With free agency set to begin in about 15 hours I figured it would be prudent to talk a bit about it. I’m going to keep this fairly simple. First, here are my predictions for what I think will happen, followed by justification…

Nylander walks, i just get this bad feeling that hes looking for the highest bidder, and i know thats not going to be us.

Gomez is signed. Hes going to take over Nylanders spot, and the rangers are going to pay through their nose, 7 years, 49 illion dollars (Shudders)

Forsberg is signed. Despite his injury status the rangers bet on him being the “x” factor in putting them over the top. 1 year 3.5 mil

Shanny will be brought back, 1 year, 1.5 mil. hes taking a pay cut to make the gomez thing happen.

and my wildcard….. Sheldon Souray is signed. Rangers are looking to get nastier and more offense from their blueline, they get both with one fell swoop. 6 years, 6 per.

These 4 moves take the rangers right to the cap max once they sign all their RFA’s, and trade away either mara, or cullen. The reason I expect the Rangers to be so aggressive is fairly simple. They were close….REAL close to possibly winning the cup last year. They have the goalie, they have the superstar to lead them there, they just need to augment him with guys who can get it done. These are the people I feel the Rangers will target to make it happen. Is this a step towards oblivion? No, Straka and Shanny wont be back the year after next, nor will Forsberg when his contract expires. The Rangers get a little tougher to play against with Forsberg a notorious nasty, sometimes downright dirty player, and Souray who isn’t afraid to drop the gloves. It also means the Rangers can afford not to play Orr as much and use his spot for a kid with a real future on this club (Jessiman?). Could this team win the cup? My answer is yes, and I would expect them to do just that….or at the very least, make the Eastern Conference Finals.

Now, for what I would do if the decision rested on my shoulders…

Trade for Brad Richards or Patrick Marleau (whichever one requires less prospects headed the other way…probably Richards for his contract). making sure matt cullen AND paul mara(not a big fan of his) head back the other way.

re-sign nylander for 2 years at 4.5 per.

sign Ryan Smyth to a 4 year 6 million dollar contract (id go up even higher if i had to)

Then my lineup would be something like this (assuming prucha was traded to tampa):

Hossa Nylander Jagr
Shanahan Richards Smyth
Avery Cullen Callahan
Whoever wins this job in camp/Betts/Whoever wins this job in camp

Malik Rozsival
Tyutin Girardi
Pock Staal

This lineup would be more future friendly and get us a true number 1 center in Brad Richards to play on a deadly second line. It would also give us, a legitimate 3 line scoring team, with one line which should be fairly versatile in our 4th line (depending on who plays). It also is a fairly young backline, but I don’t see this as a problem, as that setup is very mobile (with the exception of Malik) and fairly physical.

Well, there you have it folks, hope it was worth your time reading this.

-Inferno

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Colton Orr	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-	PIM
Regular Season	53	2	1	3	-2	126
Playoffs	4	0	0	0	-1	12

You’ve seen it, I know you have, particularly if you’ve seen my videos on youtube. The punch heard round the world is what I call it. Just in case you forgot, here it is for you one more time…

I guess you knew what I was talking about even before I posted the video, but I was going for effect on that one.

Anyways, that, is what Colton Orr brings to the lineup. That, and not much else. He is a HORRENDOUS lateral skater, and a well below average skater when going in a straight line. He has no shot, has terrible vision, and generally his hits aren’t really all that note worthy since they happen after the fact (unless your name is Ovechkin…)

That, by the way, was an utter cheapshot, and I absolutely despise what happened there by Orr.

The problem is though, that while Orr brings almost nothing tangible to the ice, he still has a decent amount of potential with his size, and extremely coachable attitude. I dont know if there is a more coachable player in the entire Rangers system, except perhaps Lauri Korpikoski. Orr takes his benchings in stride, and apparently works his tail off in practice to make himself better. You gotta love that kind of an attitude, and we know for a fact that the players around him love him. Which leads us to the other aspect of Orrs game. Intimidation. As you saw in that first clip, if you fight Orr, you probably arent going to win the fight unless youre talking maybe Boogard, Laraque, or Huggy Bear (Donald Brashear). Orr has an absolutely devastating right hand, and if he could ever get his left to the same level, might turn into the best fighter in the league. These things add up to make Orr’s teammates play better.

