Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Cap Flexibility; Erik's #1; MDZ Learns to Fight; Stepan Gets New # & More

Jesse Spector at the Blueshirts Blog does an outstanding job recapping the day and starts by offering quotes from Glen Sather on the waiving of Todd White and Tim Kennedy...

"Let's say somebody's got a cap problem, and they put a real good player on waivers tomorrow, then we have the room to take a real good player," Sather said. "Maybe in a different position -- maybe you're looking at a defenseman that could be there, somebody can't afford to keep him. Then, by opening up this space, we would have room to absorb it. It's just giving us a chance to do something like that, to exercise an option."

If the players clear waivers, Sather explained that the Rangers would have 30 days to send them to the minors.

...this obviously makes a lot of sense.

Spector also reports that John Tortorella said Erik Christensen is the #1 center, MDZ received fighting lessons from Brandon Prust, Derek Stepan is changing his number from 57 to 21 which he wore in college and that Derek Boogaard hasn't heard from the NHL regarding his spear of Ottawa's Chris Neil on Saturday night.

...would love to see MDZ throw down this season.

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27 comments:

George said...

Who was learning how to fight, MZA or MZD?

-DO said...

...or MDZ

ivaNYRicov said...

yeah i was wondering what Frodo from Modo was doing with the big club,,,

Kevin DeLury said...

Man that was bad. I knew I'd make that mistake at some point this season.

Anon25 said...

The bit in that blog about MDZ and AA ice dancing and noogies was priceless. Especially with the mental image of Torts shaking his head and 'not even asking'.

Elissa said...

When I read that, immediately I wanted to see video of Prust teaching MDZ and him and AA trying it out.

Anonymous said...

Isn't Boogard the one with the Fighting School? Why isn't he teaching him?

theking said...

Why is Christensen the #1 center??? I cant stand him he is terrible. He has no puck possession. He always tries his fancy moves that never work and he looks like a clown.

Evan S said...

Prust is teaching MDZ because he is closer to Michael's size. I would love to see Michael drop the gloves a few times this season, but nothing too often, he doesn't need the reputation, unjury risk or time spent in the box.

Unknown said...

I really don't get the hate Christensen gets. He doesn't suck and he's not amazing. Relax everyone....Are you on the ice? Are you a scout or a coach? (I'm not calling any one person out)...but if the suits see something in him then maybe they know something we don't.

Or maybe it's better he's on the 1st line because it makes our other lines better...spread the peanut butter around ya know.

Everyone knows Blowsival sucks but dude gets TONS of ice time...even in international play. They have to see something in him or use him strategically somehow, get it?

Thanks for the Boogie update, I was going to ask about that (not sarcastic).

LI Joe said...

jack i like your post on christensen. just disagree with you on the derogatory nickname on rozy. no need for that. and he doesn't suck and neither does christensen

hey i don't like dubinsky and avery and still don't use dumb nicknames for them

Evan S said...

Christensen has very nice moves, good speed and some talent. Basically, a typical New York Rangers forward. The deke and goal against Brodeur last year shows that, but he has never put it together. In pro-sports, the likelyhood that he has the breakout season and puts it together at age 27

theking said...

I dont understand how you people dont see the problem the Rangers have. EC as a 1st line center sucks. There is no better word that sums it up than sucks. He has some talent that only shows for a shift or two. He has no domination. Look around guys, all the contending teams have a dominate 1st line center. Toews, Backstrom, Mike Richards, Crosby, Thornton, Sedin, Datsyuk, and then there is Erik Christensen. If he was on the 3rd line that would be ok but on the 1st line its embarrassing for the Rangers and I am embarrassed that some of you support this.

ry-man said...

i have so much confidence in stepan, that i picked him in my fantasy draft. ok i picked him as my last pick overall but i know hes gonna do well.

Sfalcon27 said...

Same here ry-man. He is on my bench list, but I can see him posting 50+ points this year. It's kind of far fetched, but the kid has the skill.

AnnoyingJoe said...

Blowszival? thats a new one.

I don't understand why anone would want to see Del Zotto fight. Sure, its good to learn, and if he has to he has to, but thats not his game.

Does anyone want to see hem get his lights punched out and go on IR?

Unknown said...

LI Joe,

On Rozy, i agree with you.. poor guy gets a bit too much undeserved hate. He had a decent season last year, 23 points, +2, slotted against mostly against the 2nd line and playing alongside inexperienced rooks or Redden, compared to Girardi's 24 and -3.
2008-9 was very rough for him, but that had a lot to do with injury. He's a solid #4/5 defenseman with injuries that have somewhat imparied his skating ability. Dude is a good passer and has one of the better shots from the pt on our team, although often hesitates too long. He was very good in 2006/7-08. I think if he were making close ~</=4M, people would lay off a bit

Unknown said...

surprised, Torts hasn't been angling more for a B Richard's deal, the most underrated center int he league (although heavily compensated). Guy puts up 85 pts a year. Anyway, we would have been able to maybe swing that had we not taken on Prospal's contract, Eminger at ~1.25 and paid Boogaard that much (although i like him so far), and/or negotiated Girardi's contract a little harder down. anyway, just thinking. he's a great player, not sure if he falls into the 3 year plan. But, Sather could have left the option open

