittsburgh and Philly. With a returning Marian Gaborik, Derek Stepan and of course Brad Richards and Ryan Callahan the Rangers top six would suddenly be stacked with an almost perfect balance of youth and experience, size and skill.
As was the case seven years ago, the NHL owners and players are very far apart heading into the final months of labor negotiations prior to the scheduled open of the 2012-2013 season. If there aren’t some serious compromises by both sides, it’s unlikely that the season will start on time.
While that’s an unpleasant thought for Rangers fans, it also might be a good thing for the team’s fortunes next season, assuming it is held in a shortened fashion.
The Rangers were eliminated in the Eastern conference finals against the Devils for a few reasons. Most fans question the lack of goal scoring and high end skill and rightly so. The fact that the Rangers still haven’t gone out and addressed this frustrates many, even though Glen Sather has been right to not over react.
Then there is the theory that the Rangers may have run out of gas, with two gruelling series against the Senators and Capitals taking a lot out of the young, hard working team. Finally though, was the fact that the Devils’ depth out produced the Rangers equivalent. This however, is an area that Sather has begun to address and is a reason why a lot of Rangers fans should calm down and not panic about the apparent lack of offseason progress.
Forget for a moment the uncertain future regarding next season and the CBA discussions. Assume that the Rangers start the season on time with the current assembled roster. It has improved. As the Rangers added Taylor Pyatt, Jeff Halpern and Arron Asham, most fans were left underwhelmed and frustrated that the new signings names didn’t begin with Zach or Bobby. Sather still did well.
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).
The hockey news flow has come to a grinding halt in mid-July, but on Thursday a couple of non-game related stories attracted the attention of the online fan community.
The first was extremely negative, as quotes emerged from an online radio show recorded on Tuesday in which New Jersey enforcer Cam Janssen made several disparaging remarks about gay people and also discussed his eagerness to injure opposing players. The second involved Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who had participated in a charity hockey game in Connecticut and spent an hour signing autographs and interacting with fans following the event.
While Shane Doan waits for the ownership situation in Glendale to fix itself, the rest of the NHL waits for him to make his decision. It’s quite fascinating how one player can keep the entire trade market at a stand-still, but that’s the kind of player Shane Doan is.
He’s a leader, a great locker room guy, and he happens to be pretty good at this hockey thing too. He’s a blue collar type of player, and is a two-way player who is capable of 25 goals and 60 points if he were to move to a more offensively talented team. It’s one of the reasons why the 35 (will be 36) year old winger is so coveted.
But that brings us to another question. The rumors are circulating that Doan will be seeking a multi-year deal, perhaps as long as four years. A four year deal will terminate after Doan’s age-39 season. While some have proven that you can be successful in your late 30s (see: Whitney, Ray; Jagr, Jaromir), it’s the exception to the rule.
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.
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 »
In part 1 of our NHL free agency recap we discussed some of the “bigger names” and pricier contracts that have been handed out this summer. Today we will shift gears and focus more on the contracts that have been given out to role players.
Sheldon Souray (D) to the Anaheim Ducks for 3 years, $3.6 million cap hit
This contract is great for Souray, who can now be closer to his girlfriend WWE star Kelly Kelly, who is apparently based out of So Cal when she’s not strutting it in the ring. As far as Anaheim is concerned, I am not sure what they were thinking with this deal. Souray is 35 years old and put up 20 pts last season for Dallas after being Wade Redden’d in the minors for two years.
I will give him credit. Sheldon took his demotion like a man instead of throwing his skates in the Hudson River. However, from an organizational perspective, the years and the dollars just don’t make sense. Sheldon is coming off a 1 year $1.6m deal with Dallas, which is what I figured he would be getting paid at his age and current output.