It’s no coincidence that the Rangers play better when he is in the lineup. They feel they can play their game without fear of being run, or having to constantly keep an eye out for cheapshots. They know that if someone cheap shots them, Colton is going break a face. This is good. But it is not always necessary. More and more teams are going with Buffalos style of playing. They want to throw 4 lines at you that are threats. Fewer and fewer teams are keeping enforcers in their everyday lineup, or are using everyday players as enforcers. What this adds up to is a problem that Renney is going to face next year. Do you play Orr, or don’t you. How do you find the balance between keeping him in the lineup to protect the team, and keeping him in the press box for a better player. It’s a tightrope for sure, one which injuries to Hossa and Shanny moot for the bulk of last year.

My guess is, Colton Orr will play about 30-40 games this year, and will be replaced by Hugh Jessiman by next year, if not sooner. Hugh probably could play just as well as Colton does right now, and chip in more offense. Hugh is also a decent fighter, albeit nowhere near the level Orr is. My personal preference would be to play Hugh from day one, so we can keep the intimidation factor up, and still have a spot which can produce offense, or at the very least, sustained offensive pressure.

-Inferno

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The “hot” new rumor over on the HF Boards is that there is some interest in the Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski. In exchange a package involving Al Montoya headed the other way is being discussed. On the brink of creating a noose I decided to have a chat with our old buddy the NHL Insider. Here is what is being discussed in this nowhere near complete deal.

Heading to the Rangers would be:
Ed Jovanovski
Martin Hanzal

Heading the Coyotes way would be some combination of:
Cullen, Malik, Mara, Immonen, and Montoya.

In my personal opinion, this is beyond insane from the Rangers perspective. We have no clear need to upgrade the blueline, especially with Marc Staal being ready, and a kid named Sauer who should be better than Dan Girardi nearly ready as well. The Rangers would be taking on an insane 6.5 million dollar contract for the next 4 years for a player who is well past his prime, and is no longer even the best defenseman on his team, and is bring paid as if he is the best defenseman in the league.

This would be a terrible trade for the Rangers, and the Yotes would be laughing their way to the bank having cleared off nearly all of their bad salary.

-Inferno

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I apologize guys, I’ve been slammed with some work here lately, I’ll try to get to this tomorrow. Right now im so exhausted I barely have enough energy to type out this short post.

-Inferno

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I’ll be back later on tonight with my Colton Orr writeup, but as the free agent frenzy is about to start in a few days, I would like to officially throw out my #1 target.

I have talked in depth about the topic here, but if you are looking for my general thoughts, then here you go. Keep in mind that these are taken from conversations from that link, they may seem a bit disjointed, but it should give you a good idea why I want Forsberg on this team.

Ive been one of the first vocal Forsberg supporters here in Rangerland. Get him on this team as a 1 year stopgap. ALL the available centers via UFA are really 2nd line centers, who want first line money. you DONT do that int he cap era…not if youre smart that is. Give me forsberg, or give me Dubinsky.

Ee all acknowledge that we NEED a true #1 center on this team. lets assume Nylander is your #1 center now, but hes not REALLY a #1. the problem is none of the available free agents this year ARE #1’s, they are all #2’s camouflaged to fool people into paying them insane dollars for insane years. i want no part of 6 year 42 million dollar contracts unless youre talking about a guy like Thornton, Lecavalier, Crosby, Staal, etc.

Forsberg will basically buy us time. 1 year, lets us get to a better crop of free agency, lets dubinsky develop, lets anisimov develop, lets trade possibilities open up. everyone acknowledges that he has flaws, problems, and risks, but why else would a guy sign a 1 year deal? you have to take risks sometimes. this would be a worthwhile risk.

The hole they would fill is really a 2nd line center. and they would want 6-7 million bucks to do that. If you look at scaling of salaries, you should have, at most, 3 guys getting that much, and if youre a really good team, have only 1 or 2 guys getting that much. I could probably come up with a good solid mathematical model to work off of, but its probably not worth the time. Either way it all comes down to “what are they?” if you think that Gomez, a guy who has scored over 20 goals exactly once in his career, and who averages a meager 64 points per year, then by all means, sign him up.

How about drury? a minor step up at 67 points, albeit he scores on average 27 goals per season, which is definitely better than Gomez’s numbers by a wide margin.