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

www.capgeek.com - great site. So a little further on Ricahrd's contract. He's a $7.8 M cap hit, but contract expires at the end of the year. Last year he was certainly trade bait. Look for that to be the case again if the Stars suck.

packaging some cheap contracts, and maybe one prospect (dare i say Grachev), would maybe be enough to swing this deal mid year, hypothetically. Richards is 30 years old, has shown no signs of aging, is a playoff hero, evidently knows how to excel under Torts, and could potentially be signed next summer for less than his current salary. I think he's the type of proven player, for whom a team in desperate need of a #1 center for their 28 yr old wingers (i.e the NYR) should commit around $24M for 4 years. Having said that, he might command more. That's the big question; would we be able to sign him at a reasonable star price tag?

He'd be the star center we've been craving since the Drury/Gomez signing debacle

Too bad, as of now, Boogaard, Eminger, and Prospal's contract combine for ~$4 M extra cap space we could use to accomodate him

Anonymous said...

Brian Leetch couldn't walk on ice in boots without getting hurt and you think it would be a good idea for the team's best offensive defenceman to drop the gloves and risk a broken hand or worse? Sorry, have to disagree on that one. There are plenty of other guys to drop the gloves. As far as EC, remember that line in Vancouver back in the ealy 2000's...Naslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi...they were pretty dominant. Look at Morrison's stats, he was definitely not a 1st line center before teaming up with those 2. EC has the skills to do excel at it, especially since he's the 3rd best player on that line. The other 2 will make him better.

John said...

Oops, forgot to post my name.

LI Joe said...

the king - because we don't have those guys from the other teams. there are not enough true number 1 centers to go around. anisimov dubinsky stepan (too young) the other 2 will never be a number 1

william - richards had off season surgery i think hip? i fully expect his stats to go down dramatically.

if prospal is out a long time we get that cap space and he would never reach the bonus portion of his salary. eminger is eminently fixable to go to ahl if need be - besides he was a trade to dump voros.

disagree on terming debacle on the 2 centers signing. gomez looked great in playoffs vs devs. we just traded him because we needed the room for gabby and if we didn't sign him we wouldn't have the 2 dmen or prust. gomez also hurt 2nd yr but never complained about it. drury led team in goals 1st yr and ingame winning goals. 2nd yr still has 20. "debacle" s/b used for the likes of redden.

Unknown said...

the Drury/Gomez signing - two players accounting for a quarter of your cap space and neither producing to top center levels, in effect setting the Rangers back cap wise and progress wise at least three years (more, if not for the incredible Gomez trade last summer). I'd say that's close to qualifying as a terrible set of transactions. Now, if you want to talk semantics, maybe 'debacle' is the wrong term. but give me a GD break LIJoe, there's no question Drury has not lived up to his billing (in fact, he was never billed as a #1 center; a very capable #3 center in my opinion, but neither capable of playing alongside a winger of Gaborik or Jagr's caliber.

Regardless, the point of my post was to stimulate discussion on a possible early or mid season trade for Richards. I think he'd be a good fit, and whether or not he had surgery, I expect him to put up yet another 80+ pt season and for people to still call him overrated.

True, if Prospal remains on IR, then our available cap space is around $6M, and yes, sending down Eminger would be easy, so right there, we're at ~7.2M to make a deal. I could be wrong. Hopefully, if a deal for Richards or someone of his caliber presents itself, we are able to make the necessary financial maneuvering. Such a deal would not be at the expense of any of our developing center talent, like A.A. and Stepan, who should expect to own 2nd and 3rd line duties, but would likely relegate Christensen. Also, not sure where Dubinsky fits in the discussion.

This is just fodder to stimulate discussion. It's always great to focus on development, but, at the same time, you shouldn't be sacrificing a season when you may have a chance to compete in the middle of the playoff pack, by adding a couple valuable veteran pieces. If the Rangers find themselves in a 6/7/8 or maybe even a 5 or 4 spot come Nov or Dec, I'm all for dealing for these type of assets, if it means sacrificing one young guy, like a Grachev.

Unknown said...

*In April, Richards had arthroscopic surger to repair a small tear in his labrum. Didn't seem to bother him toward the end of last season. The surgery will likely preventfurther injury down the road. In my medical opinion, he should be fully recovered w/ limited liability.

Unknown said...

Didn't seem to bother him toward the end of last season. -- as far as continued point production. The guy's a class act.

LI Joe said...

william the rangers paid both gomez and drury mkt prices as several teams were chasing them. drury led team in goals 1st yr and in gwg followed by 20 goals 2nd yr. gomez played decent too especially vs the devs in the playoffs and he was also injured 2nd season here. plus we made a steal getting valuable assets out of trading him. so far from debacle material

if the rangers weren't so pathetic in drafting from 1994 - 2007 especially at forward they would not have had to overpay in the ufa mkt. 90% of time teams overpay ufas as they are competing with several other teams., draft and develop your own and you're better off. well except the last 3 yrs our drafting forwards was pathetic thats right pathetic.