Speculation: Trade Rumors/Speculation Part X: Sather Falls Asleep on the Phone

[LaffyTaffyNYR]

Moore has sucked too, that whole trade is turning out to be one huge bust, as many predicted

 

[wafflepadsave]

Stastny may not be the answer, but who is at this point? Even Nate Mackinnon is only playing 3rd line minutes and he went 1st overall. You can't expect a guy like Draisatl or Dal Colle to come in and play an integral role in our top 6 right out of the draft. You're setting your team and the 18 year old kid up for failure.

Thornton isn't the answer. Brassard isn't the answer. Miller is not the answer. Is the answer Jesus?

Well yes. He was perfect!

 

[ecemleafs]

Moore has sucked too, that whole trade is turning out to be one huge bust, as many predicted

not really. gaborik has been useless in columbus and is a FA at the end of the year.

 

[wafflepadsave]

I agree, sadly this franchise hasn't had any semblance of a plan for the last twenty year except for 2010-2012 when they were the Black and Blue Shirts that out worked you every night

If we want to give AV a shot, this team needs to draft and develop high end skill forwards and big, mobile, puck moving defensemen. Goalie depth will also be a need in the next couple years. Go Ehlers or McCann in round one, draft McKeown, DeAngelo, or Honka if you can get another late 1st. Start there, and keep a really close eye on the development of Skjei, Duclair, and Kristo. Address their weaknesses and make them work on them. They have potential to be very good in today's NHL.

Continue drafting NCAA guys and Swedes in the middle rounds. Big two ways guys with some skill.

Problem is rangers are usually afraid of big!

 

[wafflepadsave]

I dunno, he might make it in 2025

That's when the rangers will want him anyway!

 

[coogz13]

The problem Del Zotto has is that for someone who is considered to be an offensive defenseman he is not all that good offensively. Not good at handling passes, doesn't shoot well, and bad on the PP. Good at making stretch passes and occasionally rushing the puck down the ice. McDonagh is basically better at everything Del Zotto does offensively while not even considered an offensive defenseman and obviously there is no comparison defensively.

Del zottos skating is honestly not bad- the kids got legitimate talent and i truly have faith he'll put it together. He's a young player by any stretch, experience factored. I think you hold on to him and set expectations more realistically.. hes exactly the guy you want as a 2nd or 3rd pair on a cup team. Hold a mental map of what it takes to succeed and assess your players accordingly, fit them in where apllicable and not against their hype. Youve got a good piece in dz.. maybe not a 1d puck mover, but a crucial element to making this **** work.

 

[wafflepadsave]

A few things.

1 - Del Colle is the guy I wanted the Rangers to target this draft. But he'll be nearly unobtainable if we're anywhere below 7th... and that may even be a stretch. He's big and the type of center the Rangers need for players like Zucc and Nash. A big, hard nosed center, is a guy that drives the defense back by going hard to the net. That will give Nash + Zucc a lot of space to carry the puck and be creative with it.

2 - I think Miller is good on the 3rd line. I've advocated for him to be up all season. I think that he's not ready to be up in the NHL is overblown. He's essentially a rookie and everyone needs to understand that there are bumps with rookies. There will be mistakes, but there will also be progression. I think the next step should be to let him do exactly this, play 10-13 minutes a game and let him learn at the biggest level. J.T also improves as he goes along - slow starts, dominant endings. I wouldn't be surprised if he actually looked like one of our better players come the end of the season (if he's not sent down upon Cally's return). Eventually, I think he game will translate to the 2nd line center role. I think he can develop into Kesler lite, but that's personal opinion.

3 - Again, I can't stress enough that Smith would likely be a 4th line player on this team. We have a few top 6 players and then a bunch of bottom 6 players. Let's assume that right now we have 4 top 6 players: Nash, Kreider, Stepan, and Zucc. Everyone else would technically be able to play bottom 6 roles effectively. Cally is a 3rd line winger at this stage in his career. You can slot him up to the 2nd line but Vigneault really likes raw offensive talent in his top 6. Hagelin is a 3rd line winger. Miller (for now) is a 3rd line center. I don't think Brassard will be a part of this team for much longer, and Richards will be bought out. Poo and Pyatt are gone at the end of the year, although I could see Sather/Gorton retaining Poo to be the 13th forward if he takes a team friendly contract. Anyone else coming in would be a 4th line player - Boyle, Dorsett, FA acquisition.

That leaves 2 spots that the Rangers need to hit out of the park to succeed. Maybe they have one of them in house in Kristo - everything I've read on him seems very promising. So that leaves a 2nd line center as our biggest and most pressing need - on offense.

We'll have none of that talk around here. Makes way too much sense to have sather interested.