How about danny briere? Hes right about the same in terms of averages.

NONE of these guys are worth 6 year deals at 6-7 per ,but ALL of them will get something like that.

When i talk about stop gap, im talking till something better comes along. till a major free agent becomes available, or a great trade possibility opens up. Again, i have yet to hear a single argument that Drury, Briere, or Gomez are worth the money most people are talking about (6 years, at 6-7 mil per). That is first line money. are these first line players? Imho. NO.

Risk, Reward. those are high risk (money), medium (good numbers, not superstar, 6 million dollar numbers) reward players imho. Forsberg is high risk (injuries, not contract), high reward (when healthy, the most dominant center in the game not named crosby or thornton).

-Inferno

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After a few days to stomach it here are my ultra quick thoughts on the draft. We got the flat out best player in the entire draft, addressed a definite need for goaltending, and added prospects who are at least 4 years away helping to replenish the pipeline once guys like Korpikoski, Bourret, Dupont, etc are playing in the NHL. It was an excellent draft, although I question the talent we took with our final 3 picks.

In any draft the late round picks are long shots at best, but every once in a while you find a Petr Prucha or a Henrik Lundqvist, maybe the Rangers got lucky, maybe not. The sure thing though is they definitely got luck with their first pick. Even if Alexei never pans out, its still an amazing pick just considering his potential, and the fact that the Rangers are stocked with safe players among the likes we could have taken instead of Cherepanov. LaFleur is another pick I like. Hes a big guy with a lot to work with. He is nowhere near as ready as a guy like Montoya, but what he is, is a project, and one who may end up being a real steal in the 2nd round.

Overall I would give us an A- to B+. Only because I wasn’t sold on the 3 later picks. Personally I would have drafted speed. Regardless of how good or talented the kids were, I think I would have gone with the fastest players available with each pick. As a matter of fact, with out 5th round pick I probably would have taken another goalie. Scott Darling was an interesting option as another behemoth of a goalie. Still though, I trust the team run by Gordie Clark know a tad bit more than me, so I am sure they made the moves that are right for the organization.

-Inferno

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Simply put…..almost 2 hours after we picked Cherepanov at #17, my jaw is still on the floor. Want to know what we got folks? In my opinion we got the best player in the draft. Not the best player at 17, the best player in the entire draft. Look, im not talking character, or consistency, or transfer agreements, im talking raw, overall skill. This kid is insanely good. Scary good to coin a Saber phrase. Never in a million years could I have figured he would drop to 17. In my own personal mock draft I had him dropping to 12 at a worst case scenario, and I could even see the Flyers taking him at #2 (albeit a stretch). He certainly has some concerns, mainly about if he can get over here, but to me thats overblown, at the very least he can pull a Malkin and give his 2 weeks notice and just walk out, though I suspect the Rangers may step in and just buy him out. Regardless, the kid will be in the NHL within 2 years guaranteed, and honestly, if he could shift to left wing, you could see a Cherepanov-Nylander-Jagr line in 2 years. Hes legitimate, walk on, first line talent.

Here was TSN’s pre-draft take on him…

The TSN Insider’s Forecast: Aside from Pat Kane, no draft eligible player played the game at as high a level this season as Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov. He set a goal scoring record for an 18-year old in the Russian SuperLeague and, next to Kane, he was regarded as the most dynamic presence at the World Junior Championship. But he has two considerable knocks against him. One of them he has no control over. He’s a Russian. And in the absence of a transfer agreement between the Russian federation and the NHL, many NHL teams will be hesitant if not completely opposed to taking a Russian prospect, especially in the first five or six picks of the draft. But make no mistake, his talent level is consistent with a No. 1 to No. 5 pick. The other criticism, though, is that for as highly skilled and talented Cherepanov is, he is tremendously inconsistent, maddeningly frustrating and a player who only turns it on when he feels like it. “Talented but temperamental,” one scout said. “He’s either the best player on the ice or he’s not even there. There’s no in between. When the effort is there, he can dominate and score goals like no one else in the draft. When the effort isn’t there, you feel like giving him a shake.” If teams in the top five pass him over, there is no telling what’s to become of him in this draft. At some point, though, transfer agreement or not, someone has to step up on a player this talented.

Like I said. I am floored.

More later.

