Fire Sale Report Card
Monday - March 22, 2004
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Alexei Kovalev RW, 31yrs. |
Jozef Balej RW, 22yrs. 2nd rd. pick 2004 |
A+ | The first shot fired in
the revolution. Viva la revolution! Not only was it the first shot, it
was quite possibly the best one, too. I've remarked many times this season that
the Rangers would be a
better team if Kovalev was just scratched from the lineup. He's been a
time waster of tremendous proportions this season, chewing up about
18-20 minutes per game with his wide and blocked shots, constant
turnovers and generally subpar effort. I'm not saying Kovalev didn't
care, but he could've been crying himself to sleep every night for all
the difference it made on the ice. So, not only did the Rangers manage to trade him, they somehow ended up getting what many people have said was the Habs second best prospect in their organization behind Mike Komisarek in Jozef Balej, plus a 2nd round draft pick on top of that. For whatever it's worth, the Hockey's Future website ranks Balej as a "7.5". For perspective, the Rangers hopeful future superstar Hugh Jessiman is an "8". Fedor Tyutin is a "7". You don't have to put much stock in those numbers, the point is the platinum blonde Balej is a player. One of the leading scorers in the AHL this season. Projected as a 30-goal, 2nd line winger. Oh, and a 2nd rounder! All for the Frustrating Kovalev Experience, which was very unlikely to be re-visited after this season, anyway. This trade is so lopsided it should be investigated by the SEC. |
| Petr Nedved C, 32yrs. Jussi Markkanen G, 28yrs. |
Dwight Helminen C, 21yrs. Stephen Valiquette G, 26yrs. 2nd rd. pick 2004 |
C | Short of the Leetch
trade, this one has been attracting the most debate. I'd also agree
that flat out, this one brought the least amount of return for the
Rangers out of the entire firesale week. Nedved, I'd assume, had nearly
no trade value around the league. The guy is a rather one-dimensional
player and can go on cold streaks just as bad as anyone in the entire
NHL. Just as importantly, Nedved is not the type of player teams would
be looking for in a "playoff push." Petr really has no history of
stepping up in big games. Matter of fact, he hasn't even been in a
playoff game since 1997. Combine that with the uninspiring season he's
been having (an understatement, as he's been every bit as bad as
Kovalev) and I'm surprised anyone took him at all. Although, it seems like the deal hinged on Markkanen rather than Nedved to read Kevin Lowe's comments. The Oilers wanted to move Salo (and did), Ty Conklin has been injured lately, the Oilers needed a solid goalie and were familiar with the Jussinator already. I'd imagine either the Oilers came to the Rangers looking for Markkanen and Sather convinced them to take Nedved with him (along with paying the rest of Nedved's salary this season), or Sather went to the Oilers looking to dump Nedved and Lowe asked for Markkanen to make it worth his while. Either way, the Rangers managed to move Nedved, at least for something. Helminen isn't considered a big-time prospect but he did just win the CCHA defensive player of the year award, Stevie Vee looks like a career backup, and the Rangers needed the 2nd rounder to try and complete the set. Hardly a slam dunk like the others, but not a trade I'd complain about, either. |
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Brian Leetch D, 36yrs. Conditional draft pick |
Maxim Kondratiev D, 21yrs. Jarkko Immonen C, 21yrs. 1st rd. pick 2004 2nd rd. pick 2005 |
B+ | Absolutely the most
difficult trade to evaluate right now. It could easily turn out to be
the best one or the worst, all depending on what kind of players
Kondratiev, Immonen and the two picks turn out to be. At face value,
though, this trade has a lot more potential to be great than a mistake.
