2011 Offseason: Sather’s Best?

There were many question marks for the Rangers that were pushed to the front of fans’ minds when they were eliminated from the playoffs in April.  Would the Rangers sign all of their key RFAs? Would the Rangers address the gaping hole at top-six center? Would that gaping hole be fixed by Brad Richards? Would they be able to fill holes on the bottom defense pairing? Would any of these contracts be a hindrance to the cap?  Well, three months later, we have answers to all these questions.  And you know what, the general feeling is that the Rangers passed this year’s offseason exam with flying colors.

Starting with the RFAs –assuming Ryan Callahan is signed to a deal, the Rangers signed every key RFA they had to sign.  But to be honest, signing them was pretty much expected, although some of us were waiting on bated breath for official word.  The difficult part was managing to get all RFAs signed to deals that fit under the salary cap.  When all is said and done, the Rangers will have spent approximately $12.5 million on their five RFAs (assuming Callahan comes in at $4.5 million).  That comes to an average of $2.5 million for those five players.  Not too shabby.

Next was Brad Richards. Everyone knew he was Broadway bound.  But what surprised us all was the cap hit of the finalized deal.  The Rangers got their man, their top line center, for a cap hit of $6.667 million, the 25th highest cap hit in the league.  Richards scored 77 points last season, good for 10th in the league, while missing 10 games with an injury.  If you put those numbers into a full 82 game season, that calculates out to 87 points and just outside the top five in scoring.

To make room for Richards, the Rangers made a very difficult decision to buy out captain Chris Drury.  The decision gave the organization an extra $3.3 million in cap space to work with, which was essential in getting Richards under contract.  All in all, the Rangers essentially replaced Chris Drury with Brad Richards.  Also, not too shabby.

Mike Rupp was a questionable signing at the time, but he gives the Rangers much needed grit on the bottom six forwards.  More importantly, he will take some of the enforcing duties away from Brandon Prust.  Rupp may have received a little more money than most would have liked, but he’s not a cap killer.   In addition to Rupp, the Rangers added (re-added) Ruslan Fedotenko and Steve Eminger to round out the roster.

Perhaps the biggest thing that separates this year from all the other years Glen Sather has been at the helm is that there really wasn’t a signing that made you say “what the…?”.  The signing that resulted in a big facepalm never materialized; although we were really close when rumors of the Rangers pursuing Andrew Brunnette surfaced on July 1.

Haters will always hate, and will point to Brad Richards as another “Sather payday”.  However, the difference between this signing and the signings of past is that this filled a hole in the Rangers roster.  The signings of past were attempts to build the roster, which is completely different from filling holes.  The roster has been built, holes have been filled.  The Rangers are still in great salary cap standing, and will end up with a little more than $1 million in wiggle room at the start of the season.

A core of young players, veterans filling holes, cap space, balanced roster.  When was the last time you were able to say that about the Rangers?

Rangers and Their Unique Opportunity

The best teams in the NHL, or any sport for that matter, are the teams that live for the now but also constantly have one eye on the future. In the NHL this usually means scouting, drafting and player development. There is however, another way for the Rangers to continue to build a perennial contender. They may have an opportunity that not many clubs will have.

The Rangers have an opportunity but it depends what you think of the current roster. In my opinion the Rangers are in great shape heading into next season. They have acquired top end skill (Mr Richards), solidified their top 6 defense (with Erixon) and have a great tandem in net – an understatement. The Rangers have cap space, a ton of depth up front (mostly young) and entering camp there are plenty of prospects ready to compete for NHL roster spots that, thanks to the aforementioned depth, may start their seasons developing in the AHL. So, what is this unique opportunity now that we’ve identified that the Rangers are in a good state entering next year?

