Pre-Game Talk: The 2013-2014 Training Camp/Preseason Discussion Thread

[Boruto]

true this year he gets paid only $9 mil to play like an old lady LOL

I hope with the new wave of hate toward Holdy will absolve some of the Beaver hate. It would be a fresh start for Beaver and all of us. I'd be so happy if our whipping boy is someone insignificant this year.

 

[aufheben]

No Stepan?

 

[Boruto]

No Stepan?

Boyle is our third liner again!!!??!??!

 

[GAGLine]

Couture got 2.875 mil per year on a 2 year deal. How is that same contract not fair for Stepan? He isn't getting lowballed. He's being offered what other comparable players have gotten. At some point the contract will be signed. Until then, there is no point in complaining about it.

 

[Thirty One]

Couture got 2.875 mil per year on a 2 year deal. How is that same contract not fair for Stepan? He isn't getting lowballed. He's being offered what other comparable players have gotten. At some point the contract will be signed. Until then, there is no point in complaining about it.

The cap was higher when Couture signed that too.

 

[Trxjw]

Maybe we can still trade for Jussi Jokinen.

 

[Thirty One]

Maybe we can still trade for Jussi Jokinen.

Pittsburgh will never give him up. He'll likely be their 1st line center this year.

 

[Boruto]

Couture got 2.875 mil per year on a 2 year deal. How is that same contract not fair for Stepan? He isn't getting lowballed. He's being offered what other comparable players have gotten. At some point the contract will be signed. Until then, there is no point in complaining about it.

They're not going to look at Couture's contract. All the horrible contracts around the league is poisoning the process.

 

[JohnC]

I'd be so happy if our whipping boy is someone insignificant this year.

Lol let's not pretend it isn't gonna be Boyle

 

[lucky13]

its almost over guys...ive got a friend of a friend, whos grandmother grew up in St.Olaf MN and shes said its all just down to the lil things now.... M.L Stepan told ole Rose ....they grew up together .... that the term is agreed ...but the agent is neg some perks now...like how Derek wants 82 chickens...one for each game to live in a barn behind the garden...each chickens to be named Francis...and to be sacrificed and cooked by the Col extra crispy as a pregame meal...you know those cooky hockey players with their crazy superstitions...

thats what agents are for ...thats what i was told atleast...believe it if you want

 

[Thirty One]

They're not going to look at Couture's contract. All the horrible contracts around the league is poisoning the process.

RFAs with no arbitration rights get ****ed
RFAs with arbitration rights get paid
UFAs get a blank check

 

[Thirty One]

its almost over guys...ive got a friend of a friend, whos grandmother grew up in St.Olaf MN and shes said its all just down to the lil things now.... M.L Stepan told ole Rose ....they grew up together .... that the term is agreed ...but the agent is neg some perks now...like how Derek wants 82 chickens...one for each game to live in a barn behind the garden...each chickens to be named Francis...and to be sacrificed and cooked by the Col extra crispy as a pregame meal...you know those cooky hockey players with their crazy superstitions...

thats what agents are for ...thats what i was told atleast...believe it if you want

How reliable is 'ol Rose? Has she broken any stories recently?

 

[lucky13]

How reliable is 'ol Rose? Has she broken any stories recently?

shes got a blog...so it must be true...right

 

[Richter Scale]

want to form a team and represent players? You'll be in charge of the jokes and I'll be in charge of the threats. Like a good agent/bad agent thing.

I'm not familiar enough with every other team to be able to say this but I swear to baby cheeses that NYR management is one of the stingiest aside from FA contracts. It's like Glen is doing this on purpose. Low ball everyone without leverage so he could have the cap and money to steal free agents.

This is coming from a guy who typically thinks Sather has been awful during his tenure here, but...

You say the bolded above like being stingy on RFAs is a bad thing... This should be what you want out of a GM. You want your GM to make the best use out of the cap space you have; and keeping players' contracts down allows you to attempt to do that (of course, ******** that space away on big ticket FAs nullifies that, but that is not what is being discussed here).

Unusually, I have no major issues with Glen's offseason this year -- especially as far as Stepan is concerned. I agree that his future looks promising, but a lot of people around here are acting like he is a lock for 1C indefinitely and deserves to be paid as such. Sorry, I don't buy it. He has been on an upward trajectory, but one stellar half season in a contract year does not a 1C make. It means he still has something yet to prove before he gets paid; if he replicates the same performance this season then I'll buy in. But until that happens, to me, that means you move forward with cautious optimism. And this is why a couple year bridge deal at slightly less $$ fits his situation perfectly.

The idea that Glen hasn't prioritized Stepan because he made other depth signings first seems like a reach to me. He is often a bumbling fool -- and I think there are many things he does poorly -- but I find it hard to believe that he (or NYR's cap management staff) can't do the basic math to figure out how those signings impacted guys that were left unsigned.

By signing other RFAs / FAs before Stepan, Glen has taken away any minimal leverage Stepan or his agent had left. They can't even claim that Sather/NYR can afford it -- because he legitimately has no room left to give Stepan a larger contract than he seems to want to give him.

If that has been Sather's plan all along, and he has some sort of "out" lined up in the unlikely scenario that Stepan gets offer sheeted, then I don't see this as the awful GM decision that it seems some would make it out to be.

