Rumor: Ilya Kovalchuk will be signing a 2-3 year deal with NYR

[GAGLine]

Are you saying you're against the idea that this would signify an end, or that you're just against signing him? Sorry.

Sorry, thought I was clear. I'm not against signing him provided the deal is for 1 or 2 years. At 3 years, I like it a lot less.

What I am against is the notion that another poster had that this signing would in some way signal the end of the rebuild and a return to an "all in" strategy. This team has far too many problems and far too few solutions to be throwing everything into the center of the table right now.

 

[Graves94]

Gonna be 2 years I bet

Seriously doubt gorts would go to 3

Bobby Mac said that the Rangers will want to give him a 1 yr deal and Kovy will want a 3 yr deal, and they'll settle on a 2 year deal.

 

[GregSirico]

For sure.

I mean the Rangers have a crap load of options available to them. Of the ones I'd consider to be horrible decisions, Kovalchuk on a 2 year deal doesn't even register on the list.

Short term stop gap with a personality that the room needs who also allows us to move another player to add more assets as well as be a go to guy for the young Russians we have/will have? This is more of a "rebuilding" move than it is a "compete now" move IMO.

A "compete now" move is John Carlson, James Neal, Evander Kane, and JVR. That to me scream long term deal commitment to make sure I lock them up now to win.

 

[GAGLine]

If true, what’s the point of this?

Gorton has been so questionable as a GM, and that’s a nice spin on it. So many atrocious decisions.

Signing a free, quality asset to a short term deal that you can then flip for quality, long term assets is being a bad GM? Trying to ice a team that has a chance to make the playoffs is being a bad GM? What exactly do you think he SHOULD be doing?

 

[Hockey Gamer]

Sather = signs big names for big money with long term
Gorton = signs big names for big money with less term

At least it's progress right? We're slowly learning.

 

[Elevate]

What's the problem if this were to happen? I just don't see it. That we wouldn't suck enough, thus spoiling our chances at a top 3 draft in coming years?

Signing Kovalchuk isn't coming at a price of assets, which is what should be kept in a rebuild. It's just cash, and without digging into it I don't think cap space is a limited resource next season.

I'm all for a 2y deal, he's definitely still a good player and he comes at a very small price. To me it does not stand in conflict with a continued rebuild.

 

[haveandare]

This is a Sather-esque move

I was all aboard the rebuild and fully behind Gorts but this is putrid. Do it right! Jeez

Another spoiled over aged star! Yay perpetuate the NYR affinity for such lazy acquisitions.

How is this not doing it right? Say we add Kovy and lose 2 of Zucc/Vlad/Spooner. Do you really think Kovalchuk at 35 is going to contribute more than 2 of those 3 together? I highly doubt it. He'll be a free asset who replaces a few current assets who we can then move for picks or more young players. Hell, maybe all 3 depending on how bad Gorton is okay with the team being.

NYR hasn't signed "spoiled over aged stars" in like a decade or more. This one will be a short term deal to help us gain more assets for the rebuild. That is not "typical NYR" in the vein of Drury, Gomez, Redden etc, – which isn't even typical anymore unless someone has been in a coma for the past ten years).

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

If getting away with tampering was a sport we'd be world champions

 

[haveandare]

You must be the life of the party ...

Only if you think RangersTown with the trademark is funny or clever

 

[Thirty One]

What's the problem if this were to happen? I just don't see it. That we wouldn't suck enough, thus spoiling our chances at a top 3 draft in coming years?

Signing Kovalchuk isn't coming at a price of assets, which is what should be kept in a rebuild. It's just cash, and without digging into it I don't think cap space is a limited resource next season.

I'm all for a 2y deal, he's definitely still a good player and he comes at a very small price. To me it does not stand in conflict with a continued rebuild.

If cap space does become an issue, it can be eleviated by shipping out further roster players for picks and prospects.

