Sundin Retires

Mats Sundin has decided to call it quits, announcing his retirement earlier this morning. After 18 seasons, 13 in Toronto, Sundin amassed a line of 564-785-1349 in 1346 games.

He will go to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, there’s no doubt about it. This is also one less name that the rumormongorers can link the Rangers to at the trade deadline too.

Jeremy Roenick Retires

Old news, but when news is slow, may as well post old news.

Jeremy Roenick retired, and I fear that his notorious loud mouth will blind people into thinking that he is not a Hall of Famer. In his career, he is 513-703-1216. That’s Hall of Fame stats. The only thing missing is a Cup, and it is truly unfortunate that he didn’t get one. Presumably, that’s why he signed on with the Sharks, because they were a Cup contending team.

Him and Sakic will lead their class to the Hall.

Official: Naslund Retires

Well, it’s official, Markus Naslund has retired. He had a great career, and was a class act all the way.

This is nothing short of great news for the Rangers, who needed his $4 million off the books quite badly. For more on the impact of his retirement, refer to our previous post.

Update 5:10pm: The Depth Chart has been updated to reflect Naslund’s retirement.

Naslund to Retire?

So, as per Larry Brooks, and all the beat writers, Ranger winger Markus Naslund is going to retire, having confirmed it to his teammates during breakup day. However, Naslund has yet to confirm this to the media, so it is still an unofficial retirement.

Personally, I won’t believe it until a press conference is called, or Naslund confirms it to the media. I find it very hard to believe that someone who put up 24 goals last season, someone who is guaranteed $3 million next year, is going to hang them up. But that’s just my two cents.

If Naslund does retire, he retires with career totals of 395-474-869 in 15 NHL seasons (1117 games). While that’s not Hall of Fame, that’s a pretty solid career.

In Naslund’s defense, while he may not have been worth the $4 million cap hit (2 years – $8 million, cap hit is yearly average of the deal), he, for the most part, brought exactly what I thought he would, a 20-30 goal season, decent leadership, and a fading ability to keep up with the younger talent. I thought he would help the anemic powerplay, I was wrong there, but you can’t really blame Naslund for that one.

So what does this do for the Rangers? First, and most importantly, this saves them $4 million in cap room. It may not seem like much, but when Sather must resign Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Lauri Korpikoski this offseason, and Dan Girardi and Marc Staal next offseason, that $4 million is going to come in handy (especially with the cap headed to an estimated $48-$50 million for the 2010-2011 season). That $4 million can also be used to help resign Blair Betts and Fred Sjostrom this offseason. These are 7 players that the Rangers can ill afford to lose if they want to get younger and faster.

Second, this opens up a winger spot on a top line for the aforementioned Korpikoski, who for a while was toiling on the 4th line. He will finally have a consistent chance to show he is better than the 6-8-14 he put up this season. He will need that chance, and I am happy he finally gets it.

Third, and this part scares me a bit, it opens Sather up to resign both of the Niks. Personally, I would just want Zherdev back, for the RIGHT deal. But with the added flexibility, and Sather’s track record, I wouldn’t really be all that surprised if both of them wind up back in Blue for next season, and a few seasons down the road. (Side note: I think his best option would be to cut both Niks loose and steal Alexander Radulov back from Russia, who has a $1 million cap hit for one season, and puts up the same numbers as the Niks.)

This is all speculative, as these are unconfirmed reports that he will retire.

Also, Ranger backup Steve Valliquette will be back next season. Apparently his deal was for two years, not one. He is a solid backup, and comes at a cheap price. Nothing wrong with this one.

Update 4:00pm I guess me and Stas need to work on our communication skills. We posted on the Naslund retirement at the exact same time. Creepy.

What’s the Swedish Word for Adios?

Larry Brooks writes today in the New York Post that Rangers winger Markus Naslund has told his teammates that he will retire, a move that definitely helps the Rangers salary cap situation.  The 35-year-old forward from Sweden was set to make $3 million next season, with just one year left on his contract.  Once considered the best two-way player in the game, Naslund has steadily declined over the last 5 years, registering a mere 46 points this season.  The move saves the Rangers from a buyout that would have likely occurred, seeing that Naslund didn’t fit into John Tortorella’s plan.

Even though he only played one season for the Rangers, I came to respect Naslund for the effort and class he put forth this season.  His 24 goals were exactly what you expected from him at this point in his career.  It was foolish to believe that he would step in for the departed Jaromir Jagr and as the season dragged on, so did Naslund.  Rather than draw out his career at a relatively ineffective level of play, the winger saw best to skate off at this point.