Monday, January 26, 2009

Random Ice Chips

Rangers salary cap is massively top heavyTalk about being massively top heavy.

No, this doesn't refer to the spurious MSG management.

However, the NY Rangers have blown more cash on fewer quality players for next season compared to all the other teams in the league.

Consider these salary cap numbers currently on the books for the 2009-10 season:

  • Boston Bruins: 14 players signed, $42,645,833
  • Buffalo Sabres: 14 players signed, $41,188,690
  • Calgary Flames: 15 players signed, $42,649,167
  • Carolina Hurricanes: 16 players signed, $46,566,667
  • Colorado Avalanche: 13 players signed, $42, 075,000
  • Detroit Red Wings: 14 players signed, $41, 216, 666
  • Edmonton Oilers: 17 players signed, $43, 495, 833
  • New York Rangers: 9 players signed, $41,158,810
  • Ottawa Senators: 18 players signed: $44, 038,996
  • Philadelphia Flyers: 19 players signed: $45, 940,833
  • Pittsburgh Penguins: 13 players signed, $47, 610,000
  • San Jose Sharks: 13 players signed, $46,750,834
  • Toronto Maple Leafs: 17 players signed, $44, 523,333
  • Washington Capitals: 14 players signed, $42,471,796

Note that no NHL team, other than the NY Rangers, on the above list of salary cap challenged teams, has fewer than thirteen players signed for their $41+ million.

The Rangers only got nine players for the big bucks. One of whom, Pat Rissmiller, is playing for Hartford. How many of those nine players went to the All-Star game? One.

The Rangers get no bang for their buck. This is the ultimate pickle going forward.

via
Spector's blog: Potential Cap Problems for Some NHL Teams.

Will Mess return to clean up the mess?

The Blue Seats passes along some hope. Messier into management?
The Edmonton Journal reports "With Steve Yzerman in charge of Canada's 2010 Olympic team and contemporaries Wayne Gretzky, Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, Brett Hull, Cam Neely and Guy Carbonneau either behind NHL benches or learning the ropes in management, you get the feeling [Mark] Messier, who just turned 48, wants to be part of a team again, too.

"It'll probably be the Rangers New York Rangers ."
The Dark Ranger worries that Lundqvist's rough second period at the All-Star game bodes ill.
What alarmed me the most about the ones that got past Henrik, was that about 5 of 6 were over the pads. Now there will be many that disagree with me but I remember a King in a breakout season, that was never this weak up high. A better glove and an aggressive willingness to come out of the net, piled onto some already amazing butterfly goaltending ... all that had Kevin Weekes out of a job. What happened? Well its anyone's guess...
Rob at the NY Examiner also worries about the weakness on the high side:
Something a little more unnerving, especially for Rangers fans, is the fact that all six goals beat Lundqvist high. This is perhaps his greatest weakness, which is now spreading around the NHL faster than Commissioner Gary Bettman can ruin the sport of hockey.
SlapShot slaps down the scatter-brained coverage of the All-Star game by Versus.
All-Star Games are goalfests. If someone thought they could squeeze all this in and not take away from the action, they’d either never seen an All-Star Game before or are so focused on making the event appear IMPORTANT on TV with all the people running around the Bell Centre holding microphones that the truly important stuff gets lost.

Time and again, great plays went undescribed as they happened, only to be summarized — sometimes — after they happened. That unmatched skill is the only reason to watch an All-Star Game! But rather than amplify it, someone in charge thought it was better to obscure it. It’s supposed to be a showcase event, it’s supposed to attract new viewers, but the showcase is broken and new viewers are unlikely to be attracted to this mess...



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6 comments:

  • Jeffey Paswick said...
     

    RANGERS ARE TOTAL DORKZOIDS!!! MY DEVS ARE GONNA MURDER THE RANGERS AND THEN CUT OFF SCOTT GOMEZS HEAD AND THROW IT IN A OVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • jb said...
     

    Keep going to church and saying your prayers, Jeff. You never know what might happen.

    And be careful about getting Scotty riled up, he plays better when he's not thinking too much.

  • kels said...
     

    I've been saying it all along...the Rangers are severely handicapped with the money they have tied up in so few players.

    Those numbers you posted were out-right SCARY!

  • jb said...
     

    kels, it seems that the Rangers have concentrated their 'player portfolio' in too few assets.

    Like a mismanaged Wall St. bank they have loaded too many toxic assets on books. They'll have to take some write-offs.

    Specifically, the $7+ million that Gomez and Drury are getting and Redden's $6.5M and Rozsival's $5M are gross. Does anyone think the Rangers couldn't have signed each of these guys for $1M/year less than they are currently getting. That's $4M a year right there, and think what they could do with that.

    Slat's should go the way of those Wall St. CEO's, who bankrupt their shareholders.

  • Anonymous said...
     

    Does anyone else hate Dr. Mike Emrick and the way he describes plays. He always uses the adjectives "spears", "knifes" and "forks". What gives? These words do not describe the action. And his high pitched voice is so irritating. Why do people love him so much? I just don't get it. And the fact that he does all the nationally broadcasted games just drives me nuts. If I weren't a hockey fan and wanted to watch the random Sunday afternoon game I'd change the channel because of him.

  • jb said...
     

    Mike Emrick ain't no Al Michaels that's for sure.

    But if you hurry you might get tickets for The Devils hosting “Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick Night’ during their Atlantic Division contest vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins at Prudential Center on Friday, January 30 at 7:00 PM.

    “Mike Emrick is the consummate professional who is the best at what he does, and is passionate about the game of hockey,” said Lou Lamoriello. “We are extremely fortunate to have Doc Emrick as our play-by-play announcer.”

    Just count your blessings that you're not a Devils fan.

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