Larry Brooks at the New York Post was able to speak with Glen Sather about what went wrong this season and the plans for this summer...“We have to get better,” Sather acknowledged. “And the way we’re going to get better is by staying within our organization and giving our prospects the time to grow and the opportunity to play in New York.
“This has been a long process, and it’s ongoing, but as we go into this summer, our plan is to keep our own players. I can tell you one thing — we are certainly not going to overpay for free agents. If we can improve with a signing that makes sense, we’ll look into it, but we want to give our guys the first shot.”
...it's taken 10 years but it sounds like Sather finally gets it...I hope.
Sather adds that the Rangers are definitely re-signing Marc Staal and Dan Girardi and are interested in bringing Jody Shelley and Vinny Prospal back.
...there's your answer on Girardi.
...as much as I loved Prospal last year I'd like see the Rangers give a young guy an opportunity for that spot. He's getting older and he's play faded after his surgery.
Finally, Sather says that Donald Brashear will not be playing for the Rangers.
...lots of stuff from the GM let's hear what you think.
27 comments:
Well, in theory, its a great plan, but the rangers "within the organization" have been less than impressive, and there doesnt appear to be anyone there to fill the immediate needs of this team.
So the plan is to suck with youth until further notice?
its great to hear that sather is going to sign girardi he did seem to have one of his worst season since coming into the nhl but i personally love his play during the season girardi played most of the time up against the other teams top lines and he just didn't do as good a job as the last few years but i think with him re signed he is the best cheapest option for the rangers and is our 2nd top defensive defensmen staal being the first, great to hear sather actually let the fans know what the plan for this summer is
It's easy for him to say he's not going to overpay. There's not enough cap room for him to do it
First of all, thanks for carrying the conversation into the post-season.
Second, why all the "Anonymous" postings? Did nobody get the memo?
Third, glad to have a few words from Sather. It seems like he's kind of painted himself into a corner, particularly with the Redden debacle, so it doesn't seem like he has much choice: The Rangers don't have the cap space to "overpay" and for better for for worse, it's time to develop that young talent. I hope the organization in place is up for the challenge.
thought the most telling part of the article was when Sather said the est 26 players are going to play for the Rangers this year...no spot will be given away based on contract.... sound like redden will be in Hartford!!!
Prospal? Does anyone believe this guy needs to be in one of the top slots? There is better youth to be played on a line without him. Sure he scored some lucky goals and had some great passing. But...he is slow. When he shoots it looks like the puck flutters in the air everytime. His shot is a complete waste. Bring on the youth of the orginization. Or atleast in camp let see him outshoot some of the younger guys.
I think there were some positives to take from this article. Like everyone else said, he may not overpay because he doesn't havet he money to do so.
For some reason, I don't think Redden will be waived. I'm not sure that upper-management wants to be paying a guy $6 to play in Hartford. I think we just have to keep sucking it up and watch Wade do his thing on the blueline for the next four years.
I'm glad that Sather said Staal will be back, and part of me is happy that Girardi should be back as well. None of the d-men that came up last year did much for me, so I'd rather stick with what we know than something we don't.
I personally don't want to see Prospal back. I really loved the guy last season, but he's a year older now, and has shown in his career that he follows up a good season with a bad one, so he's due. I'd rather see AA develop into a 1st or 2nd line center, or even bring Christensen back.
As for Brashear, good riddance.
brash will still count for the cap though unless he somehow end up on another nhl team. and redden will not be on our roster 4 more yrs. 2 yrs tops. after that there will very likely be amnesty buyouts allowed.
I don't get all the hating on Prospal. The guy was a top 3 player on this team in terms of consistently making plays and creating goals. I agree with a lot of the analysis above, but yeesh, do you guys really think this team is better without Prospal? Especially with the reasonably priced contract he is sure to receive...although you never know with sather.
What about prust? Rather see him over Shelley
every year Sather slithers down from is ivory tower & issues his state of the rangers speech. the only problem is his words are as black as his soul!
I agree with the concept of internal development and there does seem to bee some talent in the pipeline for the future. However, I would also like to see the 2 most glaring needs addressed for next year - a tough, crease clearing Dman and a playmaking center. How that can be accoplished under the cap is obvious, but will management bite the bullet on Redden as they did with the Donald. As for Vinny, I love his guts and effort but he did tail off badly in the 2nd half last year. I guess I'd like his character back at a modest price.
lets take a look at the top 6 forwards for the two stanley cup finalists:
kane (90 points)
hossa (35 goals)
toews (25 goals)
sharp (25 goals)
brouwer (20 goals)
byfuglien (tough 20 goal scorer)
richards (30 goals)
carter (30 goals)
briere (around 30 goals)
gagne (60 points when healthy)
giroux (50 points)
hartnell (45 points)
Our top six:
gaborik (our only beast, 40 goals)
prospal (60 points)
dubinsky (45-50 points when healthy)
callahan (20 goals)
drury? (15 goals?)
christensen/avery? (no more than 35 points)
can we not see the difference? both the flyers and hawks have at least 3-4 players to count on, while ALSO having secondary scoring. We count on secondary scorers like dubinsky and callahan to carry our offense- which is NEVER going to happen.
also, both teams have at least 4 very good or all star defensmen. our only advantage is hank. bottom line, we are nowhere NEAR what it takes to contend for a cup. we cant try to build in the system, but that takes years, and because of contracts we cant sign anybody. we are essentially screwed.
