Hossa signs

Apparently Marcel doesn't want to hear what Sather has to say about him. He resigned with the Rangers for own year, reportedly worth 780K. Smart move by Hossa, who is as inconsistent as they come.

http://newyorkrangers.com/pressbox/pressreleases.asp?id=2976

Sather: Avery is a "detriment to the team"?

This is what I dislike about Glen Sather. He is a very bitter man and does not like when players reject his contract offers that he deems fair. According to Larry Brooks of the NY Post, Avery was offered a one-year deal at $1.3 million, which is only $200,ooo more than he made last year. Considering how much Avery's presence changed the team's fortunes (17-6-6 with him in the lineup), you would think that Sather wouldn't lowball him that much. Unfortunately, instead of Avery's agent asking for a reasonable reward, he went and asked for a ridiculous $2.6 million when they know that the team is having cap problems. This is probably when things started to go wrong between the two sides. Although it is clear that the reward should be somewhere in the middle of those two amounts, Sather is pulling out all the stops in making sure that the amount is closer to his offer. According to Brooks, Ranger's management called Avery "a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team" in the salary arbitration brief that will be read at the hearing in Toronto. This is what Avery said to the post in response to learning of this.

"It's hard not to take something like that personally and not to be emotional about it," Avery told The Post yesterday. "I know this is part of the business, I know this is part of the process, but it's extremely disappointing to read something like that coming from Slats [GM Glen Sather] and not to be offended by it. They talk about me taking, 'unnecessary penalties,' and make a lot of references about me that I don't want to go into but that I don't think are fair. I certainly don't think I was a detriment to the team."

"At the end of the season, my hope was to sign a long-term deal," said Avery, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. "I would have loved that. . . . But that never became a legitimate possibility. It became obvious pretty quickly that I was going to wind up going to arbitration. That's OK, I understand the situation with the cap and I understand that this is a business, but not only aren't we anywhere close, they've decided to really go after me in this brief. I don't think that's necessary."

The good news is that Avery isn't going off the deep end and asking for a trade like many players would. Avery also reiterated his interest in playing for Rangers.

"The arbitration hasn't changed my opinion at all about wanting to be a Ranger and being excited about this season. I'm really high on the team. I just wish Slats hadn't said these things about me. That's hard to take."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07302007/sports/rangers/slats_not_fair__rangers_call_avery_detriment_in_brief_rangers_larry_brooks.htm

ZEN says: Folks, arbritration briefings are known to be nasty. The farther the two sides are apart, the worse they are going to get. Sather is facing cap problems and still wants to strengthen his team (bring more players in), so he will say anything to get this reward to be as low as possible. This includes bringing up Avery's awful past with other teams. Although Avery said he was still interested in coming back, I just hope he really feels that way down the road and ultimately signs a long term offer. These situations can easily make a player feel unwanted.

Jovanovski?

It has been a very quiet in Rangerland this week. There hasn't been any real news to report, but I have been hearing that there might be something to the Ed Jovanovski rumors that have been floating around the internet. Apparently, Pheonix is trying to find a way to get Jovo and his 6.5 million dollar cap hit through the 2011/12 season off their books. I do think that Sather is gearing up for a huge Cup run with Jagr coming to the end of his career and having a solid d-man like Jovo would be a huge asset to the club. There are two problems with this trade though:

1) Jovo has a no-trade clause.
2) The Rangers have some cap issues.

There is nothing to really talk about with the clause, so lets concentrate on the money. The NYR don't have a lot of cap room and most, if not all of it, will be going to Avery (and maybe Hossa). As a result, there would have to be a lot of salary going back to Pheonix in a deal like this, but the key is that the deals would be up after this year and off the Yotes cap quickly. For example, both Malik and Mara have deals in the 2.5 to 3 million a year range and are unrestricted free agents after this year. One or both could be part of a deal like this and I would expect that Sather would have to part with some assets as well. It is also important to mention that Pheonix is trying to get to the cap minimum, so they do not mind having short term salary on their books.

Remember, rumors are just what they are... rumors. Fun to talk about, but there could be no truth to them, even when they sound logical.

Peca rumor true?

There seems to be mutual interest:

"I think's there been some interest (from the Rangers)," said Peca, an 11-year NHL veteran. "That would be a great fit. Is it going to happen? I'm not 100 per cent sure. We'll see what happens."

The Leafs seem to very interested as well:

"Considering how many phone calls I get from Jason Blake in a week, yes," Peca said of his former Islanders teammate. "But you know what? There are options out there. I need to consider everyone and look at each situation both professionally and personally."

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Toronto/2007/07/25/4367639-cp.html

State of the Defenseman

Much has been written about this group of Rangers defenseman and after the Cullen trade, it is even more confusing. Right now it appears that Rozsival and Malik will repeat as the top pairing on defense. Malik is not a popular player with fans due to his lack of speed and propensity for the turnover, but it appears that the organization still has confidence in him. Either that or there is just no trade market for him. During the course of last year, Tyutin and Girardi began to form a nice tandem and often played against opposing team's top lines. Although Tom Renney has gone on record stating that neither Girardi nor Callahan were a lock to make the team, be aware that he has to say that or the kids will lack motivation. Assuming that Paul Mara continues his solid play on the blueline making up the third pair, that only leaves one spot open for several different players. Let's take a look at them.