 

[eco's bones]

So does McKenzie:

McKenzie | New York is New York and Rangers are Rangers

“Now, on the Kovalchuk thing we need to explain a few things. I don’t doubt for a moment that Kovalchuk is going to end up with the Rangers. And I could probably guess that there’s probably been some conversations, but just for the matter of technicality – he’s not technically a free agent in the NHL until his 35th birthday, which is April 15th. At that point he’s free to negotiate a contract with any team that he wants, and we assume it’ll be the Rangers. But we don’t know that 100 percent. And he can’t technically sign it until July 1, which is neither here nor there. He could obviously agree to it on April 15.
“I don’t believe for a moment the Rangers will sign him to a three-year deal. I think they’d like to sign him to a one-year deal. I think Kovalchuk probably wants a three-year deal. My guess is it ends up being a two-year deal. "

The McKenzie article kind of connects the dots between the letter to the fans, the subsequent vets for prospects/draft picks/younger players deals and the things that Henrik has been saying about the Rangers being a more competitive team next year. It's pretty much the way I've understood all the events of the last couple of months too.

Kovalchuk does make sense and I liked the earlier comment by someone here of his having an Alpha personality which is something I never really got from McDonagh or Nash---talented players and hard workers for sure but lead a team via personality--not in their DNA. The Rangers couldn't rally in big moments because there was no one to rally behind---at least since St. Louis was here. They've only intermittently had each others backs when things got rough which is why Glass was around and why McLeod was picked up but either of those guys were like a band aid on a gaping wound and they weren't good players.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

So he's questionable because he wants to make the team better and rebuild at the same time? Not sure if serious.

So signing an over-the-hill player with questionable work-ethic and attitude is just what we need.

I swear, Gorton can do absolutely no wrong to some of you. Trade a player away for awful return and it’s considered “good asset management”, like there’s some reason we need to over complicate the fact that these are sports trades.

It’s not the end of the world, Kovalchuk will not stop whatever direction this team is going. But this is an odd move, and runs counterintuitive to managements message just 2 months ago.

 

[haveandare]

The McKenzie article kind of connects the dots between the letter to the fans, the subsequent vets for prospects/draft picks/younger players deals and the things that Henrik has been saying about the Rangers being a more competitive team next year. It's pretty much the way I've understood all the events of the last couple of months too.

Kovalchuk does make sense and I liked the earlier comment by someone here of his having an Alpha personality which is something I never really got from McDonagh or Nash---talented players and hard workers for sure but lead a team via personality--not in their DNA. The Rangers couldn't rally in big moments because there was no one to rally behind---at least since St. Louis was here. They've only intermittently had each others backs when things got rough which is why Glass was around and why McLeod was picked up but either of those guys were like a band aid on a gaping wound and they weren't good players.

Getting rid of AV will help that too. He'd let his pets like Glass and McLeod make dumb moves but wouldn't let guys like Kreider, Miller etc get tough with opponents. Thats fine for other sports, but that puts you at a disadvantage in hockey. You want to be hard to play against.

 

[GAGLine]

Bro, youre either balls deep in a rebuild on a defined path to draft Crosby and Malkin and have the 1 OA for the next 3years or the odds on Stanley Cup Favorite. There is no in between.

I disagree. With the way the lottery works now, you can finish last 3 years in a row and never get a 1st overall pick. This rebuild isn't about tanking for high draft picks. We have a leg up on other rebuilding teams because we had valuable but expiring assets that we traded for future assets. And we have more valuable assets that we can trade for yet more future assets. And when I say future, I mean near future, as in some of these kids will be playing for the Rangers next season.

Tanking and letting the team develop a losing culture is how you become a Buffalo, Arizona or Edmonton. Rebuild doesn't have to mean tank. The Flyers went from the 12th pick to the 2nd overall pick last year by winning the lottery. The devils went from 4th to 1st. Dallas went from 7th to 3rd. The bottom 3 teams, Colorado, Vancouver and Arizona, had picks 4, 5 and 7 (would have been 6, but Vegas got that).

