Just because Glen Sather lost the Kovalchuk sweepstakes didn’t mean he had to go out and sign another Russian to make up for it. The burning question Ranger fans should be asking: why didn’t Sather use some of the Frolov money to sign Demitra and address the Rangers real need, a first line center for Gaborik?

Sather could have had Demitra for a year or two at a much lower cap hit. The mind boggles. One wonders where the cap space is coming from to sign Marc Staal. The boy won’t come cheap and the $3 million Sather is paying  Frolov will not help alleviate his cap issues.

So now we have Frolov, who by reports is just slightly less enigmatic then was Zherdev. While he hasn’t got a terrible track record, the dope on Frolov is that he sometimes doesn’t try hard enough. Hmmm. I can see that going over big with Tortorella. Tortorella saw that trait in Enver Lisin and we all know what happened there.

Oh, but Frolov likes to go to the net. Frolov has good hands. Frolov has scored on average 20 goals and 50s point in each of his seven NHL seasons. Frolov will be good for Anisimov. Yada. Yada. Yada.

I read on a message board that Frolov should get along well with Avery as they were teammates in LA. That’s just what the Rangers need, another party boy to replace Voros in the Sean Avery Social Whirl. Yeah, Tortorella will love that.

Color me skeptical.

Posted under New York Rangers

Sather: I’ll take Napoleonic Wins and Losses for $1000 Alex.

The Answer: Signing llya Kovalchuk may prove to be his “Water-Lou”.

Sather: Who is Lamoriello?

After signing Ilya Kovalchuk to a 17 year/$102 million dollar contract, Lou Lamoriello may have finally made the faux pas Ranger fans have all been waiting for. This deal may finally be his undoing. Six million dollars a year until Kovalchuk is 44 year of age and Lou is, well, dead or at least retired.

Granted the Devils need to increase scoring but what good will that do them if they don’t have the goaltending to go with it. Last time I looked Marty “Fatso” Brodeur was 38 and fading. Somehow I don’t think Hedberg will be the new Marty. Marty was abysmal in the playoffs this year and one can only hope that will be the future trend for the “greatest goaltender of all time”.

Speaking of “Fatso”, well looky here. The Rangers have the secret weapon against both Marty and Kolvy in Sean Avery. Avery’s here for at least for two more years until McIlrath is ready. Avery managed to undo both Ilya and Marty in playoffs past. The Rangers must make the playoffs this year to see if the Avery effect is still in effect.

Lou has only 20 players currently signed but he is over the cap to the tune of $1.8+ million dollars. One wonders how he’ll white wash this one with the league. I’m sure he’ll finagle his way around the cap somehow. He always does. It’s just that signing any player for 17 years is ridiculous. If Kovalchuk makes it to 10 years, Lou will be lucky. Production decreases with age. See Hockeyrodent’s rant called “The Out Years” http://www.hockeyrodent.com/R2336.HTM.

One of the reasons Mike Milbury earned his nickname “Mad” was because of the precendent setting deal he struck with the Islanders “nevercomingback” net minder. Lamoriello seems to be following in Mibury’s footstep.

Hey Lou, we’ve got two words for you: Rick DiPietro.

Sather has signed some atrocious contracts that still drag the Rangers franchise down to this day but at least he didn’t pull the trigger on a ridiculous deal like Lamoriello’s with Kovalchuk. Will wonders never cease? Truth be told, I was more upset to see Gagne go to the Bolts.

And the rebuild continuuuuues….

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It just so happened that I was off today and got the chance to participate in all the free  agent madness on the world wide web. I wasn’t expecting anything earth shattering to happen and it didn’t. I get bored with all the scuttlebutt about who went where and for how much. I really only care about what the Rangers have done.

While nothing short of signing Kovalchuk could rival last years 11th hour trade with Montreal (getting Gomez off the books), Sather made a few moves that will assure  the Rangers will at best finish 9th or 10th again next season. Yawn.

Marty Biron

Sather’s a day late and a few dollars short on this one. I begged for a better back up to be signed last off season and Biron was one of my choices. Instead Sather, wanting to save money, relied on Valiquette who didn’t get the job done. Biron and Dwayne Roloson were snapped up by the Islanders to hold the fort for the never returning Rick DiPietro. While Roloson did a credible job going 23-18-7, the same cannot be said of Biron who went 9-14-4. 

Biron might have been a victim of the Icelander team in front of him. In his two seasons in Philadelphia, he did fairly well going 29-19-5 in 2008-09 and  30-20-8 in 2007-2008. Although drafted 16th by Buffalo in the 1995 draft, Biron has proven to be hit and miss over the course of his career, not quite filling the bill as a No. 1 Goaltender. Sather finally decided to pull the trigger on a better backup for Henrik and I think Biron will fill the bill.

