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Grading the Blueshirts on July 1
by Patrick Hoffman on 07/02/09 at 09:09 AM ET
Comments (4)
If I had to grade New York Rangers General Manager Glen Sather on yesterday’s performance on the first day of free-agency, I would have to give him an incomplete. Yes, he signed two players and yes, one of them has a lot of potential to succeed on Broadway but we’ve all seen Sather do stuff like this before and nothing ever come to fruition.
Signing Marian Gaborik was extremely risky. On one hand, Sather managed to sign an offensive superstar who has scored 30-or-more goals in five of his eight seasons, including a career-high 42 in the 2006-07 season. He totaled 437 points in 502 career games, all with the Minnesota Wild, and he’s just 27 years old. If these were the only things that Ranger fans knew about him, there’d be no problems and even Sather thinks that the team improved with this signing.
“Gaborik is an exciting guy to watch play,” Sather told Jim Cerny of NewYorkRangers.com. “He can skate, and he does a lot of great things. He’s a great player, and he’s young. I certainly think he’s in the top ten in this league.”
On the other hand, we all know that Gaborik gets hurt A LOT. Last season, Gaborik underwent hip surgery. He’s never played a full season and in a tight-checking and much tougher Eastern Conference, he could be even more susceptible to injury.
As for Donald Brashear, a former Washington Capital who viciously laid out Blair Betts in Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, that’s certainly a head-scratcher of a signing. Yes, he’s tough, can protect his teammates and is one of the most feared enforcers in the game today. However, this is someone that Blueshirt fans have come to hate over the years and one has to wonder what kind of reaction he’ll receive in his first game at Madison Square Garden when everyone knows that Colton Orr should have been resigned.
Obviously folks, a lot can happen. Sather can make some more signings to make this team better but as of right now, one has to feel that something is missing. What is it though?
Filed in: | Goal Line Report | Permalink
Tags: Donald+Brashear, Free+Agents, Glen+Sather, Marian+Gaborik, Minnesota+Wild, New+York+Rangers, Washington+Capitals,
Comments
I think Gaborik will have a good go of it in NY. I’m not sure I agree with your analysis that the EC is “much tougher”. Gaborik will benefit from being on 6-12 intra-division bus trips (do they drive the 2 hours to Philly or fly?), something that is impossible in Minnesota. Regardless, all of these extra nights you get to spend in your own bed add up, compared to the ‘division’ trips to Vancouver, Edmonton, Denver, and Cal-Gary, the closest of which is about 700 miles away if I can read a map (I wouldn’t necessarily give me the benefit of the doubt).
The extra conference trips to Phoenix, Anaheim, San Jose, LA, Detroit, Dallas, Columbus, Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis (the closest of which is 400 miles away) are replaced by trips to Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Boston, Florida x2, Atlanta, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Washington, the farthest of which is 1100 miles.
Basically, what I’m trying to say, and that I’m sure you know, is that 12 times a year, instead of being at least 700 miles away from home for division games, Gaborik will benefit from traveling no more than ~100 miles to Philly. The farthest travel made more than once is about 1100 miles, less than the average distance to former division rivals.
As a fellow Slovak, I’m looking forward to Gaborik breaking his career highs he set three seasons ago.
I also didn’t understand the Brashear signing.
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 07/02/09 at 09:26 AM ET
This team is still weak down the middle (sans King Hank). I never quite understood Sather’s approach during free agency every year. It’s like he goes for the shock and awe type signings instead of heady decisions to improve his team. But what do I know? Just keep on spending Glen, the Atlantic division LOVES when you do that.
Posted by ruce from pa on 07/02/09 at 10:01 AM ET
Mark - While the travel is indeed much, much easier, I think Patrick means that it is physically tougher. Playing the Flyers is a helluva lot more physically challenging than facing Edmonton or Colorado.
And I, for one, will be booing the hell out of Brashear. He is the worse kind of neanderthal in the game, for him to be a Ranger is just awful.
Posted by Scotty Hockey from NY on 07/02/09 at 10:19 AM ET
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Is it true that the Rangers took Gaborik to New York Presbyterian and NYU Medical Center as part of their recruiting pitch?
Posted by rb on 07/02/09 at 09:18 AM ET