We might as well try to win rather than tank our way to the bottom.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Gusev.

Winger

Guskov, but that would have to be 2019-20 season, at the earliest.

 

[eco's bones]

Do you honestly think ANY franchise says "ya know what, we are going to ice the worst team possible and f*** off season ticket holders, fans, and supporters because we won't even try" ... Wake up man. That crap only happens in the movie Major League.

Well that's the reason the draft lottery came into being because there were teams (Pittsburgh) that would do exactly that. That we have three lotteries pretty much put a halt to a team like Edmonton who not too long ago were getting one first overall pick after another. That the NHL instituted the draft lottery and then expanded it should tell you all you need to know.

 

[nyr2k2]

When the Rangers sent out the letter to fans, they were 3 points out of a playoff spot. They sold off enough quality assets to get 2 first round picks, a second round pick, a conditional first/second, and 4 prospects who are now amongst the top of the system.

Can you think of any team, any year, that's done anything like that?

If the Rangers aren't committed enough to adding youth to your liking, it's a you problem, not a them problem.

This is the point I've been trying to make all say, but stated much better.

 

[FJB]

Hmmm... here's a question... would you rather sign Kovalchuk and Tavares (yea I know, cap since you'll have to throw the bank at Tavares), only one of them, or none of them and rebuild through draft?

 

[Elevate]

If cap space does become an issue, it can be eleviated by shipping out further roster players for picks and prospects.

Exactly, which naturally is of great benefit when you're looking to add. It's just smart asset management.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Hmmm... here's a question... would you rather sign Kovalchuk and Tavares (yea I know, cap since you'll have to throw the bank at Tavares), only one of them, or none of them and rebuild through draft?

One of them and rebuild through the draft.

 

[GregSirico]

Well that's the reason the draft lottery came into being because there were teams (Pittsburgh) that would do exactly that. That we have three lotteries pretty much put a halt to a team like Edmonton who not too long ago were getting one first overall pick after another. That the NHL instituted the draft lottery and then expanded it should tell you all you need to know.

Bingo!!!

 

[GregSirico]

One of them and rebuild through the draft.

I'm sort of in the air ... Kovy wouldn't be big term so that's a plus, but I think Tavares on here doesn't get the credit he should.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I'm sort of in the air ... Kovy wouldn't be big term so that's a plus, but I think Tavares on here doesn't get the credit he should.

I think he gets plenty of credit.

I just don't think this team is in any position to be handing out a 6 or 7 year deal at 10+ million a year.

 

[eco's bones]

Since 1967 the Rangers have had only one single top 5 draft pick. That was Pavel Brendl in 1999. No other team is even close to that. The Penguins have had 14 in that same time period including 3 #1 overalls in Mario Lemieux, Marc-Andre Fleury and Sidney Crosby. Evgeni Malkin, Craig Simpson, Jordan Staal were No. 2 overalls. Jaromir Jarg was a 5 overall.

The Islanders have had 19 since 1972 including 4 No. 1 overalls--Billy Harris, Denis Potvin, Rick DiPietro and John Tavares. It also gave them Wade Redden at 2, Pat Lafontaine at 3, Clark Gillies and Roberto Luongo at 4, Kasparaitis and Neiderreiter at 5.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

No downside asset wise of course. It's a no-brainer to sign him if he's willing. But it depends on how management will approach the rebuild.

nyr2k2's post:



I don't think the team has 'bottomed-out' enough if that makes sense. They absolutely need to draft an elite player in the next draft or two if there are long term aspirations for this team to be a potential cup winning team. It's harder to do that when you're drafting in the ~20th range.

I don't think signing Kovalchuk means we won't suck. Lets say he replaces Zucc for next season, and produces Zucc's production at a slightly better rate, are we much/any better?