Play GM of the Rangers

Pretend for a second that Glen Sather has just been fired as GM of the New York Rangers. You have stepped up to the podium in front of all the cameras and microphones of the media and have been asked to tell us what your plans to get the Rangers into the playoffs are.

What would you do?

Pretend for a second that Glen Sather has just been fired as GM of the New York Rangers. You have stepped up to the podium in front of all the cameras and microphones of the media and have been asked to tell us what your plans to get the Rangers into the playoffs are.

What would you do?

Run. Fast.

:joker: go rangers!

Sign every free agent who has scored 100+ goals in his carrer.

Well I personally would stay just how I was. Let this line-up have a chance. One thing I would do to the line-up is this:

Rucinsky-Lindros-Kovalev
Nedved-Lundmark-Carter
Hlavac-Holik-Barnaby
Lacouture-Messier-Simon

I think the line-up the Rangers have paid for has good potential to surprise this season (of course this has been said before) and I wouldn't tinker until they made me.

I wouldn't have re-signed Messier however, I would have given Garth Murray the spot, and asked Kovalev to donate 6 of his points to grandpa and moved on.

Pretend for a second that Glen Sather has just been fired as GM of the New York Rangers. You have stepped up to the podium in front of all the cameras and microphones of the media and have been asked to tell us what your plans to get the Rangers into the playoffs are.

What would you do?

Alright. I'll bite. By firing Slats, I'll assume you mean that the season has not been going well and that the team is mired in 11th place or thereabouts.

1) Under no circumstances do I obtain high-profile players for the remainder of this season. I wait until the next CBA becomes more defined because if the age for unrestricted free agency drops below 31 to (say) 29 or even 27, there will be a bounty of valuable UFAs after the work stoppage and I would rather populate the team with younger UFAs like the Bertuzzis than UFAs in their 30s.

2) Come the march deadline, I prepare to offload those underperformers that I can... but in the process take on no long-term contracts that could hinder flexibility under the new CBA. Guys like KT, Guerin, JJ are not what I'm looking for.

Understand that I'm not trying to dump salary per se. But I am trying to deal away guys who aren't good bang for the buck, whomever they may be. If you have fired Slats, then it's likely that Eric has underperformed. I'll be preparing to move him... though it isn't essential because the final year of his deal would be the lockout season anyway. Vlad is also someone I'd probably find a taker for in March. His deal (though expensive) runs out in spring '05. So that makes this season his final payout for practical purposes.

If I get good young talent or picks for the guys I wish to offload, then that's gravy. But my priority is to maximize salary cap headroom and if I've blown the playoffs this season then I bite the bullet and do what I can to make life much easier for myself under the new CBA.

It becomes all about the future. No shortcuts.

Walk up to the podium with a large, white bag with a dollar sign on it and yell "SUCKERS!" and run away screaming.

Take the money and go streaking.

I'd say : "For now on we'll build through drafts and interior player development" and then dodge the tomatoes and bullets.

By out Messier, Lindros, Malakhov. Sign Klee. Don't touch anything else, and let them gel.

Pretend for a second that Glen Sather has just been fired as GM of the New York Rangers. You have stepped up to the podium in front of all the cameras and microphones of the media and have been asked to tell us what your plans to get the Rangers into the playoffs are.

What would you do?

It would go something like this:

"Hello. Is this on? Testing, 1-2-3. Is this on?"

(Turning to Dolan) "Why are there so many cameras here?"

(Gesturing to the front row) "Can someone please help the eldery gentleman to his seat? Oh...sorry Mark."

I would then start by introducing the new (old) coach of the Rangers, Bryan Trottier. "I chose Bryan for this job...once again...based on his ability to crystalize his ideas for the team into cliff notes this time around...." ;)

By out Messier, Lindros, Malakhov. Sign Klee. Don't touch anything else, and let them gel.

I'd likely do the same thing except I'd keep Lindros. Actually, I'd probably let Mess play out the year as well. In short, I don't do much. IMO, Lindros will prove most naysayers wrong, and this club will have a better year. Most importantly, I won't fill depth positions with expensive "talent". I'd let the kids mature into the roles, and see how the year plays out. If the team underperforms, I'll deal/buy out the underperformers and re-evaluate.

Pretend for a second that Glen Sather has just been fired as GM of the New York Rangers. You have stepped up to the podium in front of all the cameras and microphones of the media and have been asked to tell us what your plans to get the Rangers into the playoffs are.

What would you do?

