Yesterday we learned the Rangers have sent their Hobie Baker Award winning young defenseman and early season breakout star, Matt Gilroy, down to Hartford. On the surface, one would think that Matt is being punished for his gaffe on Byfuglien’s overtime goal in Chicago Wednesday night. Could be. 

Other Ranger reporters and bloggers would have you think it’s for the boy’s own good. Playing down a level will help him. He’ll have more of an opportunity play his game and regain confidence. After all, defense is the hardest position in hockey at which to season a young player and Gilroy has been exhibiting  signs of regression. There are no veteran role models for Gilroy to learn from on the big club (Dumb and DumberRedden and Rozsival being the veteran leaders).

I’m not buying it. What veteran leaders will Gilroy find Hartford? It has always been my experience that one is made better by a higher level of competition. Demoting Gilroy to the minors is letting both this kid and the fans down. By sending Gilroy down, the organization is insuring that the paying fans are going to see the “Slow and Slower”Rozsival and Redden get smoked several times a night. That should be real entertaining.

If the real explanation isn’t either of the above, it must be that, contractually, Sather had no choice but to send Gilroy to Hartford to get some cap wiggle room. He cannot send Del Zotto to the AHL and he cannot send him back to Juniors. And why would he want to. Del Zotto really hasn’t put a foot wrong. No, Sather sent Gilroy down because he CAN. He sent him down to facilitate whatever his next  desperate, potential season saving, move is going to be. 

Whenever things have gone south for Sather, he has busted some move to redirect attention away from the problem. Rumors are rampant that Sather is desperately looking to add scoring by acquiring Pavol Demitra.  Whether Sather gets Demitra or someone else to divert attention away from this current Ranger trainwreck, sending Gilroy down  is simply this season’s version of Sather’s Smoke and Mirrors. That’s just swell. Just what we need, another overpriced, over the hill player.

Sather needs the Rangers to crawl their way into the playoffs anyway they can so Jimmy Dolan gets his first round playoff money. If that doesn’t happen, Sather may finally lose his job. Tortorella is not the coach to get this team to the playoffs. He doesn’t have the talent he had on Tampa. His puck possession system won’t work because few players on the current roster want to possess the puck, no less shoot it.

The answer to Matt Gilroy’s problem, and ergo the Ranger’s problem on defense, is not to send him down to Hartford. If Sather really wanted to solve the problems with this franchise, he would waive Redden, Rozsival, Drury and Brashear and bring up all the kids in Hartford and re-begin the rebuild right now. So what if  they tank the season and get next years first round draft pick. They’ll be one more year off the crippling contracts of the underachieving veterans hogging up the all the cap space.  

This may yet happen. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Sather will do everything he can to to put a bandaid on this leper of a team, even if it means trading away/sacrificing youth for a quick fix, temporary solution. Sather will never learn. Quick fixes only work when you have a team that is a contender. This Ranger team is definitely NOT a contender. Frankly, I’d rather watch Matt Gilroy and the rest of the kids gain NHL experience by making mistakes, playoffs be damned.

We should all demand the rebuild we were promised after the lockout. I now curse the success the Rangers had that first post lockout season four years ago. It derailed the rebuild. If the Rangers are still in playoff contention before the Olympics, the games may help this time rather then hurt us. Last time the Olympics spoiled the rest of the season and the playoffs. This time they may be just the crowbar needed to pry Sather’s clutches off this franchise.

Posted under New York Rangers