Glen Sather deserves credit for acknowledging that signing Zdeno Ciger was a mistake and subsequently trading him for Matthew Barnaby. But it opens up a much bigger debate; has Sather lost his eye for talent?

His free agent signings were awful, perpetuating the tradition of overpriced mediocre players taking the roster spot of deserving young players.

Igor Ulanov; Dave Karpa; Zdeno Ciger; Andreas Johansson.

The first two have kept promising young players Dale Purinton, Tomas Kloucek and Peter Smrek either out of the lineup or with minimal ice time.

The second two have kept players such as Manny Malhotra, Barrett Heisten, and Sandy McCarthy either out of the lineup or on the fourth line.

And for what purpose, the laughable notion of "competition?" Not a chance. Those that play an average game, such as Johansson and Karpa, get premium spots on the roster.

Kids like Kloucek and Purinton, on the other hand, get benched for such inane reasons as "poor positional play." As if any of our defenders were stalwarts of a system.

So where's the logic?

In the game against Buffalo, despite entering the season with a variety of promising young defensemen, our defensive corps was complete with veterans, including Sylvain Lefevbre!

Leetch-Malakhov
Berard-Lefevbre
Ulanov-Karpa

There are only two reasons for this approach:

A Showcase?

With Wednesday the trading freeze before the Olympics, there is an argument to be made that Sather was both showcasing his veteran defensemen and determining which play best on our team.

After the unbearable pain that was last season, it is hard to view this reasoning as anything other than wishful thinking. But the Ciger trade this past week made it a potentially viable course of action to believe.

Stupidity and Arrogance as the other option?

Well, don't discount it. There were fears earlier in the season that if Lindros opened the season as a force, Sather might scrap the rebuilding program and load up on veterans to take a shot at going a few rounds in the playoffs.

And perhaps Ron Low's astounding benching of Tomas Kloucek and Dale Purinton was really a reflection that Sather and the coach believe that the kids are simply not as good as our veterans. This, of course, is a scary thought.

Expectations

Most intelligent Ranger fans expected Sather to bring in a bunch of hungry, young players to balance out the veteran leadership.

In the past, Sather was able to do this often: Doug Weight, Todd Marchant, Mike Grier, etc.

But so far, aside from Lindros, all Sather has brought in is Blackburn (a solid draft pick that landed in our laps at pick #10), and Mikael Samuelsson. Not exactly meeting expectations after a year-and-a-half on the job!

Recommendation

It is scary to read the young players other teams are potentially willing to deal for upcoming unrestricted free agents. Larry Brooks writes that Milbury is anxious to deal for a (signed) Amonte by offering up Isbister, Torres and Dipietro.

It is also worrisome that Sather has shopped Manny Malhotra throughout the league when his energy, size and youth are three things of which this team is in short supply.

If we deal young assets for a veteran, our roster will be jammed without room for development. So instead of the big fish such as Billy Guerin or Teemu Selanne, Sather should be looking to deal his veterans for potential diamonds elsewhere.

Who? Chris Gratton of the Sabres. Mike Leclerc in Anaheim. Shane Doan in Phoenix. Todd Bertuzzi in Vancouver. Brad Isbister in Long Island. This isn't a definitive list, but a directional resource.

Outlook

The next few days will portend our future. If veterans continue to weigh down the roster after the trade freeze, it means last season was not an aberration on Sather's resume.

If Sather trades youth for a veteran "star," then we're locked onto a path that will lead Glen Sather to give the usual misguided refrain in his departure speech: "Ownership wanted me to make the playoffs and didn't want to take the time to rebuild correctly."

But if Sather can get creative and secure younger talent for veterans that he brought on board, then we're getting somewhere.

Fact or Fiction: Can Sather be trusted?

Answer: name me one Sather deal in his tenure as Ranger GM, other than the Lindros trade, that provides a foundation for that trust?

Exactly. Uh-oh.

Gabe

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