The example is the San Jose Sharks. The Rangers should, barring an unexpected opportunity, resist making additional moves and take advantage of rare cap space. A few seasons ago the hard pressed New Jersey Devils had a roster problem by the name of Vladimir Malahkov (remember him?). The only way the Devils could solve this was by giving away a quality draft pick to the Sharks to ‘persuade’ them to take on the contract of Malahkov. He never played for the Sharks and eventually that draft pick became David Perron, a very good young NHL’er who has already had a 50 point season in his young career.

With potentially 3-4m in cap space entering the season, the Rangers should look to make the same kind of move. Indeed, with the Parise situation the Devils may once again be a team eventually looking to shed a bad contract but there could be several teams in this situation. With some patience and the cap space allowing for bigger (prorated) contracts in-season, the Rangers could offer to help a desperate team during next season. All they would want back is a quality draft pick. The Rangers are fortunate that with their deep pockets and big market presence they can bury a bad contract in the minors if it isn’t the same scenario like the Sharks had with the retiring Malahkov.

We recently saw wily operator Brian Burke make a lopsided trade with Nashville as the Predators needed to clear space in preparation for a new Shea Weber deal. Toronto took advantage of their own cap space by taking on Matt Lombardi’s deal. Glen Sather is also a wily, veteran general manager. Hopefully Sather and Tortorella think the team is ready based on what is already in the organisation and can then use this cap space to grab some picks/assets to help in the future. The Rangers have drafted very well in recent years so using their (at present) good situation to their advantage should be a serious consideration.

Cap Increasing; Increases Rangers Likelihood of Spending Spree?

Any Rangers fans that thought the Rangers would be relatively inactive during the free agent frenzy starting July 1^st, well you were probably going to be wrong and if you weren’t wrong before the news broke about an increasing cap limit then you certainly are now.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, speaking at a Lawyers’ conference in D.C. recently discussed the increase in league revenues and he also made mention of likely cap increases. The revenue for the league expects to rise, close to $3 billion, up from $2.7 billion.

“It appears our salary cap will be going up.” Projects new cap will be $60.5M to $63.5M, up from $59.4M this yr.

So, looking at the middle ground as a safe bet the cap could be close to $62m, up considerably from the current limit of £59.4 million. What does this mean for the Rangers? Well simply put, potentially a great deal. The Rangers do have important roster players to re-sign in Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov and Boyle (among others) yet looking specifically at Callahan and Dubinsky – even if they more than double their salaries there will be a lot of money left. This cap increase of course has a knock on effect throughout the line up. Chris Drury’s potential buy out becomes easier to absorb (making it more likely?), Wojtek Wolski and players such as Erik Christensen’s future may also be under threat. So much, so many players are affected by the final cap figure.

The Rangers have a big decision to make. If Sather and his team think the core is set and it ‘merely’ needs some top level talent added to it to become a serious contender in the East you may indeed see the likes of Drury jettisoned. With the extra cap space Drury’s departure creates, in addition to the cap space created by the truly awful circumstances around Derek Boogaard the Rangers may become very aggressive in free agency. Given Sather’s free agent dealings in the past however, that makes many fans nervous and for good reason when you think of Redden, Wade and Gomez, Scott to name a few. Of course the Rangers may not be active in free agency……. (Tumbleweed)

The Rangers are almost certainly going to go after Brad Richards. The extra cap space the aforementioned cap fall out creates could see Sather also go after a defenseman such as Kevin Bieksa, Christian Ehrhoff, Tomas Kaberle, James Wisniewski or Joni Pitkanen to name a few. Of course all this speculation about cap space then spirals out of control. Would the Rangers consider going after restricted free agents? Cap space, depth in the organisation and picks may allow Sather to deal for a star such as Shea Weber or an underperforming elite talent such as Zach Bogosian. The mind wanders with all this talk of spending money. All that is left is for the cap figure to be finalised and to watch what Sather does next. Nervous?

Richards Now? What it Should Cost.

