Holes, holes, holes, holes. Except for the fourth line, of course.
So I slept on it and took some time to digest Day 1 of the Rangers' UFA moves, and probably to no one's surprise, I don't get it. I don't get the vision here.
While no one would argue that the Rangers needed to add some offense on the blueline, I'm not sure a declining Wade Redden was the answer, and certainly not at that price. I don't fault Sather for setting the price, but I do fault him for paying it. And I don't mean paying it to Redden and Rozsival in individual capacities . . . I am speaking of the big picture.
We are on the second day of free agency, and the Rangers (who were one of the worst offensive teams in the league, 25th overall) have not yet addressed the loss of four of their top six goal scorers (Jagr, Shanny, Straka, and Avery).
They don't have some young stud prospect that is ready to jump in and make up for the 15 to 25 goals of any of the above individuals, and because of the size of the contracts handed out to Rozy and Redden (not to mention Gomez and Drury from last year), they barely have enough money for one big time player, never mind filling out the roster with some top-two-line talent they desperately need.
As for the defensemen themselves, I worry. Maybe not so much for this coming season, but down the road, I worry. Redden has just been able to sustain his stats on one of the most prolific offenses in the league, but here he is supposed to be carrying the power play? Rozsival has benefitted greatly from getting top pair minutes as well as playing with Jaromir Jagr. Now, will he be a value at $5 million dollars a year while getting less ice time, for surely Marc Staal and Redden are now numero unos?
And who is the sixth defenseman? Tyutin and Girardi will stay together as the third pair, I imagine, and with Staal and Redden at the top, Rozy will play with Christian Backman? Well, um, yuck.
I've always been an advocate of breaking this team down and going with kids, or even at this point building around Gomez and Drury. If that were the clear plan, I'd be happy, especially with the 2009 draft class having SUPER game breaking talent at the top. But instead, the Rangers are once again rumored to be in on every big time free agent. We're still waiting to see where Hossa, Sundin, Jagr, and Naslund land, but no matter where it is, it will be for a fortune. That's not breaking it down.
BUT, there's still time. Let's see what happens from here. I'm not optimistic.
Posted by jim at July 02, 2008 11:16 AMeMail this entry!
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