-Inferno

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For some unknown reason I received a package today from Versus containing a bunch of free stuff like a Jersey, mousepad, martini glass, etc. I have no idea why exactly I got this stuff, but I certainly appreciate it.

Thanks Versus!

-Inferno

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Paul Mara	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	19	2	3	5	+6
Playoffs	10	2	2	4	-4

Paul Mara technically falls under the threshold for a review, but since it is more or less a given that he will be on the opening day roster next season he warrants a quick look see. The general consensus I get when reading about other fans thoughts on Paul Mara is that they either LOVE him, or HATE him. Nothing in between. Unfortunately, thats really where I fall. I am completely ambivalent towards #27, which is a shame since #27 has always been my favorite jersey number. Paul Maras game is completely unremarkable. He is what I would call an average defender, who can be great at times. An average offensive defenseman, who can be great at times. And this theme continues when talking about the rest of his game…Average, but great at times. Clearly the Rangers will keep him in the opening day lineup, but I would examine a trade if there are any takers who would give back anything of consequence. The reason being is his salary is a bit on the high end. His 3+ million could partially go towards a guy like Sheldon Souray should he be convinced to join the Ranger blueline.

In all likelyhood Paul Mara will play out this season with the Rangers as a #5 or #6 defenseman, and then will go on his merry way. Of course I would love to be wrong here and to see Mara bust out with a 2003-2004 or a 2005-2006 performance where he put up 42 and 47 points respectively, but i just am not sure he can do that within the Rangers system, particularly when he looks scared to shoot at times. He really has a decent shot that he gets on net frequently, but he doesnt use it enough.

Really thats all there is to say about this guy. He hasn’t been a Ranger for very long, and brings a decent yet unremarkable game to the table.

-Inferno

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Petr Prucha	Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
Regular Season	79	22	18	40	-7
Playoffs	10	0	1	1	-1

Petr Prucha we hardly knew yee. At least thats what the vast majority of the fans out there are thinking. Will he or won’t he be traded, its all anyone in ranger land is talking about….ok maybe thats a stretch, but still, its a popular talking point.

Before we get there though, lets talk about the season that we just had. Petr had a respectable 22 goals, though down significantly from last years 30 goal total. He was a healthy scratch for 3 games this year, and he was only 7th on the team in terms of total point production with 40 points. But does that tell the full story? Well no, it really doesn’t. You have to look at 2 things. First, Petrs playing time at even strength and on the PP was very very low. Second, Petr didnt play with a true playmaking center all year, and since hes a player that doesnt necessarily create by himself but finishes what others start, its a point worth noting.

First lets talk about time on the ice. Petr averaged 12:59 per game. That ranked him 19th on the team, below the likes of Brad Isbister, Jason Strudwick, Kaspar, and others. In terms of forwards he ranked 9th on the team for time on the ice, which is borderline 4th line playing time. So his 22 goals actually speaks volumes when you look at the playing time. Now I recognize that its not a linear progression for the kid. Clearly his size and frame makes him wear down quicker than bigger guys, but you have to believe he could have duplicated last years superb performance with just a little more playing time. According to the Rodents stats, he scored a goal every 46.6 minutes on the ice, those numbers are better than Havlat, Getzlaf, Tkachuk, Straka, Knuble, Nash, Jagr, etc.

So for all these positives, why do so many people want him gone? They dont. People seem to misconstrue accepting a trade, and forcing a trade. People, like me, would be OK using Petr to upgrade elsewhere, if we are in fact, upgrading. The reason being that he is young, has a very very low salary, and is a proven producer at a young age. Also many people believe his small stature, and style of play will eventually lead to a career ending injury, and we should sell high before we lose him for nothing. These are all ok with me, so long as we use him to upgrade our #1 center dilemma. If we can trade him, and more to get a guy like Nathan Horton, who has the size and skill to produce at an exceptionally high level for a good long time, then I would do it in a heartbeat. What I dont want is to do something stupid like trade him for a guy like Boynton or something idiotic like that. I know Sather won’t let me down, so I think we can expect that if Petr is moved, we get a good return back, and if he isn’t traded, I’m sure Sather will have exhausted every available door.

Either way its a win win for us. If he stays with us, I think he can produce more (so long as he is healthy) and if he is traded, im sure Nigel Dawes can step into his role, and we can have a better, more balanced team long term.

-Inferno

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