Analyzing the Rangers

Well, after five days of NHL free agency, I think it's a good time to sit back and examine the New York Rangers moves to this point.

We lost Martin Straka, good riddance. We're likely to lose Marek Malik, thanks for the shootout goal, but see ya. And we're likely to lose Brendan Shanahan. Great leader, but 38 is a little too old for a team that wants to play an uptempo style of hockey. We lost Sean Avery. I dreaded it happening, but I was expecting it to happen. People talk about what a pest he is, how his presence can wear thin in a locker room. I know this. The kid can play hockey. And more that that, he scored several goals in big sports, particularly in the New Jersey series. And on a team that lacks go-to goal scorers, they will miss him. More than that, Sean, who really wanted to come back to New York, will miss the Rangers when he is playing his home games in Dallas. We lost Jaromir Jagr, one of the game's all-time greats and he will now play in Russia. Jagr is 35, and he did a great job helping restore the Rangers to respectability after being a laughingstock for so many years. But I don't mind losing him, expecially since he's out of the Eastern Conference.

Now who did we add? We re-signed d-man Michael Rozsival to a 4-year deal. I would not have minded letting him to go, but he desperately wanted to stay in New york and avoid uprooting his family. He's a decent 2-way d-man in my mind. Not a great puck rusher, not a power play QB, not a hard hitter. Just a fairly good player. I'm fine with that. We signed Pat Rissmiller and Aaron Voros, who I know little about, other than they are two tough forwards. Call this a TBA.

I don't really know about the signing of Wade Redden to shore up the defense. We have two young offensive-minded d-men in the minors, Sanguinetti and Del Zotto. So I really wanted a defensive-minded player who could clear the crease in front of Henrik Lundqvist and one capable of knocking a Zach Parise, a Sidney Crosby, or a Mike Richards, or a Alex Kovalev right on his rear end. But they go with Redden, a good offensive d-man who has really underachieved the last two years. And for 6 years, 39 million! I'm not thrilled with it, but if he improves the power play and can play at a high level for 4 years or so, it will be fine.

I love the trade of Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to Columbus for Dan Fritsche and Nikolai Zherdev. Tyutin was our best prospect for a few years, but really didn't improve in 070-8 like I was hoping. Wtahcing him try to play the point on the power playwas like a tooth extraction. And Backman was not too good, really just a penalty waiting to happen. I would have been ok with him as a spare d-man, but nothing else. Fritsche, 22, is a developing 2-way center, with speed and a hard shot. I think will become a very solid 2nd or 3rd liner in New York. And Zherdev, who I didn't know much about, is one of the finest stickhandlers and one-on-one players I've seen. He is 24 years old, and can be that dynamic scorer we lose with Jagr's departure. As good as Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are, they are not goal scorers. Zherdev needs to fill that role.

We then added Markus Naslund to add more scoring and leadership. He is on the wrong side of 35. But he wanted to play in New York, and it's only a 2-year deal so while I could see this failing, I could see it becoming productive. I think a line of Naslund-Gomez-Zherdev can work really well. And we signed Dmitri Kalinin from Buffalo who's a tough d-man and I'm very pleased they re-signed Paul Mara. I actually would have given Mara two years instead of one. He's good on the power play, blocks shots on defense, and played very intensely in the playoffs last year. So kudos to the Boston kid for wanting to stay in Gotham. Throw those guys with very promising Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, this could be an excellent defense, provided they are physical enough. And we kept Stephen Valiquette as our backup goalie. I can hear the Flyer fans quivering already.

The roster look something like this.

Left wings
Markus Naslund, Nigel Dawes, Frederik Sjostrom, Pat Rissmiller, Aaron Voros, Lauri Korpikoski

Centers
Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Scott Gomez, Blair Betts, Greg Moore

Right Wings
Nikolai Zherdev, Petr Prucha, Ryan Callahan, Dan Fritsche, Colton Orr, Ryan Hollweg

Defensemen
Wade Redden, Michael Rozsival, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Dmitri Kalinan, Paul Mara, Corey Potter, Thomas Pock, Bobby Sanguinetti, Ivan Baranka

Goalies
Henrik Lundqvist, Stephen Valiquette

All of a sudden, the Rangers are the fourth youngest team in the NHL. Only one player is over 35 and 5 are 30 or older. Funny thing for a team with a reputation for signing aging veterans. I definitely thing we need more grit in the top 2 forward lines. And a few of these young wingers, Callahan, Prucha, or Dawes, need to emerge as a 25-30 goal scorer. I feel pretty confident Brandon Dubinsky will do that as a center. I like the defense, though again, I question their physicality. Staal and Girardi are still filling out, so maybe one of them can do that. And there's no goalie in the NHL I want more than King Henrik.

Now they have lost some veteran leadership from Jagr and Shanahan. So I'm counting on Drury and Gomez, who are entering their second years in New York, and have four Stanley Cup rings between them, to lead this team to the next level. I certainly think this is a team that should make the playoffs. I don't know if they are a team that can win the Stanley Cup. If they had kept Avery, I might think they would be capable. Right now, I don't think they can beat a Pittsburgh or a Montreal in a 7-game series. But it's about letting these kids develop. and see if any of them can become big-time clutch hockey players.

Song pick: In honor of this upcoming week, I have to go with "Silver Wings" by Merle Haggard