 

[wafflepadsave]

As much as we may disagree, I can 100% envision a scenario where the Rangers hang onto everyone at the deadline to "try to make a run." Maybe adding a rental or two even.

I might even argue this is the most likely outcome. Is Sather ACTUALLY gonna throw in the towel on this season? Not sure I see it.

This the most likely scenario. Everybody else here has been hitting the pipe too hard.

 

[CommaSynapse]

I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see Sather hold on to everyone and actually buy at the deadline, retain the majority of the team, and go after the best FA. He'll slot in some cheaper options in the bottom 6.

I've said it before, but the Rangers will never truly rebuild the way Buffalo is doing. The NY market calls for success, and it takes success to keep interest. A middling team is better than a bottom 10 team in terms of revenues and keeping the casual fan interested. If anything, it makes it more dramatic. Maybe we'll even get lucky and have a team that makes it to the cup sometime in the next decade or two.

Fact of the matter is that I don't ever see the Ranger doing a true rebuild because the upper execs are focused on the financial bottom line. As long as that dollar is there, then we'll keep on in this fashion. As long as THAT continues, we probably won't see a cup. With no hard cap, it was possible to build a good team via free agency. Now, with the hard cap, the organization can't flex its spending muscles the way, say, the Yankees can.

It doesn't really matter what might make sense in terms of a hockey organization's life cycle.

 

[Ola]

I think some people confuse Moore's skating ability with being able to contribute offensively. He's tentative with the puck and his shot is usually a soft wrister into the goalie's logo, his offense definitely leaves much to be desired.

Offense for a D is to 90% about taking the right decisions.

 

[Ola]

OnlyRevolution- You skip a step, what would it take for us to pull of a Buffalo style rebuild? You know, there is no worse option than to do it and finnish 5-14...

If you have a bottom-5 team, AND the sell everyone you are guaranteed a top 3 pick. Otherwise you might jus as well get the 10 pick.

Unload every single player on this team, give a rebuild 10 years, of which you are the worst team in the league the first 5, you might pull it off. 2020 we might make the POs the next time.

It's soooo easy to talk about getting the 1st overall pick is an option you have that you can choose to go with a any given time. IRL it's a bit more complicated than that...

 

[Ola]

A serious question, when people talk about getting big centers, what compareables are you thinking of just so that I get what we are looking for?

How many good big top-2 line centers are there in this league? 4-5? 10? 15?

Joe T
Malkin
Lecavalier
E Staal

Maybe the LAST thing we should look for is big centers because they ALWAYS sucks or busts unless they are generational talents. Or? What am I missing.

"Big centers lol" (ok I am being sarcastic, but big centers work in theory but in practise they are a lot less attractive. Very soon you end up in a cathegory that isn't really big (say Zajac) or that good (Berglund))

 

[Stasis]

I'm pretty sure Bernmeister has some eight way trade that would result in us obtaining Malkin and then playing prospects in all other top six positions.

Does that work?

Damn, give him credit where credit is due... however ridiculous he is, we do talk about his silly s**t.

 

[RangerBoy]

I remember seeing a report from Kypreos saying Girardi wasn't asking for anything crazy on his next contract.

That was Glenn Healey.

Why hasn't Girardi signed yet if his demands aren't crazy? The Rangers know the cap is going up. What's the problem?

 

[richardsequalscup*]

The better Allen plays, the more expendable Girardi or Del Zotto become. Honestly, if Allen continues to look good, I don't think Sather will ask for a top 4 defenseman in return for Del Zotto. My guess is he will ask for a really good defenseman prospect 1 or 2 years away and perhaps a 1st or 2nd round pick.

Girardi would be stupid not to go UFA because he'll get a 5 to 7 year deal at 30 to 40 million.

 

[darko]

The Sather move would be to go hard for Jumbo Joe so him and Stepan platoon the 1/2 center role. Personally I would go for Stastny instead or wait out for Stamkos in 2015.

I'd be shocked if Stamkos reaches free agency.

 

[RangerBoy]

The Rangers need more high quality players. Those players are acquired in trades or in the draft. You need to have the assets to acquire them and/or be in position to draft those players. The Rangers aren't getting that type of player for Del Zotto. Not with the way he has played.

This is on Del Zotto

“I think at this stage it’s more up to him,” Vigneault said of Del Zotto trying to earn consistent playing time. “The way his identity is, he’s supposed to be an offensive defenseman. He’s supposed to be able to beat the forecheck, join the rush at the right time and help out on the power play. Those things have been there, but they haven’t been there on a consistent enough basis to say that even if he has a bad game or two, he’s an automatic shoe-in. The way he’s played, he’s fighting for that third-pair D, and depending on his performance, he’s in or he’s out.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/ra...ing-offensively-jittery-with-the-puck-scratch

The Rangers can't trade anymore top picks. They didn't have a pick in the first two rounds in 2013 which was a good draft. That will come back to haunt them.