Derek Boogaard

Sather lets Shelley walk for cheaper then he signs Boogaard? This signing has the fan base grumbling and shaking their heads. Sather basically said that, considering Shelley’s age, he didn’t want to resign him for the three years he was looking for. Instead Sather signs Gaborik’s former protector from the Wild. So he’s paying him $500 grand more for Boogy then Shelley for four years, not three. I got no problem with that except to say that Boogaard has absolutely no offensive upside. That’s an understatement.

Vaclav (Vinnie) Prospal

I like Vinnie in the way I liked Kaspar. Great team guy and a heart and soul player who knows the the team and the coach. What makes the Prospal resign better is that it’s for low money, unlike Kasparaitis. Vinnie can play wing or center. If Sather doesn’t get a first line center for Gaborik, Vinnie can do platoon duty with Dubinsky, maybe even Christensen.

Eric Christensen

Christensen comported himself well last season with 8 goals, 18 assists and +14 in 49 games. Christensen at  $975,000 for two years adds depth at center/wing. I just wonder if he’ll still be a scoring machine without Shelley.:) 

Sather signed Derek Stephan to a contract today. The most important thing on Sather’s agenda should be signing his RFAs, especially Staal and Gerardi and waiving Redden and Rozsival.

As evening falls on day one of free agency I grudgingly give Sather a B.

Posted under New York Rangers

Congratulations to Tom Renney on being named Head Coach of the Edmonton Oilers. 

I don’t understand all of the ramifications of Pat Quinn being “bumped up” to the Oilers Front Office and have no particular thoughts on the subject. Suffice it to say that after the raw deal Tom Renney got with the Rangers (Glenn Sather), it’s nice to see him return as the head coach of a great franchise like Edmonton.

Tom is living proof that Leo Durocher was wrong. Nice guys don’t always finish last. The last time I had a smile on my face all day about hockey was when the Rangers signed Brendan Shanahan. Tom will always be beloved by fans here in New York. His accomplishments with the Rangers won’t soon be forgotten.

Good Luck to Tom and the Oil. Can’t wait to see them at the Garden on November 14th.

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Congratulations to the Chicago BlackHawks on their Stanley Cup victory. It’s nice to see a fabled franchise come back to life. To put it into perspective, the last time the BlackHawks won the Cup, Mark Messier was an infant.

While I am happy to see the Cup go to an Original Six team, I also congratulate the Philadelphia Flyers on an amazing performance this post season. I don’t understand all the vitriol among Ranger fans regarding the Flyer’s run. 

The Broad Street Bully days are long behind the Flyers and the Penguins, Devils and Islanders are more a natural enemy to the Rangers then the Flyers. Maybe those Ranger fans are envious that the Flyers have a decent management and coaching staff  in  place?

Whatever. Both teams deserve congratulations on their post season runs. Time for me to concentrate on the Mets. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Posted under New York Rangers

Apparently Larry Brooks has gotten Glen Sather to speak about the past season and the future of the franchise. I can’t tell if it’s SOS, the international distress  signal or the same old sh*t. Actually, I guess it could be viewed as both.

Sound bites like this would lead any Ranger fan to think it’s a distress signal, an SOS.

Glen Sather: 

Posted under New York Rangers

Yet another slap in the face for Glen Sather and another reason (as if they needed more) for Ranger fans to hate him. Not that I begrudge Blair Betts, Peter LaViolette and the rest of the Philadelphia Flyers this turn at the big dance. They certainly all deserve it.  They are warriors and warriors usually win.

To think the Flyers were within one point of elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers. Seriously, how far would the Rangers have gone had they bested the Flyers in the final game of the season. Washington would have chewed them up and spit them out. Warriors they were not.

The Flyers knocked off the great Marty Brodeur in five games. Without Sean Avery, the Rangers wouldn’t have dispatched Uncle Daddy so easily. The Flyers then went on to take out the big bad Bruins after going down to them three games to none. They made  history with their comeback.

The Canadiens took out both the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Penguins and the President’s Trophy winning Caps. Because the Flyers have now taken out the Habs, they deserve their shot at the Cup. Let’s just hope that Campbell and Bettman’s official don’t try to determine the outcome of the games by tilting the ice.

Good Luck to Blair Betts and the Flyers. Here’s to an honorable Cup final. May the best team win.

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Well, well. Gary Bettman and Colin Campbell have difficult decisions to make tonight. Should they: a) help the PosterBoy and his team through to the next round, b) blow the whistle in favor of  Canada’s underdog team celebrating their 100 anniversary or c) have the officials call a fair game and let the chips fall where they may?