Should even two of those potential four players turn out to be useful
NHL'ers for years to come, we're talking about a major steal here. Of course, evaluating this trade is not as easy as the others because of Leetch's involvement. Sather and the organization took a huge PR hit for trading away the lifelong Ranger. Perhaps unfairly, perhaps not depending on your opinion, but there's no denying a lot of people were very unhappy to see Leetch shipped off, regardless of the return. I am not one of them. Look, it would've been swell for Leetch to remain a Ranger and seeing him in a Toronto uniform was like seeing your ex with another lover (an ex you don't hate, that is), but did they really need him? Face it, short of a miracle of biblical proportions the Rangers aren't going anywhere next season, never mind there might not even be a next season to begin with. In return the Rangers got two well respected prospects and two picks of a standing that are hardly sneeze worthy. Kondratiev made the Maple Leafs out of training camp this season but was eventually bumped to the AHL when some injured veterans returned. He then evoked a clause in his contract to play the remainder of the season in Russia instead of staying in the AHL -- not ideal but not something I'd obsess over, either. Put it this way, the reports have him a player of about the same stature and potential as Fedor Tyutin, and that ain't too bad at all. Immonen is tougher to get a handle on since he's spent his entire young career in his native Finland so far. He's broken out offensively during his previous and current season in his Finnish league and starred during the Maple Leafs off-season training camp in Finland. One member of the Leafs' organization said back in October that Immonen may well be the best prospect in their entire organization. As positive as those two sound, the Rangers could very well pick up another Kondratiev-type and another Immonen-type with those relatively high draft picks. All this for the mostly beloved but very near the end Brian Leetch. No one said this was supposed to be easy, that the Rangers could transform their team from the expensive, bloated mess it was without any of your favorite players going in the process. This could end up being the most important trade the Rangers made in 10 years. Maybe not. We'll see. |
| Chris Simon LW, 32yrs. 7th rd. pick 2004 |
Jamie McLennan G, 32yrs. Blair Betts C, 24yrs. Greg Moore RW, 19yrs. |
B+ | I was originally going
to give this trade a "B", but in reading about the players involved and
considering what the Rangers gave up, it's even better than I
originally thought. Of course, Betts and Moore are no big-time
prospects here. Betts is labeled as a 4th line checking center and has
already played 35 games for Calgary over the last three seasons until
getting a season ending shoulder injury last December. No huge deal,
but hey, he's already made the NHL, an accomplishment more than half of
the draftees never reach. I also like the fact that despite being a 4th
liner, Betts has averaged over a shot per game (41) in his NHL career
so far. Greg Moore, unrelated to Ranger prospect Dominic, seems to be
your Ortmeyer-esque, hard work, smart play but no offense type.
Something of a longshot, but he's still just 19. US born player, too,
most of whom usually consider it a honor to play for the Rangers.
McLennan is a career backup/journeyman, great numbers this season and
I've liked what I've seen so far on the Rangers, but he is a UFA at the
end of the season. Could the Rangers have gotten more for Simon? Perhaps. Maybe one "B-level" prospect instead of two "C-levels" (although Betts may be better than that), but the fact is Chris Simon was free for the taking last summer, and he's free for the taking again this summer. Everyone seemed to like Simon, myself included, but with the Rangers going nowhere this season he had absolutely no value to the team over the final month. This is something for nothing. |
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Vladimir Malakhov D, 35yrs. |
Rick Kozak RW, 18yrs. 2nd rd. pick 2005 |
A- | Probably an even better case of something for nothing. Yes, Kozak is yet another checking, hard nosed role player type, something the Rangers seem to have an abundance of in their system, but he's also very young, one of the youngest members of the 2003 draft class. Lots of development time left, hopefully more of an offensive game shows up. As it is now, you have to like that he's at least aggressive and tough -- two traits that can always be useful and rarely develop as a player gets older. Malakhov can be a great player when he wants to be, but that's entirely irrelevant to the Rangers of March 2004. They don't need him and supposedly he's retiring at the end of the season. |
| Matthew Barnaby LW/RW, 30yrs. 3rd rd. pick 2004 |
Chris McAllister D/LW, 28yrs. David Liffiton D, 19yrs. 2nd rd. pick 2004 |
B | I'm not sure of
McAllister's free agent status. He's a few years below the current
official age at 28 (29 this summer) but maybe the years played/salary
clause kicks in and he's unrestricted in the summer. If he is, I move
the grade on this trade down to a "B-". I've liked what I've seen of
McAllister so far, too. Not exactly an animal given his enormity
(6'8"), but a decent enough defenseman who can also (and has) play the
wing. The Rangers need some kind of veterans back there, you can't
exactly go with the 21-year old defense unless you want to drive your
goalies to exhaustion. Liffiton is supposedly a real tough bastard,
