Larry Brooks: Rangers Aren't the Same Since Brandon Prust Bolted

[rkhum]

Intellectually and economically, there wasn’t any doubt then and there isn’t any doubt now the Rangers took the prudent course of action on July 1, 2012, when they did not try to match the Canadiens’ four-year, $10 million offer to free agent Brandon Prust.
Just as there is no doubt the Yankees chose the prudent course by not trying to match the Mariners’ 10-year, $240 million offer to free agent Robinson Cano.
The baseball team in the Bronx can only hope the hole in the middle of the order produced by Cano’s defection isn’t as significant as the hole in the heart of the hockey team in Manhattan left behind by Prust.
For while a star has shed his pinstripes, the Yankees must only find another big bat to replace him. The Rangers, well, they haven’t come close to replacing the energy, the just-try-and-knock-the-chip-off-my shoulder and just-try-to-bully-my teammate mentality the grunt wore on the sleeve of his Black-and-Blueshirt.
The Rangers are deficient in top-end talent and the players at the top of the food chain have been largely deficient through much of this unsatisfying 15-15-1 season that slogs on Tuesday night when no-name Nashville (OK, the one-name Predators: Seth Jones) comes to the Garden, that much is true.
But the absence of A-listers on the Broadway marquee is not an excuse for an absence of work ethic or energy. Quite the contrary. The problem is, the Rangers have no one to supply energy the way Prust did; no one to jump-start the team and infuse his teammates with hockey courage the way No. 8 did during his tour on Broadway that ran for less than 2 ¹/₂ seasons.
Never has a fourth-line Ranger had the impact Prust did. Never has a grunt been missed so much by a team that thrived on grunt work in 2011-12 and hasn’t been more than a pale facsimile of that since losing the conference finals to the Devils (if not sometime in the previous series against the Capitals).
This year’s team isn’t so much different from last year’s team that squeezed into the playoffs with a late rush. It’s not that the Rangers were rocky-road playing for John Tortorella and now vanilla with Alain Vigneault behind the bench.
The difference from last year to this year is that one coach doesn’t say, “We [stunk] from head to toe,†after a match such as Sunday’s 4-1 defeat to the Caps in which the Rangers, well, stunk from head to toe.
The difference from last year to this year is Henrik Lundqvist’s even-strength save percentage of .918 is the worst of his career and ranks 23rd among 30 goaltenders with at least 14 starts following a season in which the goaltender posted a career best .937 even-strength save percentage that ranked fourth in the league among netminders who started at least half their team’s games.

Kinda disagree, that contract wasn't too unreasonable, nothing like Cano.
Also, it's not just Prust, it's Prust and Dubinsky along with AA and Mitchell.

Slats underestimated the heart and soul of the Rangers. If we are going to lose, I'd rather it be like the 2011 black and blueshirts.

http://http://nypost.com/2013/12/09/rangers-arent-the-same-since-brandon-prust-bolted/

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[Crease]

The Prust contract was absolutely unreasonable. You don't pay a 28-year-old fourth liner 2.5 mill when the cap is where it's at. The problem is not failure to re-sign Prust. The problem is failure to acquire a 25-year-old kid on a cheap contract to replace what Prust brought.

 

[rkhum]

The Prust contract was absolutely unreasonable. You don't pay a fourth liner 2.5 mill when the cap is where it's at. The problem is not failure to re-sign Prust. The problem is failure to acquire a 25-year-old kid on a cheap contract to replace what Prust brought.

Really? Look at the cost of Prust replacements:

Moore, Halpern, Pouliet, Pyatt, Asham, Powe.

 

[Radek27]

The Prust contract was absolutely unreasonable. You don't pay a 28-year-old fourth liner 2.5 mill when the cap is where it's at. The problem is not failure to re-sign Prust. The problem is failure to acquire a 25-year-old kid on a cheap contract to replace what Prust brought.

Slats won't give Prust 2.5 but he will give Brashear 2?

 

[NoQuitInNewMexico]

Mitchell was proto-Pouliot. Parenteau too. No one liked them and they really weren't that good here despite showing signs. We might have thought Prust was more replaceable than he was. His contract + Clarkson's present an interesting face of what at least some general managers think of high-end grinders.

I think we got the best out of the CBJ trades, but a couple good playoff series played in a very specific, unorthodox system made this team's "core" look a lot better than it is.

 

[aufheben]

I'll take Prust at $2.5M over the mopes we signed after he left.

 

[jay from jersey]

he is right

and it was just prust. mitchell was a tough fourth liner, but dorsett coming back made up for the loss of dubi. boyle del zotto, heck the whole team played a little more edgier with him in the line up. the guy was over payed by one million a year. that is not a crazy amount of money. i also do not think it is a coincidence that since prust has returned to the line up montreal has been world beaters.

 

[Crease]

I don't condone Sather's patchwork but you just can't resign all your UFAs. It's inefficient. You pick and choose the ones you need the most, or the ones willing to take discounts. And you replace the ones who will be overpaid with younger guys on ELCs and RFAs who haven't had their salaries artificially bloated by UFA.