BUY OUT REDDEN. ONLY SOLUTION.
If we buy out Redden, we will have the cap space to sign Kovalchuk. The lines could be....
Kovalchuk-Prospal-Gaborik
Avery-Dubinsky-Callahan
Aasen-Anisimov-Drury
Prust-Boyle-Shelley
Now you have...
1- A big time first line, one of the best in the league.
2- A young, tough, fast second line capable of solid production.
3-A good two-way 3rd line who can contribute.
4- A BIG, energetic 4th line.
In this line-up you have a good mixture of veterans and youth, scorers, penalty killers, fighters, and i think most importantly, guys who are TOUGH and FEISTY. (Avery, Prust, Dubinsky, Callahan, Shelley). Who would want to face a team like that every night?
I've said before, this team is 1 big time forward away from a great line-up. If they get rid of Redden, and can get Kovalchuk for 7-8 Mill, this can be done.
Vinnie gives us great value for money, is a great Pro & plays the game in the right way, sign him up!!
I like what I am hearing, and I wouldn't be totally against signing Prospal. Yes, he did not play so hot after the surgery, but i'm sure he wasn't feeling right and I'm sure he was pressed back from it quickly. Hopefully the months off from hockey will be good for him to rehab, and of course bringing back Staal and Girardi are musts
Great posting guys. Remember try to limit the anonymouses. Make your name "abc" if you have to. It just makes it easier to respond to your comments.
As far as Prospal goes I'm not hating, I just think the NYR have enough vets/leaders (Gabby, Drury, Callahan, Dubinsky, Rozsival) and I'm hoping Anisimov is ready to step up to the second line center position (Dubi first line).
But as always with the Rangers, cap space rules and depending on how it plays out Prospal may make the most sense and I will welcome him back with open arms.
Sather: Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Where have I heard this before? Players are not going to be on the team based on their contract. I seem to remember him saying that a couple of years ago about players not playing well will be demoted to Hartford.
Not overpaying for free agents. Yeah, when he signs some 20 goal scorer to a 9 million dollar contract he'll justify it somehow. Remember, this is a guy that just last summer gave 3 mill to Kotalik for three years.
One would hope that Slats stays away from players like Tanguay. Has fallen further than Kotalik-might be cheap but remember you get what you pay for. I watched him with the TBL this past yr and he takes off more shifts than Redden.
One would hope that Slats stays away from players like Tanguay. He might be cheap but remember you get what you pay for and in his case it's nothing. I watched him with TBL and he takes off more shifts than Redden does and is just as effective.
I really don't understand Sather. He's a horrible GM, but when he speaks he sounds competent. He said some good things, I just wonder how much of that he'll actually follow through on
Like someone else said!
Kinda easy for Slatts to say he will not
pay when he does not have any money anyways!
The Skunk Has Spoken!
kevin this team is in big trouble if dubinsky is given 1st line at any position especially center. torts considers him a winger
some suggest buyout redden. big diff between buyout (cap hit over 8 yrs of at least $ 2 mm per yr and in some cases over $ 3 mm) vs sending down to ahl. no cap hit there. has to be done each yr seperately but sending down is much better choice than buyout for mr redden
I hear you LI Joe. I'm being more optimistic than anything that Dubi's able to take the next step towards becoming a first line center this season.
He was so good his rookie season with Jags. I'm hoping he can regain that with Gabby.
You're also 100% correct on Redden. Way too much of a cap hit to release him. The only option is to banish him to Hartford.
About time, honestly if you really think about it, if the dolans weren't always in the win now mode i think sather wouldn't of signed a few of the guys he did in the past..when it comes to trades hes not a bad GM and as much as a i hate him at times, he really has built a good rangers farm team, like you said only took him 10 years to figure it out.
Great blog, thanks for opening up to post on now. You should think about doing a live chat for the 1st round of the draft
Richie
It's not too often that Slats gives a hint as to what to expect from him during the coming year. One could only hope that the free spending has come to an end in regards to the failure of what you get from the FA market-garbage. We all agree that you build from within and accept FA's as a fill in for a spot that is vacant in the organization. We are just stuck with RR salary and contract for at least two more years.
Richie, nice suggestion on the live chat. I'll give it some thought. Being married with two makes it difficult to do things like that, but great idea.
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