Some people actually believe the Rangers don’t need Brad Richards – well, that’s almost as absurd as those few (and oh so rare) Rangers fans that believe the Rangers should trade Lundqvist, anyway I digress…Larry Brooks did indeed provide a good point this weekend; noting that the Rangers should proactively deal with the Stars for Mr Richards ahead of July 1^st. The Rangers can avoid an auction/bidding war by getting Richards under lock and key before the free agent frenzy.

Richards is the perfect free agent for the Rangers. Ideally you don’t remedy your biggest needs in free agency because free agents are usually one of those three things; aging, not wanted (for whatever reason) by their most recent club or overly expensive – supply and demand. Richards ticks perhaps one of these boxes as he’s not the youngest. However this time it IS different. As Brooks points out; Richards’ relationship with Tortorella is a big reason for recruiting the skilled pivot. This isn’t recruiting your usual star with an ego it’s recruiting a player that is totally onboard with the coach and has a history with the coach – a successful one. Richards remedies so many of the Rangers current flaws in one signing. He’s a solid face off guy, he’s a playmaking elite center, adds a huge injection of skill, he improves the powerplay wherever you put him, he knows how to win and he should be able to get Gaborik back on track. It’s simply his age that may be an issue and depending on the length of deal he wants that also may not be an issue (another reason to get him in early and scope his demands out).

So now we’ve rehashed the point that Brad Richards is an elite player that the Rangers sorely need, what should the Rangers give up to get him early? First of all assume Glen Sather is working the phones. He knows what the Rangers need and we’ve already seen this off season already that he is in pro active mode (see: prospect signings a plenty). The Rangers boss is also a master at the art of the trade. Personally I don’t think Sather will want to move a draft pick in the top 2 rounds. Given the depth the Rangers have in their prospect pool Sather would be better off dealing from this depth and giving Dallas something more tangible for their biggest star. Sather (and the coaching staff) will know what prospects have a legitimate future with the Rangers but those that don’t, don’t necessarily have bleak NHL futures.

(Still) Ownerless Dallas surely must know they are losing Richards in July. Getting a package of a middle round pick and a prospect or two like Dale Weise and Chad Kolarik offers Dallas plenty to work with. With decent ice time Kolarik could become another Teddy Purcell type that is simply a late bloomer; Dale Weise could very well be a bottom six forward in the right NHL situation and a 5^th round pick (for example) can just as well become an NHL producer as a higher rounded pick – as Dallas can attest to with Jamie Benn. Getting players back from the Rangers gives something more concrete for Joe Nieuwendyk to justify moving Richards. It also means it wasn’t all for nothing, holding onto him at the deadline. A move like this could be win-win for both teams, as much as is reasonably possible. While Philly gave Nashville a high pick for Hartnell and Timonen a few years back, it was not as blatant that the two were leaving Music City as it is Richards is leaving Dallas – the situations cannot really be compared. Brooks is right, Sather should make his move and we know what he should be willing to give up.

One Year Later: Less Company For Sather-Haters

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the infamous Fire Sather Rally. It was a rally that got mainstream media attention, and major attention from the blog-o-sphere. I did not attend this rally, as I did not believe that Glen Sather should have been fired then, now, or at any time following the lockout. The organizer of the rally, Mike Zippo, spoke with New York Magazine, and has had a slight reversal of opinion of Slats:

You’d mentioned to Puck Daddy in January of 2010 that you thought Sather would make a “stupid trade” and deal away prospects. But as you said, he’s avoided making that kind of trade. So I guess my question is this: How much confidence do you have in Sather now? How has that confidence level changed over the past fourteen months or so, since that interview?

As long as he doesn’t have his checkbook open on July 1, I think he’ll be okay. He has made some great trades, but a signing like the [Derek] Boogaard one makes you scratch your head.