 

[Boom Boom Geoffrion*]

its almost over guys...ive got a friend of a friend, whos grandmother grew up in St.Olaf MN and shes said its all just down to the lil things now.... M.L Stepan told ole Rose ....they grew up together .... that the term is agreed ...but the agent is neg some perks now...like how Derek wants 82 chickens...one for each game to live in a barn behind the garden...each chickens to be named Francis...and to be sacrificed and cooked by the Col extra crispy as a pregame meal...you know those cooky hockey players with their crazy superstitions...

thats what agents are for ...thats what i was told atleast...believe it if you want

Chickens?

What if they counter with Hens? Deal breaker?

 

[Thirty One]

Chickens?

What if they counter with Hens? Deal breaker?

Get back on topic, guys.

 

[bishop12]

If the Rangers had billions in cap space Slats would still be playing hardball.

And the order things get done are not equal to how they are prioritized. GMs, with the exception of Brian Cashman, can have multiple things going on at once.

And what is the Flames sign Steps to a big deal? What then?

 

[eco's bones]

Rangers open with something like 8 games on the road. If Derek remains unsigned and the Rangers aren't doing well there will be more pressure on the team to give Derek maybe not what he wants altogether but more. The fact is he's become a super important player to the team.

Then again if the Rangers are doing well and Richards reappears then he won't be getting an extra leverage whether he's super important or not. y

 

[Boruto]

This is coming from a guy who typically thinks Sather has been awful during his tenure here...

You say the bolded above like being stingy on RFAs is a bad thing... This should be what you want out of a GM. You want your GM to make the best use out of the cap space you have; and keeping players' contracts down allows you to attempt to do that (of course, ******** that space away on big ticket FAs nullifies that, but that is not what is being discussed here).

Unusually, I have no major issues with Glen's offseason this year -- especially as far as Stepan is concerned. I agree that his future looks promising, but a lot of people around here are acting like he is a lock for 1C indefinitely and deserves to be paid as such. Sorry, I don't buy it. He has been on an upward trajectory, but one stellar half season in a contract year does not a 1C make. It means he still has something yet to prove before he gets paid; if he replicates the same performance this season then I'll buy in. But until that happens, to me, that means you move forward with cautious optimism. And this is why a couple year bridge deal at slightly less $$ fits his situation perfectly.

The idea that Glen hasn't prioritized Stepan because he made other depth signings first seems like a reach to me. He is often a bumbling fool -- and I think there are many things he does poorly -- but I find it hard to believe that he (or NYR's cap management staff) can't do the basic math to figure out how those signings impacted guys that were left unsigned.

By signing other RFAs / FAs before Stepan, Glen has taken away any minimal leverage Stepan or his agent had left. They can't even claim that Sather/NYR can afford it -- because he legitimately has no room left to give Stepan a larger contract than he seems to want to give him.

If that has been Sather's plan all along, and he has some sort of "out" lined up in the unlikely scenario that Stepan gets offer sheeted, then I don't see this as the awful GM decision that it seems some would make it out to be.

oh no. I'm just being tortured by this process . Good on Glen for doing what he's doing, I haven't been following the Rangers since the beginning of time AKA Glen's entire tenure and so I'm quite okay with Glen. I'm just making the point that his bipolar RFA stingy and UFA giveaway makes for a unbalance recipe when taken together.

 

[Boom Boom Geoffrion*]

And what is the Flames sign Steps to a big deal? What then?

What if aliens take over mother earth?

Then what?

Rangers match anything up to 6M. If Calgary is stupid enough to offer him more than that, then we'll be more than happy with the plethora of picks.

 

[*Bob Richards*]

And what is the Flames sign Steps to a big deal? What then?

"What ifs" are fun.

 

[we want cup]

Rangers open with something like 8 games on the road. If Derek remains unsigned and the Rangers aren't doing well there will be more pressure on the team to give Derek maybe not what he wants altogether but more. The fact is he's become a super important player to the team.

Then again if the Rangers are doing well and Richards reappears then he won't be getting an extra leverage whether he's super important or not. y

I'd be shocked if Step missed a regular season game.

 

[Thirty One]

And what is the Flames sign Steps to a big deal? What then?

What have they been waiting for, then?

I doubt they want to give up their picks, which should be real good.

 

[Boruto]

Rangers open with something like 8 games on the road. If Derek remains unsigned and the Rangers aren't doing well there will be more pressure on the team to give Derek maybe not what he wants altogether but more. The fact is he's become a super important player to the team.

Then again if the Rangers are doing well and Richards reappears then he won't be getting an extra leverage whether he's super important or not. y

I simply can't imagine Step sitting out of games for money. I don't know. I could see MDZ do it, I could see Hagelin do it, I could see Brassard doing it. I can't see Holdy doing it.

It will surprise me if he sits a single game.

 

[bishop12]

You're not even a Rangers fan so what do you care what the teams system is, what Richards make, and why Stepan is still holding out.

Additionally, do you know what Richards contract and Stepans have in common?

Absolutely nothing. Two different players. Two different circumstances. If you did your homework, things would make sense and you wouldn't have to get your panties in a bunch.

Who says I am not a Rangers fan? Weird.

I know they;'re two different cases here...but him overpaying for that granny shows how OTL Slats.

Pay the man already.