 

[McD27]

I would rather pay Prust $10 mio for 4 than paying hank $60 mio for 8.

 

[Vitto79]

Why don't we cry about it?

 

[Mikos87]

If this was an org that could spare $7M in intangibles for Drury, it could have done the same for Prust at $2.5M.

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

Prust for Pouliot, Pyatt, Ryan Bourque and a 2015 2nd. Am I doing it right?

 

[haveandare]

This article is pretty awful in a lot of ways (Shea Weber not being a name in Nashville, Nash not being an A-lister etc) but he's got a point about Prust. I went from thinking that contract was insane to honestly regretting that the Rangers didn't give him the same. I have no problem with the depth lost from the Nash trade. Hurts to lose Dubi, but I'd still do it. The thing is, the "price" of that trade should have included keeping Prust even for an overpayment. You can't turn over that much of a bottom 6 of any team, especially of a team that depended on those guys so much.

 

[stan the caddy]

It was a lot more than just Prust.

 

[slipknottin]

Yea, it was all Prust. Nothing else on the team changed at all.

 

[mti79]

I loved Prust while he was here but you just can't justify that contract. Brash was overpaid. so we're a lot of other Rangers. At the time, I thought Asham was a great deal by comparison. You want to replace Prust without spending money? Bring up Haley. He can do the same thing minus a few goals.

I want to see this:
20-21-36
62-19-61
Miller-16-Dorsett/Fast when healthy/22
22/14-28-Haley

yes, I know I left out our captain. Trade Cally. he is a heart and soul player. I get it. We all love him because he embodies what we want our players to be. Due to his style, he's going to break down. Trade him while he has value. Maybe Buffalo gives us a 1st and a good prospect for him.

Maybe the drinks here in New Orleans and this losing streak have gotten to me....

 

[Chaels Arms]

Dubi had 4 points tonight.

 

[Chaels Arms]

Prust for Pouliot, Pyatt, Ryan Bourque and a 2015 2nd. Am I doing it right?

Replace the 2015 2nd with Del Zotto. 2nd round picks are too valuable.

 

[Calad]

Do people really easily forget the cap trouble we were in that year? Of course now Sather or anyone wouldn't think twice about taking prust on that contract, but when the cap was expected to go down because of the CBA expiration it was a pretty hefty number. I wanted to keep Prust, and it was a hard pill to swallow when he left but I understood the circumstances as to why.

 

[mike14]

It was a lot more than just Prust.

Bingo.

Prust, Feds, AA, Dubi, Prospal (plus Mitchell and then Gabs) from your fwds and Sauer on defence. Couple that with the lockout and lowered cap and you have a bunch of reasons why the 11-12 teams identity was lost. To simple point at Prust and say "missing piece" is a very lazy argument. Not that I expect much more from Brooks

 

[Calad]

Bingo.

Prust, Feds, AA, Dubi, Prospal (plus Mitchell and then Gabs) from your fwds and Sauer on defence. Couple that with the lockout and lowered cap and you have a bunch of reasons why the 11-12 teams identity was lost. To simple point at Prust and say "missing piece" is a very lazy argument. Not that I expect much more from Brooks

He's stirring the pot, doing what he does best.

 

[mike14]

He's stirring the pot, doing what he does best.

getting beaten up at the bus stop?

 

[Calad]

getting beaten up at the bus stop?

We can only hope

 

[RangersHank*]

Prust for Pouliot, Pyatt, Ryan Bourque, Dan Girardi,Cam Talbot and a 2015 2nd. Am I doing it right?

Fixed it for you.

 

[Ola]

The Prust contract was absolutely unreasonable. You don't pay a 28-year-old fourth liner 2.5 mill when the cap is where it's at. The problem is not failure to re-sign Prust. The problem is failure to acquire a 25-year-old kid on a cheap contract to replace what Prust brought.

Yeah, and I mean I get the logic behind not resigning Prust.

But OTOH.

Would we be a worse team today had we done it?

Would we be a worse team next season had we done it?

Would we be a worse team in two years had we done it?

Its simple questions and the answear to both is -- likely -- no. IE, we probably should have resigned him. He makes as much as Pouliot/Pyatt and Asham combined.

And to some extent this is also a lesson that must be learned in relation to Cally and Girardi. I am -- not -- saying that there isn't a pain limit for any player in a negotiation. I am just saying that replacing someone most times is going to be alot harder than what you expect. You don't miss having a good locker-room when you have it. You know, we trade Girardi and Cally and then in 6 month's Hank and Staal gets into a fight with each other, fractions in the room is created, or whatever...

It seemed like Prust was one of many who did his thing when he was here. Dubi and Prust is shipped out, and we suddenly have a hole.

I am not opposed to a hockey trade that really makes sense for this team. But I seldom feel like a poster has thought things through when he push "post" having written something like "X USD is too much for player Y". You really need to think things through when you go that route. As we have learned with Prust.