loves the physical play and isn't shy about dropping the gloves. The
scouting report on the Rangers website makes him sound like the second
coming of Rod Langway, but we'll take that with a grain of salt. The
2nd rounder the Rangers received is not actually Colorado's original
2nd rounder, but one they previously received from the Panthers, which
makes it 10-15 spots higher. And Barnaby, nearly everyone liked Barnaby. Both on and off the ice he's one of the most entertaining players in the league, not to mention a useful player who can do a little bit of everything besides penalty kill (too slow). I'd like to see the Rangers get him back this off-season, and again, that's why this was another good trade. The Rangers can get Barnaby back for next season provided both parties are willing. Both parties already had to be willing even if he wasn't traded, and the Rangers got McAllister, Liffiton and moved up about 40 spots in the draft just for the rental. |
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Waiver claim | Mike Green C, 24yrs. |
B | Youngish depth player, picked off waivers from Florida. 7 games with the Rangers so far, 1 assist on the 4th line averaging about 7 minutes a game. Seems alright, decent along the boards and in the corners. At least he's young and didn't cost anything. |
| Waiver claim | Sandy McCarthy RW, 31yrs. |
C | Ick. Well, after trading Simon and Barnaby the Rangers needed someone to drop the gloves when the need arises, thing is Sandy doesn't really fight anymore. You thought it was bad on the Rangers, now he's really not interested in the fisticuffs anymore. 30 penalty minutes this season, frickin' Nedved has more than that. I could respect Sandy for not wanting to be pigeonholed as just a fighter, thing is, you've got to have some kind of offensive game to back that up, don't you? Kind of like a porn star complaining that she's being pigeonholed (literally) instead of getting roles based on her non-existent acting talent. Whatever, he almost certainly won't be re-signed in the off-season. |
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Greg de Vries D, 31yrs. |
Karel Rachunek D, 24yrs. Alexandre Giroux LW, 22yrs. |
B+ | Here's one of the few trades the Rangers really didn't have to make, but with this kind of return, why not? Sure, de Vries is an all-around better player at this stage than Rachunek, but he's also 7 years older. Rachunek is hardly a slouch, either. He's been a top-4 defenseman on a very good Ottawa team the past few seasons and already has a lot of NHL and playoff experience at 24. So far with the Rangers he's been "eh." A few mistakes, a few nice games, but definitely a legitimate NHL defenseman. I can't tell you much about Giroux. Big guy, not shy to fight, not totally inept offensively but hardly a phenom, either. If the Rangers ended up keeping de Vries I wouldn't have minded, but with the chance to shed 7 years on the blueline and for a player who could very well end up being better than de Vries some day, why not? Also, there was a quote from Greg during the deadline week about how he's disappointed at the Rangers fire sale, so it was probably for the best to move him on, anyway. |
| Paul Healey RW, 29yrs. |
Jeff Paul D, 26yrs. |
L | Anyone care? Me neither. |
| From Rangers |
To Rangers | Grade | Comments |
| Martin Rucinsky LW, 33yrs. |
R.J. Umberger C, 22yrs. Martin Grenier D, 23yrs. |
A+ | Fighting it out with the
Kovalev deal for the best trade of the fire sale week, but this one
comes with a caveat. Umberger is an unrestricted free agent if the
Rangers don't sign him before the off-season, and will receive a 2nd
round draft pick for his rights if they don't. Right now they're giving
him a tryout with the Wolfpack in their practices, just trying to find
out a bit out him and his attitude. It's not a bad idea. You have to
wonder about draftees that hold out before their very first contract,
maybe the guy is just a series of problems waiting to happen. Short of
a disaster I imagine the Rangers will sign him, though, and the
Umbergerler is a real talent. Former 1st round draft pick. Great
college career at Ohio State. Big guy, good skater, really put up the
numbers. Supposedly doesn't care much for the defensive end, but so
what, not everyone does. That can be taught, skill can not. Grenier is
a monsterous (6'4", 245) defenseman who's played a combined 15 games
with Vancouver and Phoenix over the last few seasons. Supposedly as
mean as they come, and his 473 penalty minutes over the last two
seasons in the minors show it. Rucisnky has been a very useful player in his time with the Rangers. Rarely flashy but always solid and doesn't have many off-games. Can do a little bit of everything and seems adjustable to any line you stick him on. But just like Chris Simon, any team could've had Martin for free last summer and any team could have him for free again this summer. It's exactly because of his strong season and good +/- on a lousy team that the Rangers got such a tremendous return for him. I mean, best case scenario, Umberger eventually meets his potential as a high scoring, top line center, Grenier proves himself useful at the NHL level and the Rangers re-sign Rucinsky in the off-season if they feel they need him. This trade went down to the wire and for good reason. It seems like New York squeezed as much value out of their Rent-A-Rucinsky as possible. Outstanding trade. |
| OVERALL | A | I'm being awfully
positive, aren't I? What do you expect? Every trade was good. Yes, all of them.