This seems to be the general consensus amongst Ranger fans. For a period of time between 2005-2008, there have been a few good signings, a lot of questionable signings, and one horrific signing. Everyone has different opinions about the specific signings themselves. However, the point that is often overlooked is that the Rangers were inexplicably making the playoffs and competing when to be blunt, they shouldn’t have been. Thus, Slats made the decision (in my opinion) to go for gold with free agents while not dealing away the core youth in the rebuild. It was a bold decision to make that had some blow-back, but did not cripple the franchise long term.

When you look at the trades the Rangers made, Slats never gave up anyone that has amounted into anything significant. Fedor Tyutin could be the exception here, but the Rangers have so much depth on defense, that he really isn’t missed by this team. Other than Tyutin, the only outrage was when Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes were dealt in a package for Derek Morris. Prucha isn’t in the NHL anymore, and Dawes has been on the waiver wire as often as the Rangers backup goalies in 2009-2010. This of course, brings me to this quote by Zippo:

A year later, do you still think Glen Sather should be fired? Has anything changed over the past twelve months that made you reconsider your position?

Well, he’s certainly been doing a better job as of late. He’s cleared some cap space, he hasn’t given away prospects or picks, and the team is young, competitive, and fun to watch.

The answer given by Zippo here is slightly misleading. As alluded to above, Sather never dealt away any prospect or roster player that the coaching staff recognized as being a core piece to the puzzle. Guys like Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi have remained with the club throughout the years. Players like Artem Anisimov and Michael Del Zotto are being retained despite their struggles. Prospects like Chris Kreider and Christian Thomas are being held on to, despite the fact that the Rangers have been in the playoff hunt every single season.

Although Slats’ free agent signings have been questionable, he has managed to turn those players into core youth. That does not absolve Slats of all blame for the cap situation of previous seasons, but sometimes the end justifies the means. The Rangers are on an upward trend, and are doing it by following the five year plan (post-lockout plan). The only difference between one year ago and today is that fans are beginning to recognize that the Rangers have had a plan, and they are beginning to see it come to fruition on the ice.

Sather Won’t Mortgage Future

In a continuing trend of interviews, Andrew Gross spoke with Glen Sather, who was again candid about his plans at the trade deadline. There was a plethora of moves yesterday, which saw defensemen Tomas Kaberle, Eric Brewer, Ian White, and Erik Johnson all being shipped to new teams. The Rangers have been silent, and Sather will continue to be silent if the asking prices for veteran defensemen remains the status quo:

“Lots of [players out there],” said Sather, adding he’s been making phone calls to gauge the trade market for four months. “I’m listening, watching. It doesn’t matter what the asking price is. It’s what we want to pay.”

This statement remains consistent with what the Rangers General Manager has been saying all year. The Rangers will not forfeit the core youth for a rental in this year’s playoffs. It also appears that the Rangers will not forfeit their first round pick this season in a trade. Trading is an art, that Slats seems to have mastered. It’s about recognizing core players, recognizing when the time is right for a move, and recognizing the right price for that move.

Currently, the Rangers have a few too many holes to fill to make a legitimate run in the playoffs this year. They lack a top line center, a veteran defenseman, and a powerplay quarterback. To fill all those holes, the Rangers would have to gut the roster and the farm system. It’s simply not worth it. Of course, any of the core guys are trade-able in the right move:

“We’ve got a good nucleus of guys who are learning the game and we’re comfortable,” Sather said. “That doesn’t mean things can’t happen.”

Some people might worry about that quote, but it’s a quote that means two things. The first being that just because the Rangers are comfortable with the kids playing, it doesn’t mean they won’t make moves at the deadline. The second meaning is that no one is untouchable, but it would have to take a great deal for the Rangers to part with one of their core guys. There have been so many rumors about who the Rangers will trade, but I think it’s becoming clear that the fears of the fans (ie: trading the core for rentals) won’t be realized.