• Thomas Pock - His up and down play has always left him on the outside looking in. He has the knack for scoring goals, but his errors are glaring and often cost the team wins.
• Jason Strudwick - The organization seems to have a love affair with this guy, probably because he is a stay-at-home defenseman that has played well when the team needed it badly (due to injuries).
• Andrew Hutchinson - This guy is 27 and hasn't played a full season for an NHL club, so I am not exactly excited about him. From what I have read, he is an ideal quarterback for a power-play, but lacks the strength to consistently succeed in his own end. There were times when Carolina actually played him as a 7th defenseman only to be used on the power play. This doesn't sound promising, but hopefully Renney and his staff can work with him.
• Marc Staal - This is the ideal situation for the Rangers as an organization, having the kid win the job. He is one of the top defensive propects in the league and has shined at every level he has played at. The only negative is that he would add another million dollars in salary to the cap if he makes the team. I hope that doesn't have an effect on the outcome.
• Darius Kasparitis - I know, I know, wasn't he supposed to be gone? Some recent news has revealed that the mighty cannonball is in the greatest shape of his life and wants to return to the Rangers. I'll believe it when I see it. It is important to note that if he does indeed make comeback, he is expensive at 3 million dollars. The deck is definitely stacked against him. To further complicate matters for not only Kaspar, but all Rangers D-men, I believe that Pock and Hutchinson must clear waivers to be sent down to Hartford.
• The final possibility is that the final spot is not even on the team yet. Due to cap restraints, the team doesn't have a lot of options for signing free agents. Just about everyone will be too expensive and there are already 10 defenseman listed above. The only other option is a trade and I am sure Sather has been working the phone lines looking for an quality D-man that some team is trying to dump due to budgetary reasons. I have heard many rumorered names connected to the Rangers (ie. Jovanowski), but these are just what they are... rumors.

All I can say is that training camp and the preseason definitely will have at least one storyline to watch. I am thinking that all eyes will be on Marc Staal.

Schoenfeld Promoted

Harford Wolfpack coach and GM Jim Schoenfeld was promoted to New York Rangers Assistant GM. He replaces the departed Don Maloney who is now the Pheonix Coyotes GM.
http://newyorkrangers.com/pressbox/pressreleases.asp?id=2973

I think that this is a logical move by Glen Sather. Schoenfeld is a great hockey mind who has helped turn around a formerly pathetic New York Rangers farm system into one of the best in the league (#6 according to http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_organisation_rankings/). The Harford Wolfpack has been producing solid NHL-ready players (Prucha, Callahan, Girardi, etc.) the last couple years by showing them what it takes it be successful in the NHL. They even have the same offensive/defensive systems as the Rangers club, so that there is an easy transition between clubs. It seems that Schoenfeld has an eye for talent, so the promotion was a no brainer.

Offseason Recap (July, thus far)

• The Rangers made a gigantic splash in the free agent market by signing centers Scott Gomez (age 27) and Chris Drury (age 30). Both players are American born and proven winners who wanted to play for the Rangers. As a result of these signings, the team let the much older Michael Nylander (age 35) sign with the (Oilers... errr) Capitals. The Gomez deal was for 7 years at approx. 7 million a year and the Drury deal was for 5 years at approx. 7 million a year. Both deals also include either a no movement clause or some variation of the clause, so these are some serious contracts that weight heavily against the salary cap. My opinion on the signings completely centers on Nylander. If he asked for more than 3 years at more than 5 million a year, then the organization had to let him go, given his age. If he could have settled for 2 years at (or below) 5 million, then the Rangers blew it. The ideal situation would have been to resign Nylander to play with Jagr and to sign Gomez to play with Shanny. This no knock on Drury, who is a dynamic two-way centerman with a knack for the clutch goal. It is just difficult to match the chemistry that Nylander and Jagr had.
• Soon after the signings, the organization took care of their own free agents and resigned Strudwick, Prucha, Shanahan, and Lundqvist over the last several weeks. The only players left to sign, Avery and Hossa, have arbitration cases in the next few weeks.
• The most recent move that might have come as a surprise to some, was the trading of Matt Cullen back to the Carolina Hurricanes. The Rangers received jorneyman power play defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, a prospect, and a third round pick in return. I personally think that Cullen's fate was etched in stone after he failed to produce as a second line center with Shanny last year. Don't get me wrong, Cullen turned into a successful third line center with Peter Prucha and Ryan Callahan, as well as a key penalty killer, but he was being paid way too much money for that role. Especially considering the outrageous but necessary cash handed out to Gomez and Drury. The Rangers were floating way too close to the salary cap and Cullen was the odd man out. Either the team will look within (possibly Brandon Dubinsky) to replace Cullen or sign a cheaper third line center (a lot of rumors about Mike Peca). I just hope it isn't Blair Betts, because although he is a great penalty killer and role player, he sometimes has trouble completing a pass.

Offseason Recap (through June)

• At the end of May, the team learned that Don Maloney was headed out west to become the Pheonix Coyotes GM. This was a big loss for the Rangers, because Maloney was a key contributor in the most recent success of the organization. He is also considered to be one of the guys that keeps Glen Sather's insanity (as some would say) in check. He will be missed.
• At the end of June, the team made headlines at the NHL Draft by selecting Russian prospect Alexei Cherepanov. The reason for the hype was that they ended up with a top 5 prospect in their laps at #17 overall. Some say it was because of the US-Russian transfer agreement and others allude to the kid's poor work ethic. I have never been one to have a strong opinion about draft picks, because nobody really knows how they will pan out. But, it is clear that the Rangers 'might' have gotten a steal, quite possibly as a result of their deep pockets. Some other draft picks of note are Antoine Lafleur, who adds another goalie prospect to the organization. This was a necessary draft selection, because there isn't much depth after Hartford Wolfpack starter and former first round pick Al Montoya. The Rangers also supposedly got another steal in round 7 when they selected center David Skokan. Time will tell.