Back in the forties Frank Sinatra had a big hit called, "Give me five minutes more." He was singing it to a lovely who he figured he needed more time with. The Stealth GM is singing a different tune trying to find an extra $5 million to sign the super star flavor of the year, Mats Sundin. The Stealth gets stuck on these guys who have had great pasts and questionable futures. You know them. Where do we start or end? Pavel Bure, Eric Lindros, Theo Fleurry, Petr Nedved, Mark Messier, (second time), Bobby Holik, Valeri Kamensky, Vladimir Malakhov. And Nedved may be back. Well you get the point.
The blogs are alive with the sounds of Sundin. Hey, that sounds like another song from a great musical, "The Sound Of Music." The drive by media is all excited. Notice how the drive by media gets more excited by the Rangers during the off season than they do during the heat (cold) of the regular season. Do the Rangers need a Mats Sundin? If they do, why did they let Jagr go? Jagr is a better player, was comfortable in New York and had some great moments. Ah, but he stifled the team and hindered the growth of the young players by getting too much ice time. What do you think Sundin is going to to.
Isn't it time we finally and really turned the team over to Drury and Gomez and at least give them a shot on seeing what they could do with this team? Both have won Cups and know what it is that needs to be done to win that coveted trophy. Sundin has never won anything and we are not the Red Wings or the Avalanche where an aging star comes in for sentimentality and 'earns' a Cup. In fact, over the years we can say that we have become the graveyard for aging stars.
But the rumors continue with talks of trades including players like Rozsival and Gomez. Rozsival, okay, but Gomez? C'mon lets get real here. We didn't sign Gomez to a seven year deal to trade him off so that we can find $5 million to sign a one year rental. Let's forget Sundin and sign a guy who really could help this team and I'm talking Brendan Shanahan. The Rangers need a Captain and Shanny would be perfect. He will be a Captain and not a skater with a "C" on his chest. We do need a leader and Shanny has always been a leader, on and off the ice. And you know what else he could do? Steal a couple of points in those stupid shootouts the NHL holds. Sundin? No. Shanahan? Yes!
ICINGS:
The International Ice Hockey Federation punted today on resolving the NHL-KHL dispute.
It ruled that Alexander Radulov's transfer to Salavat Yulayev from Nashville may go to court or binding arbitration. Five players had their suspensions lifted and three other disputed player contract cases will also be submitted to an applicable court or – if all included parties agree – to binding arbitration. Those three cases were:
- Andrei Loktionov – signed by NHL club Los Angeles from KHL club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
- Vyacheslav Voinov – signed by NHL club Los Angeles from KHL club Traktor Chelyabinsk
- Andrei Mayorov – signed by NHL club Columbus from KHL club Ak Bars Kazan
The I.I.H.F. concluded by announcing: "As of today, the KHL will continue to respect all legally valid contracts signed with NHL clubs and also all legally valid contracts signed with IIHF clubs, subject to the NHL not signing KHL registered players under legally valid contracts."
It sounds like a temporary ceasefire in the ice war. A full report on the ruling at Slapshot.
Mike,
We need Sundin. With him we are the best team in the East. Put him on the ice with Naslund and we have two real #1 lines. A Sundin/Drury line will be good for 80 to 100 goals. Put Shanny there, and maybe 60.
Why do I like Sundin? Last year in 74 games he had 32 goals and 46 assists. His scoring percentage is 12.4% He has played at almost exactly this level for ten years. His skills have not yet significantly declined.
The team we have now cannot score enough goals. I would trade some salary for prospects and add Sundin.
Pundit, you're contradicting yourself. You suggest it's time to really hand this team over to Drury & Gomez to see what they can do with it, but then you go on to say that we need to bring back Brendan Shanahan because of some intangible leadership quality? How can Gomez & Drury ever truly takeover the team with Brendan Shanahan standing in the way? And how can a guy captain a team from the 3rd or 4th line? If Shanahan is brought back, he'll continue to be the guy the media refers to after a loss, and he'll continue to stand in the way of some young player, taking away icetime. Furthermore, who has faith in Tom Renney that he'll actually be able to use Shanahan in a "reduced role" ? Isn't it far more likely that he'll simply end up back in top-6 minutes, PP time, and PK time, and thus will be worn out and useless by Chistmas?
How can you truly ever turn the page when the old, tired words continue roll along?
As for the leadership thing, isn't that what Gomez & Drury were brought in here to do, lead?
Rodent has a great article on leadership, I suggest you take a look at it - http://www.hockeyrodent.com/R2054.HTM
Would you trade Gomez?
anonymous-It may sound contradictory but Captains do not necessarily drive a team. They counsel, instruct, encourage and make a team better.
That may have been the fault of Jagr. He Captained by monopolizing the entire team and it was questionable if he had any locker room influence.
I may be wrong, and it won't be the first time or the last, but I believe the presence of Shanahan as a Captain, in a reduced roll, will free Gomez and Drury to do their thing and be on ice leaders. Leaders are not necessarily Captains.
Finally, I have no faith whatsoever in Coach Clueless and that is another reason why a seasoned experienced vet like Shanahan can do the job. Coaches must be leaders also and clueless has shown no sign he can do that.
Thanks for your inciteful comments.
anonymous-It may sound contradictory but Captains do not necessarily drive a team. They counsel, instruct, encourage and make a team better.
That may have been the fault of Jagr. He Captained by monopolizing the entire team and it was questionable if he had any locker room influence.
I may be wrong, and it won't be the first time or the last, but I believe the presence of Shanahan as a Captain, in a reduced roll, will free Gomez and Drury to do their thing and be on ice leaders. Leaders are not necessarily Captains.
Finally, I have no faith whatsoever in Coach Clueless and that is another reason why a seasoned experienced vet like Shanahan can do the job. Coaches must be leaders also and clueless has shown no sign he can do that.
Thanks for your inciteful comments.
I would not trade Gomez or our other franchise players - Stahl, Drury, and Prince Henrik. But we need a trade. We lost 2 of our 3 "25" goal scorers - Jagr and Shanny. We lost 2 of our 6 "15" goal scorers - Avery and Straka. Who will replace those 77 goals - Zherdev, Naslund and who else? And, please remember we really need 25-50 more goals than last year, not just to replace those 77.
Who will step up like Adam Graves and surprise us as Gravy did with 50 goals? We need a surprise and another sniper or two.
And Larry says:
"It's safe to presume that Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev, Colton Orr and Aaron Voros have jobs on the wing. Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan enter camp as incumbents. Space for two or three more.
That means Shanahan - who can play either side - would be competing with Petr Prucha, Patrick Rissmiller, Fred Sjostrom, Lauri Korpikoski, Andreas Jamtin, Hugh Jessiman, P.A. Parenteau, and perhaps Petr Nedved for a spot on the roster."
So, who Mike?
section 335-If we can keep three of that group, its Shanahan, Prucha and Korpikoski. Also, I'm not so sure that Voros should have a job locked up.