Dan Girardi; Defensive Stud

Yes I said it. Dan Girardi, defensive stud, needs to be given the kudos that he deserves for, so far, playing an outstanding season. I’ll be the first to admit that given his underwhelming season last year, the new deal he got over the summer was too much, in fact far too much, or so I thought. I don’t often write my posts in the first person tense but this one is such a case because I’m admitting I am wrong. So far, 18 games into the year, and Dan Girardi has earnt every single penny of that new deal.

Rangers General Manager Glen Sather has received a lot of stick over the years (much of it justified) and will never win a popularity contest in New York even if there’s a certain parade going down the canyon of heroes in the next few years, however a lot of his moves over the last year or two have been savvy and impressive, and its beginning to look like Dan Girardi’s new deal is another one of those smart moves.

This year Girardi has started to become a workhorse. He has averaged almost 25 minutes per game (13^th in the entire league), has 9 points in 18 games (which is 40 point pace), while being on course for close to 200 hits for the season. Then there are the blocked shots. The Rangers have had a pretty successful season so far in part because of their ability to block shots. Dan Girardi leads the entire league with 39 thus far and is on course to get over 150 for the season. In short, Girardi is doing everything for the Rangers. Some of my criticism’s of Girardi last year was his positioning and his consistency; well, this season Girardi has been the epitome of consistency and is maturing into a quiet, lead-by-example type of leader for the Rangers.

Now, one season does not a $3.325m player make. However the signs are promising that Girardi can be the dependable two way player that rarely makes the headlines but that every team needs. Marc Staal may end up competing for Norris’s, Mike Del Zotto may end up competing for defenceman scoring titles but these players need to know they have the support required to do so and Girardi is just that. If he continues the way he has played this season Girardi can be to the Rangers and Staal what Brent Seabrook is to the Hawks and Duncan Keith and I can promise you that when Seabrook negotiates his next deal in the summer, he’ll cost a lot more than Girardi did last summer. The Hawks may well struggle to keep him. Signed for 3.325m up until 2014 Girardi will begin to represent excellent value for the Rangers if he keeps developing and it’s been a long time since the Rangers could crow about having a lot of good value contracts on their roster. Thank you Dan Girardi, but also thank you Glen.

Tortorella and Sather At Odds?

As per Jesse Spector, it looks like Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella is not agreeing with some of the decisions made by General Manager Glen Sather. Spector states that by reading between the lines of Tortorella’s diplomatic responses to the media, it gives the general impression that the coach and general manager are not really seeing eye-to-eye on many roster moves. These moves include the demotion of Tim Kennedy, and the decision not to call up any bodies from Hartford in the wake of the number of injuries sustained with the Rangers.

I have suggested that Tortorella has not fully agreed with many of Sather’s moves in the past, particularly those decisions regarding Wade Redden. This goes way back to the decisions to sign players like Donald Brashear, trade for players like Derek Morris, and decisions not to carry extra forwards or defensemen. While Tortorella has not been candid about his disagreements with Sather, it appears that he is started to grow frustrated with his lack of control over the team he puts on the ice.

As per Spector, when asked about the lack of reinforcements from Hartford after last Friday’s game against the Maple Leafs that saw Chris Drury and Marian Gaborik go down long term with injuries, Tortorella said simply “It’s not my call”. Tortorella had a very similar answer for the media when asked about Tim Kennedy’s demotion to the AHL. Tortorella had more words when it came to the decision to send both Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko to the minors as part of the final cuts:

“When Glen asked me, it’s just based on hockey,” Tortorella said when the final cuts were made. “They played very well at certain times, and at certain times, they struggled….We feel they have a chance to be part of the core – it’s just that they need to go down there and go through the process a bit. It’s a hard position, defense.”

Clearly there’s logic there that I agree with. When it became clear that Matt Gilroy and Steve Eminger were locks for the roster, it made logical sense to send both McDonagh and Valentenko to the minors, as neither had to clear waivers, whereas Michael Sauer did. But now the Rangers roster is flawed, and the third pairing is essentially useless without a left handed shot (of which both McDonagh and Valentenko are). This is a situation that no one is really sure how the Rangers are going to solve.

