I May Be Wrong.... But

The Rangers will definitely have a different team. The question is, will it be better? From where the Pundit sits the answer is, no.

The Stealth GM blew big bucks on the free agency market and for what? There is a site in Canada that claims that the Wade Redden free agency signing is the second worst free agency deal of the year. So the Stealth finally comes close to winning something. Redden has been declining the past couple of years, but the Stealth poured out $6.5 mil/per for a six year contract with restrictions on trading him. To whom? What a deal.

The Stealth then went and signed Markus Nassland for two years at $4 mil/per and he has also been in a two year decline. The party line is that Nassland played for a team that played a defensive system and that's what held down his scoring. Defense? Nassland will now play for the coach of all cluelessness whose mantra is, "Not playing defense is not an option". Now there is a double negative if I ever heard one. Last time I checked the Rangers gave up less goals than Vancouver. Does that drop Nassland's goals down too?

The Stealth then signed Michal Rozsival to a four year deal at $5 Mil/per and the last time I checked Michal was in a declining mode last year and he won't even play on the first pair on defense. He can't play the point, can't take the body, won't shoot the puck and has a case of the fumbles when the puck is near him but he gets $5 mil/per.

In each one of these cases the Stealth payed at least a mil more a year then he had to. But the Stealth has always had a fascination for over the hill so called super stars. Yet the Rangers lost their spine, Sean Avery, for about a half a million per year. Aah, but the apologists have all agreed that Avery should have signed for less to have the privilege of playing for the Rangers alongside a cast of overpaid over the hill Stealth reclamation projects.

One thing is certain and that is that the Rangers are getting softer. Their spine, Avery, is gone. The defenseman most likely to use his body, Fedor Tyutin, is gone. The hitman, Ryan Hollweg, is also gone. Add that trio up and I will tell you that the Rangers will lose anywhere from 6-10 hits a game. Is the departure of Colton Orr at hand? Aah, but we have Sjostrom, Fritsche and Rissmiller to take up the slack. Folks, the Frankie Boucher Ice Follies of the 1940's is back.

When do you raise ticket prices at a higher percentage than the rise in the salaries of the players? When you have an Absentee Owner who is in bed with some of the top politicos in New York State and who has now reneged on that West Side project he was touting so that the Jets football Stadium plan could be killed. 'Section 335' thinks that if the owners can have a salary cap we the fans should have a ticket price cap. Not a bad idea. However, 'Down By The Seaside' may be starting a new enterprise by scalping half of his tickets to visiting team fans and make an obscene profit, apologies to Nancy and Harry, and not use the Ranger fan trading site.

I always believed that the key to the Rangers was the trio of Jagr, Avery and Lundqvist. Lundqvist is now the lone Ranger. I thought that Jagr should go and the team rebuilt around Drury, Gomez and the youngsters. Little did I realize that when Jagr and Avery went the team would be built around the Stealth GM's million dollar cast offs. But hold on. It's not over. Sources claim tha Mats Sundin has turned down Vancouver's massive offer. Could another Stealth golden parachute be on the horizon and instead of the Czech Mates we will have the Sweet Swedes. The good news is that it is too late for the Absentee Owner to raise ticket prices this year. The bad news. They will be raised again, next year.

There is more but we will have to do it another time. This is too depressing.

ICINGS:

Allan Muir / Inside The NHL, Sports Illustrated:
Finger signing a mind-blower in a mad market -- The Rangers have to hope they bought six years of the pre-2006 Redden, a player who could fill the void in their transition game and add some punch to their power play. If they get the Redden of the past two seasons, they'll be stuck with a second-pairing defender whose passion for the game appears to have ebbed. The Rangers have to believe that a change of scenery may cure what's ailed him, or this deal might look nearly as bad as the Finger signing in short order.

James Gordan / Hockey Capital:
Set Wade Redden free -- Wade Redden is to Ottawa Senators fans what the band Simple Plan is to music fans. You love 'em or hate 'em. A lot of people inexplicably love Simple Plan, despite the band's faux angst, irritating tunes and excruciatingly whiny vocals.

Unlike the worst band in the world, Simple Plan, there are a lot of things to like about Wade Redden. He's a competent puck-moving defenceman (formerly great), he's a good guy and he does a lot for the community.

Yet, as long as I've lived in Ottawa (about 8-9 years), there has always been a strong division in the Sens Army over just how good he really is. Many argue that his chronically soft play, badly-timed giveaways and massive salary outweigh any benefits he brings to the table.

AJ Basile / Bleacher Report:
NHL Free Agency: The Head Scratching Moves -- New York Rangers: While the Holik signing was strange, unlike their major rivals, at least the Devils can't say they got worse. After New Jersey beat them out for Rolston, the Rangers turned around and gave $39 million to defenseman Wade Redden (the most overrated and now overpaid defenseman in the league) along with $20 million to Michal Rozsival. Last season, they each had 38 points...

random Rangers fan / The Blueshirts Blog:
Redden is about the worst signing Sather could have made today. WHY?? He is soft. He had 6 goals last year. Given power play time, Paul Mara could've put up the same numbers. Ridiculous...

---

Related Articles by Categories