Right then guys, slightly off the Olympic topic….
If you’re like me, thanks to his time in NY you’ll have a soft spot for Jaromir Jagr, the big Czech.
Im sure many of you have read the THN column discussing the notion of Jagr coming back to the NHL. If he does, where do you think he’ll go? If he comes back should The Rangers be interested and can he still help them?
Right now, he’s playing at around a point per game pace in the KHL. He’s also apparently in supreme condition (according to ex Omsk coach Wayne Fleming…) For the record I think (at a reasonable price) he could be huge for the Rangers. He doesnt need to be the go-to-guy anymore thanks to Gaborik. He seems willing to take a small(er) salary to play so the Rangers should be interested.
I really like the idea of a second line featuring Avery and Jagr flanking perhaps Dubinsky. Finally some genuine secondary scoring?
I had a look in more depth at the idea at nasports.co.uk. Let me know what you think.
As per Steve Zipay’s twitter, Mathieu Dandenault is headed to Hartford on a tryout basis. Dandenault, 33, is a defenseman who played for the Montreal Canadiens for the last four seasons, putting up respectable numbers. Actually, he put up numbers comparable to a few high priced defensemen on the current Rangers roster. Dandenault was on a tryout with the Sharks this offseason, but was eventually released.
The Rangers lucked out with one team’s garbage, maybe this one can work out too. He only needs to be a seventh defenseman anyway.
Side note: I’m categorizing this under Signings for now. He didn’t sign yet, it’s just a tryout. I just couldn’t think of a category to put this under and didn’t want to create a new category.
Stick-tap to Mike Axisa for the heads up.
Update 5:25pm: As per Beyond The Blueshirts twitter, Dandenault signed a 25-game tryout contract.
According to Andrew Gross, Alexei Semenov has signed a one year deal for a $600,000. With Del Zotto making the team, Semenov will serve as the 7th defenseman. He’ll give the starting D-Men a rest, and will be there to push Redden and Rosival. A problem last year was that they did not have a proven 7th d-man to give a threat to Rosy and Redden. They have that now. If Del Zotto struggles and gets sent back to juniors, Semenov will likely take his place. I’m on board with the signing, as I was very impressed with him in preseason play. Semenov is big, slow, and pretty physical, with a nice shot. He’s not the ideal fit for Tortorella’s system, but he’s not starting. If MDZ doesn’t get sent back to juniors, expect him to play 10-15 games. Here’s what the 6-6 Semenov had to say about the signing:
“We were talking for a couple of days, just talking about what was better for us, what was better for them,” Semenov said by phone tonight. “It’s a good thing that we agreed on the contract. We had a couple of more opportunities to go to but I felt like this is one of the best teams out there. I feel that Glen Sather and the head coach (John Tortorella) and the rest of management are just perfect.”
According to Andrew Gross, restricted free agent and holdout center Brandon Dubinsky has finally signed for $3.7M over two years. I guess rumors of him lowering his demands were greatly exaggerated. Obviously the Rangers caved in, so amazingly the holdout worked. Good for Brandon. He’ll make $1.7M this year and $2M next, putting his cap hit at a manageable $1.85M. “The only part that made me nervous was the thought that they might possibly trade me. I wanted to be here,” is the money quote, no pun intended.
The important thing now is that he will skate later today at the team’s practice facility. Dubinsky is a week behind the other guys, so he’s going to have to bust his tail to get ready for the season.
Update (Dave) 4:30:Some interesting numbers are starting to be made public. Steve Zipay is reporting that Dubinsky was initially requesting four years and $16 million.
The initial reports that Dubinsky was asking for $1.4 million were puzzling, as it seemed absurd that Sather would be haggling over that little money. This realization that Dubinsky wanted $4 million a year shows that it may just be about the money for him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn’t stay too attached to him. He is not worth $4 million a year. This deal ($1.85 million cap hit) is just right.
The Vancouver Canucks locked up their franchise goalie to a Marian Hossa-esque deal today, signing Roberto Luongo to a whopping 12-year, $64 million deal. The cap hit for Luongo is a measly $5.33 million a season, not too shabby for a top-three goalie in the league. The deal is front loaded, but not as badly as the Hossa deal. Luongo will make $10 million in the 2010-2011 season, the first of the extension, $6.7 million for the next seven years, with the last two years of the deal at $1 million (2020-2021, 2021-2022). (Cap information courtesy of CapGeek.)
The deal makes sense for both parties, as Luongo gets his money, and the Canucks save a bit on cap room. It will be interesting to see how the league reacts to this deal, and how the new CBA will address these types of deals.
As for the Islanders, I wonder how Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha are doing.
Via Larry Brooks, the Rangers have signed winger Vinny Prospal to a one year deal worth $1.1M. Prospal played under John Tortorella for a few seasons in Tampa, but managed to miss out on the club’s 2004 Stanley Cup Championship while playing in Anaheim. It’s worth noting that Vinny’s best seasons have come under Torts, so maybe there’s hope for him in this system.
Me? I don’t love the move, but it’s not terrible. Prospal’s pretty much a lock for 20 goals in the run-and-gun system, and his deal is pretty cheap and easy to back out of. Plus he can fill in at center if needed. He’s essentially taking the spot vacated by Nik Zherdev, which is funny because they’re both the same kind of players: lots of talent but they disappear at times.
Brendan Shanahan will be returning to the Devils next season. In a move that will shock no one, Shanahan will sign a one-year deal to return to the black-and-red. This will put an end to the ridiculous rumors that Shanny was returning to Broadway.
Just a few reasons why Shanny returning wouldn’t work (although he would be welcomed):
- He’s old.
- Old people don’t do well in a Torts based attack-attack-attack system over the course of an 82 game season. Shanny would have tired incredibly easily.
- It’s Drury’s team now. As much as he would be welcomed, Shanny would inadvertently throw a wrench into that plan.
- There are no more spots on the team for wingers.
- He’s really old.
I like Shanny, but the Rangers have turned the page.
The Rangers added some more defensive depth today, adding WHL undrafted defenseman Sam Klassen. In two full seasons in the WHL, Klassen has totaled 3-42-45 in 143 games, while racking up an impressive 195 PIMs. The stay-at-home defenseman was a +27 last season, a vast improvement over the -21 from two seasons ago in just 36 games.
Klassen was one of the non-roster invitees to the prospect camp held this month.
No word on the terms, it’s obviously an entry-level deal. I’m guessing he will be in Hartford/Charlotte next season. Klassen is 20, which I believe is old enough to play in the AHL/ECHL.
In a bit of a surprise, the contract for the recently acquired/signed Enver Lisin is lower than his salary from last season. His contract for this season is an incredibly affordable $790,000, a $60,000 pay cut from last season. This is really interesting, because qualifying offers for RFAs making between $650K and $1 million mandates a 5% raise. The Lisin contract is roughly $200K less than I expected him to sign for.
This leaves the Rangers a little extra cash to throw at Dubinsky, who should be signed before the Zherdev hearing.
Salary information courtesy of CapGeek.
Don’t forget about the Zherdev interview article below.
In a move that had to be made, the Rangers came to terms today with recently acquired RW Enver Lisin. It was rumored that Lisin was considering the KHL, but the Rangers needed to sign him or else feel the wrath of Ranger fans who would call them out on dealing Lauri Korpikoski for someone who bolted to the KHL.
No word on terms yet, Lisin was qualified at a 5% raise on his $850k salary last season ($892,500).
KHL, Rumors, Signings | jurgenno88, 17 Feb 10 | 
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