Every player they traded away
besides Markkanen, Leetch and de Vries are unrestricted free agents in
a few months and out of those three, only de Vries had more than
another year left on his contract. Forget the word "rebuilding", in
evaluating these trades it's irrelevant whether the Rangers are going
to follow through with a complete and total rebuild or not. By making
all the trades they did the Rangers got something -- a lot of things,
actually -- for nothing. They stocked their system with over 20 players
and draft picks for, essentially, one year of Brian Leetch, one year of
Jussi Markkanen and three years of Greg de Vries. And if there's a
lockout next season? Oh boy. It will look like the Rangers sold all of
their Microsoft stock a few months before Bill Gates decided to
transform the company from computer technology into a pancakes-by-mail
warehouse. Not that there's anything wrong with pancakes, I'm just
sayin'. Someone might ask, "What do you mean, 'nothing'? Leetch is nothing? Barnaby, Simon, Kovalev, et al. are nothing?" In terms of their usefulness on the ice, of course not. But as far as their overall worth to the Rangers at this period in time, ab-so-lute-ly. They didn't need these players down the stretch, the youngsters can close out the season with a string of losses just fine on their own and they're doing that right now. Keeping these players would've been like having a bright, shiny ribbon wrapped around a mammoth mound of elephant shit. Further, did the Rangers really need Brian Leetch next season, a season that might not even exist anyway? 36-years old, over 6 million dollars on the payroll, still has plenty of value to a team in contention -- but to the Rangers? Our team isn't going anywhere next season, at least, not as they stand currently. Now, if the return for Leetch was less than it was, maybe you consider hanging onto him just for good P.R. and the novelty of keeping him a lifelong Ranger. Turns out they got two good prospects and two high draft choices for what could turn out to be nothing more than a spring 2004 rental of #2. Sentiment aside, it had to be done. It made too much sense not to. The point can't possibly be overstated that the majority of the players the Rangers traded were on their way out in another month, anyway. Of course, there's the "grass is greener" theory that in by allowing these players a taste of meaningful hockey on a structured and focused team, there's no way they'd want to sign with the Rangers again, but who says they were coming back, anyway? Sure, both Barnaby and Simon said they would consider re-signing with the Rangers, but they were still both Rangers at the time of those quotes. Players have to say that. You don't tell your boss that you're going on interviews on the side and you're out of there as soon as a decent offer comes in, do you? Everything still has to be negotiated in the off-season just like it would have had the Rangers held on to everyone. Whether or not this marks a turning point in how the Rangers go about building a team remains to be seen. That, however, is irrelevant in assessing the fire sale week. Sather, Maloney and the rest of the staff took a bunch of players the Rangers simply don't need now and in turn packed a hell of a lot of youth into the organization in just one week, not to mention the bankroll of draft picks they're currently sitting on. Hey, I'd happily point out the flaws of the fire sale if I saw them, but I honestly don't see any. It was a brilliant week for the New York Rangers, one that's going to pay dividends for many years to come. That's the thing, though. The payoff is not now but in the years ahead, and even if and when a lot of these players reach the NHL, it's not going to be all wine and roses then, either. While everyone is watching their former Rangerss in the playoffs this season, I hope we can all remember that. |
Posted by pete at March 22, 2004 10:18 AM
eMail this entry!
Comments
the return in the nedved deal might not look like anything special but everyone i've talked to about helminen have raved about him...
and everyone compares him to john madden, including michigan coach red berenson...if helminen turns out to be another madden that will be a great deal for us
Posted by: leetch3 on March 22, 2004 12:32 PM"Not that there's anything wrong with pancakes, I'm just sayin'."
Now that's funny stuff !
Great job.....and I concur. A !
----}-
Chris, Bird, thanks. Leetch3... sounds like excellent news about Helminen. Does his speed compare to Madden's, though?
Posted by: Rocha on March 22, 2004 01:09 PMnot sure how exactly his speed compares to madden, but reports from michigan are that he has great speed/quickness and his quickness is why he is so good defensively cause even if he gets beat he is quick enough to recover
Posted by: leetch3 on March 22, 2004 02:28 PMRocha on Sandy McCarthy:
"Kind of like a porn star complaining that she's being pigeonholed (literally) instead of getting roles based on her non-existent acting talent"
Only you, Pete Rocha, Sin Personified, could draw an analogy like this. Congratulations to you, Captain Zinger, for hitting all the nails on their heads. It was well worth waiting for and better late then never.
Posted by: mhurley on March 22, 2004 05:51 PMExcelent article. I agree in almost every point! Thanx a lot
DaTeL
Posted by: DaTeL on March 24, 2004 07:02 AMExcelent article. I agree in almost every point! Thanx a lot
DaTeL
Posted by: DaTeL on March 24, 2004 07:03 AMGreat evaluation. Lets hope the Rangers become a winning organization again. I'm getting really tired of this losing. In my humble opinion, we need a real coach to really get on the right track.
Posted by: kojak on March 24, 2004 11:53 AMGreat evaluation. Lets hope the Rangers become a winning organization again. I'm getting really tired of this. In my humble opinion, we need a real coach!
Posted by: kojak on March 24, 2004 11:53 AMI dont understand how you can rate these trades when half of them are in the minors. U have no idea how any of the prospect will turn out.
Posted by: No on April 19, 2004 10:27 AMPost a comment
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