They don't really have many kids to trade. Look at the AHL team and their reserve list.

Keeping Girardi and Callahan will be expensive. Say they get $6M each. $33M tied up into Lundqvist,Nash,McDonagh and those two. Keep Richards. Another $7M. $40M in 6 players. Most of them tied up to long-term deals. That's your team for a while. $30M for the rest of the roster. That team isn't winning anything.

 

[richardsequalscup*]

2013 was not that great draft at all. Clarke was on record stating there was almost as good of a chance of finding a player in the third round as in the 1st or 2nd because the players all had flaws. Honestly, Duclair has been better this year then almost all the first or second round players teams took.

 

[eco's bones]

The qualifying number for Del Zotto this summer is $2.9 mil. This is where--if the player were succeeding the Rangers would try to sign him to a 4-5 year term and get a couple of his UFA years. Let's say the Rangers gave him Stepan money--4 years--roughly $4 mil each. $16 mil altogether. What would that look like? Who would be happy here with that if DZ continued to battle for the 5-6 defense slots in the lineup and him making that kind of change? Say what you like about Girardi or Callahan's upcoming contracts they've both been key components on this team year in and year out. They are both consistent players. A very good way to run out of cap space and into general overall mediocrity is to overpay non-core players--your 4th liners--your bottom pairing defensemen. 7 points so far--numerous scratches for your most creative offensive d-man--his qualifying offer IMO looks very much out of line. His contract should be more in line with Stralman's $1.7 mil at this point.

 

[GAGLine]

2013 was not that great draft at all. Clarke was on record stating there was almost as good of a chance of finding a player in the third round as in the 1st or 2nd because the players all had flaws. Honestly, Duclair has been better this year then almost all the first or second round players teams took.

I don't know. I wouldn't mind having Anthony Mantha right now.

 

[eco's bones]

2013 was not that great draft at all. Clarke was on record stating there was almost as good of a chance of finding a player in the third round as in the 1st or 2nd because the players all had flaws. Honestly, Duclair has been better this year then almost all the first or second round players teams took.

6 1st rounders already important to their teams. MacKinnon, Barkov, Jones, Lindholm, Monahan and Nichuskin. Ristolainen and Zadorov have also played. Looks like a good year.

Rangers have 11 guys total between the CHL, Colleges and Europe. The only sure thing of all of them is Skjei. I'd trade the entire batch for any of MacKinnon, Barkov, Jones or Monahan.

I'd rank them:

1. Skjei-LD--a stay at home in one of our already strongest positions.
2. Buchnevich-W--probably the most talented overall but he has at least one more year in the KHL and not a slam dunk he ever comes to North America.
3. Nieves-C--growing pains in his sophomore year at Michigan U.
4. Duclair-W--lots of speed and tearing up the Q. A little on the small side.

After that it drops off.

5. Calle Andersson-D--good skills--a righty shot.
6. Ryan Graves-D--size and toughness--if he ever makes the NHL--bottom pairing guy--think Justin Falk. That's his upside.
7. Adam Tambellini-W--very so-so freshman year at North Dakota U.
8. Troy Donnay-D--another righty D stay at home type. 6'7" and only 185 lbs?
9. MacKenzie Skapski-G
10. Steven Fogarty-C--two years struggling at Notre Dame U.
11. Thomas Spelling-W--currently playing in a subpar Danish league.

 

[The Lunatic Fridge]

not really. gaborik has been useless in columbus and is a FA at the end of the year.

12P in 18 games is hardly useless compared to what we are getting out of brass and moore. Maybe if moore didn't do a complete 180 from last year and played some decent defense i would say otherwise but currently i much rather have gaborik.

 

[jniklast]

12P in 18 games is hardly useless compared to what we are getting out of brass and moore. Maybe if moore didn't do a complete 180 from last year and played some decent defense i would say otherwise but currently i much rather have gaborik.

We most likely wouldn't have been able to fit him under the cap this year. We pay less for the three players than for Gaborik alone. Plus Brassard has been decent IMO. 21 points in 36 games is just marginally worse than Gaborik's pace.

 

[richardsequalscup*]

I don't know. I wouldn't mind having Anthony Mantha right now.

Mantha is able to dominate the Q because of his size. However, his work ethic is not great. That will be exposed in the AHL and NHL.

 

[Vickers8]

Moore has sucked too, that whole trade is turning out to be one huge bust, as many predicted

Bust? Just getting rid of Gabby was a plus...