Poll Results (and Peca Update)

My original intention of the poll was to see how many people would feel that we need an experienced player to fill the third role position or whether it would be a better idea just to go with youth. The results were pretty much split down the middle.

Michael Peca - 43%
Brandon Dubinsky - 43%
Martin Straka - 8%
Artem Anisimov - 4%

I did not expect Anisimov to get many votes, because fans how never seen a glimpse of him playing in a live game, so he was more of an unknown. I would expect that Artem needs a year in Hartford to adjust to the North American game. In the prospect camp a couple months ago, many of the defensive prospects manhandled him a bit, because he is not used to that up and in your face game that North American hockey brings to the table.

I was a bit surprised by the low vote total for Straka. He has played center many times for the Rangers, either centering Jagr's line or centering Shanny and Avery on the second line. I am not sure if the lack of votes is because people don't see him as a two-way player (offensive and defensive-minded) or if they assume he will play left wing on the top line with Jagr and Gomez/Drury. I suppose it also could be because he struggled mightily for the second half of the year with the shoulder injury. But don't forget that he carried the team on his stick the first half of the season, scoring many timely goals when Jagr was physically unable. Hopefully Straka has rehabbed his injury throughout the summer and can get back to his scoring ways.

There was an early string of votes for Brandon Dubinsky, who I expected to cleanly win the voting. Ranger fans got to see his speed and skill on the ice last year when Straka was out, so he definitely is a player that can help this organization. I think that many fans would hope that Sather decided to fill the empty third line center role by going within the organization and reaching down to Hartford for help. This not only would save the team some salary cap space, but it would give another Hartford kid a shot, something that has been quite successful (Girardi, Callahan, etc.) for the organization as of late. Although this could still happen, but I believe that the organization would prefer to have an experienced, gritty two-way forward centering that line, considering that the wings are most likely going to be younger, less experienced players such as Prucha and Callahan.

That brings us to Michael Peca. According to the NY Daily News, as of 10 pm last night, Peca's agent said that Sather has not gotten back to him yet. This was Peca's response:

"They're doing their due diligence on this, as they should," he said. "It really isn't time-sensitive for them," he said. "It is a little bit more time-sensitive for me because of my kids and schooling."

You can see that Peca understands why the process is taking so long, but the clearest thing is that he wants to be a Ranger. And that is why I believe that Peca got so many votes in the poll, simply that he wants to be here. Fans remember how many stories there were about players that the Rangers just bought off the free agent market, but really were only here for the money. That usually would scare off fans from voting for Peca, especially considering his injury history. But it is clear that Peca wants badly to sign here, just like Gomez and Drury did, which is music to everyone's ears. In general, I do believe that the organization has locked in on Peca as the ideal center for the third line. This would give Renney the option of playing the third line against the other team's best line, giving the top two scoring lines better line matchups in games. Peca is also a suberb penalty killer and a real instigater/irritant (a la Avery) on the ice, qualities that are both great fits for this team. We will just have to wait and see what happens.