If Tortorella and Sather really are at odds, then it is something that is not unique to this season alone. Disagreements like this generally do not appear out of thin air, they grow over time. With Spector reporting about this issue this season, it is likely that these disagreements have been going on since Tortorella arrived. No coach/general manager relationship is perfect, but with Sather cemented in place with what seems to be a lifetime deal, this is a battle that Tortorella simply cannot win.

Grading Glen

This probably won’t be a popular post because of the end result. Seeing as camp isn’t far away and with the off-season all bar over (Marc Staal aside) I thought it would be worth grading everyone’s favourite hockey recluse, Glen Sather.

Good Glen

• Addressing needs: signing Alex Frolov and Marty Biron to address flaws on the team with low risk, low cap deals.
• Drafting to need; the 2010 draft featured size and players were picked by organisational need. Not every need was addressed in the draft but many were.
• Something for Nothing; Brashear’s cap headache was removed, and Todd White a potentially useful part was added. If White doesn’t pan out he doesn’t affect the cap like Brashear.
• Being pro active and getting Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan under contract quickly while making a play to get Chris Kreider under wraps. Sather seems to be backing up his word by trying to bring in the youth.
• Sensible deals for Prust and Christensen.

Bad Glen

• The Girardi deal; Dan Giardi got too much dollar, even if it bought into his UFA years. A bad season prior should not warrant a 100% pay rise regardless.
• Marc Staal; yes Glen, we appreciate there was a ‘chasm’ but the team’s best defenseman shouldn’t still be without contract. Sather’s consistent mishandling of RFA’s is baffling and unnecessary.
• Derek Boogaard’s contract. Hate the deal, not the player.

The Jury’s out Glen

• Eminger for Voros; another case of acquiring something for nothing, if Eminger plays well this is a good move but if rumour is true, adding Eminger meant missing out on solid bruiser Shane Morrisonn which counts as a negative.
• Did we really need to share an affiliate with the Flyers?
• If PA Parenteau becomes Matt Moulson II on long Island, consider it egg on face.
• Will much sought after Mats Zuccarello-Aasen be another Euro flop (see Ambuhl, Andreas) or the next free agent Euro to make an NHL impact?

And the Grade is?…

Players were allowed to leave, relationships were forged (welcome Greenville), and camps were held with the underlying theme of roster transformation. Competition seems legit and not a single move Sather has made this summer burns the team long term. If certain players do well (hello Frolov) they have the opportunity to become core parts of the Rangers going forward.

This has been Sather’s best off season for a very long time, perhaps ever as Rangers GM. There seems to be a plan in place and reasoning behind every move. Sather gets a B+ at the moment. This may have been higher had he already resolved Staal’s situation and paid less for Dan Girardi’s renewal. If Sather really does admit to the biggest mistake of his managerial career and banishes Redden in camp then Sather will have redeemed himself to a degree.

How Todd White Fits

Glen Sather woke up earlier this off season, after a stormy fishing trip with his pal Brian Burke up North, and felt a little light headed. He set off to his office in New York and proceeded to go about his business. Glen was struck by lightning on his trip. Something had changed. He had acquired the voice of reason. No doubts, Glen Sather has had an (unexpectedly?) excellent off season. The Rangers have improved and haven’t sacrificed any part of the future going forward. Include Todd White in the new Rangers, short term.

Sather seems to specialise in low risk high reward trades. Todd White cost the Rangers absolutely nothing and potentially gives the Rangers genuine depth amongst the top 9 forwards. Before getting excited however it’s worth noting there’s a chance White cannot regain his 08/09 form where he had 22 goals and 73 points. Remember also, that he had a certain Russian line mate who went by the name of Ilya so White’s numbers were likely skewed.  However if White is physically fit (after his various operations) he has the ability to contribute 40-50 points so potentially he’ll make a nice addition…

Read more »