Since we’ve already seen the ice tilting required to achieve both A and B in the past maybe we will see a game called fair and square for a change. But I wouldn’t count on it. I think Gary and Collie are salivating over an original six matchup for the Eastern Conference Final between Boston and Montreal. Think of the TV ratings in the Canadian and US markets.

Think even further ahead to an Original Six Match Up for the Stanley Cup Final.  Boston or Montreal against Chicago, should they make it through, would be a ratings wet dream for Gary and NBC. When put in those terms, I’ll put my money on the calls going in favor of Montreal tonight.

Crosby has his name on the Cup. He’s got his ring. Now the powers that be  should be thinking ahead. They need to draw as big an audience as they can in the lower 48. It should be interesting to see how it all goes down. If Halak is “on”, we could see Blu, Blanc et Rouge with the smiling faces in the handshake line tonight.

Go Habs Go!

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In a stunning upset the President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals were blown out off the playoffs by the Montreal Canadians tonight.  After taking a commanding 3-1 lead earlier in the series, the Caps have to be considered the biggest choke of the new millennium. That’s good. It takes that dubious distinction away from 2007 New York Mets.

The Rangers also had a 3-1 lead in their opening round series last season against the Caps and went on to lose in 7 games. The  two outcomes are hardly comparable. Last season the Rangers barely squeeked into a playoff spot. The Caps had  121 regular season points this year.

And, the Rangers, as a team, really didn’t choke last year. Their coach did.  Talk about turnabout being fair play. This crushing loss wiped last year’s sh*t eating grin off fat Bruce Boudreau’s face. I remember how he gloated when the Caps bounced out the Rangers in game 7. 

Montreal should just concede now and let the Posterboy and the Penguins move on. I don’t know which is more distasteful, watching Cindy Crosby or  Smirking Scott Gomez go to the Conference Final. My best possible outcome:  Boston and Montreal move on to the next round along with Detroit and Chicago. We have ourselves an Original Six final. Choke on that Gary “Expansion Boy” Bettman.

I have little sympathy for Caps fans. They got to watch their team play great hockey all season and make the playoffs. We got to watch drek and too little effort until it was too late. They’ll blame their coach and Ovechkin and Semin but the fact is they have no goaltending. And, that little jerk Green lost them the game with that stupid cross checking penalty.

Somewhere I hope Ollie Kolzig is smiling. The way the Caps dumped him was a disgrace. Maybe they would’ve had a better chance if they kept him in net instead of  Jose “Three or more” Theodore. What goes around comes around.

Posted under New York Rangers

Just as Messier’s words were construed to guarantee that win in game seven against the Devils, so too may my words come back to haunt me. I prefer my inference to be a not so bold prediction rather then a guarantee. Ever since the announcement of Messier’s hiring as a “special assistant” to President and General Manager Glen Sather, I have believed the handwriting on the wall. At one of the preseason games I saw Messier coming out of the Geico Suite followed closely by Mike Keenan. That vision convinced me the handwriting was indelible.

My favorite schmoozer, Steve Somers, interviewed Messier yesterday afternoon on WFAN. Apart from asking Messier the requisite questions regarding his present endeavours, The Mark Messier leadership program and general managing Team Canada in the upcoming World Championships, Somers ask Messier if he was ready to be an NHL General Manager. Messier’s response was that he was born ready.

Messier was born and bred to be a hockey player. He was bred to be the Captain. He was bred to be a Hall of Famer. I am just starting to get my head around Messier being “groomed” to be the next General Manager of the New York Rangers. In the interview Messier acknowledged his mentor, Glen Sather and gave props to Sather for allowing him to see and experience all aspects of running an NHL franchise from an executive’s point of view this season. He sited Sather for encouraging him to take the job as Team Canada’s GM for the upcoming World Championships.

Somers asked Messier if he would be interested in any position in the league as a GM and of course Messier said he would be if all the pieces came together, right situation, right people, yada, yada. Somers went on to explain to Messier how fed up the fans and the media are with the Sather Silent Treatment, hoping to solicite a comment from Messier. Messier went on to say, and I paraphrase, that since Sather has been a mentor to him and other guys like Gravey, MacTavish, Lowe and Gretzsky, he’d have a hard time criticizing Sather. Fair enough.

Moose was as forthcoming with Somers as a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar. To his credit, Messier was able to complete the interview without giving away anything important about his future or that of the franchise. He is perfecting the art of hockey double talk. I guess you could say that is a prerequisite to becoming a Ranger GM and a Dolan employee. I wonder how many interviews he’ll give after he ascends to Sather’s throne in the Two Penn Plaza Ivory Tower..

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