"i hereby follow suit and announce my resignation"

Put Lundmark on the 2nd line, give my support to Lindros, sign Klee, publicly state I'm not lucking for a goalie, hire a coach who can implement a system (maybe Nolan) and stick with it, and finally, tell Messier he's a player not the coach and he'll play were he's told. Then hope.

Liam

I would probilly start off by prasing the team. *The Rangers currently have a team that looks great on papper though I feel we may need to bring in some key roll players to help us through some dry spells the necules of this team is good. My first move would check and see how desprate the caps are in ditching Jagr's contract and if it did not cost to much land him in witch I thing would be for a song and a dance.
Then I would go out and Sign Yeski and Klee to sure up my defence.offering 1 year contracts at upwards of 4 million dollard... give or take a few hundread thousand. I would see if the Flyers were seious about dealing Chris Therian. Then try and find buyers for some of the dead weight and have a lineup that looks simular to this...

Forwards:
Lundmark, Lindros , Jagr
Rucinsky, Nedved, Kovalev
Hlavac, Holik, Barnaby
Lacouture, Messier, Simon

This is a solid front line..

Defence:
Poti, Devries
Leetch,Yushkevich
Ken Klee, Kasparaitis
A Rock solid Defence

Goalie:
Dunham
markannen
goaltending looks solid also

Carter is not in the lineup because I would have included him as part of the Jagr trade along with a prospect or picks.. and cash..

I'd hire JOHN PADDOCK to coach the team, and pry away Kevin Prendergast from Edmonton to run the draft.

Then I'd pour a nice tall glass of **** until the trade deadline when I'm looking to trade veterans for draft picks and youngins. An exception would be Nedved.

I visit Blackburn in Hartford several times during the year, keep tabs on the other kids and generally act like I'm going to have a contender in two seasons.

yes, lets look at what they have potentially:

75 rucinsky lindros carter
75 hlavac nedved kovalev
40 barnaby holik lundmark
25 simon lacouture petrovicky

15 devries poti
15 malakhov mironov
5 kasparaitus purinton

dunham
markannen


gf 245
ga 220

pts 90

if sather has them play a bit smarter defensively they could be a 90-95 pt team.

otherwise, when adding injuries the gf drops and ga rises
becoming once again a team struggling to reach .500

adding another top 6 forward is essential, in case lindros gets hurt or struggles, or the lw's dissapoint.

with little to deal, their best bet would be to go after an overpriced scorer from a team in salary dump mode.

then i would force sather to drop the combo gm-coach role and find a coach to improve the team defense, such as kevin constantine.

yes, lets look at what they have potentially:

75 rucinsky lindros carter
75 hlavac nedved kovalev
40 barnaby holik lundmark
25 simon lacouture petrovicky

15 devries poti
15 malakhov mironov
5 kasparaitus purinton

dunham
markannen


gf 245
ga 220

pts 90

if sather has them play a bit smarter defensively they could be a 90-95 pt team.

otherwise, when adding injuries the gf drops and ga rises
becoming once again a team struggling to reach .500

adding another top 6 forward is essential, in case lindros gets hurt or struggles, or the lw's dissapoint.

with little to deal, their best bet would be to go after an overpriced scorer from a team in salary dump mode.

then i would force sather to drop the combo gm-coach role and find a coach to improve the team defense, such as kevin constantine.

I immagine you would want him to drop both rolls considering you would be the Gm.. :D Though I would fire his ass as soon as possable and bring in one of either Constantine or Ted Nolan.

rebuild rebuild rebuild rebuild rebuild rebuild

Of course that'd be hard with about 10 untradable players, but I'd put the high priced players on the block, most for next to nothing, and try to trade the few valuable commodities that I have for youth and try to build through the draft.

It'll take a few years but at least it would be progress...

By out Messier, Lindros, Malakhov. Sign Klee. Don't touch anything else, and let them gel.

1. I'd let Mess get his 6 points. Then I'd buy him out. It's "classier".
2. I'd actually trade Lindros for WHATEVER assets you can get. I'd rather keep him.
3. I'd keep Malakhov as well.
4. Klee is good idea.

1. I'd let Mess get his 6 points.

What if he doesn't??

again, this is assuming the rangers are out of playoff contention by the deadline.

trade mironov, malakhov, carter and kovalev.

after the season i let go of messier,lindros,rucinsky,hlavac and simon.

i resign nedved,barnaby,lacoutore and purinton.

i sign daniel alfredsson,roman hamrlik, miroslav satan and shane doan (assuming the ufa age is lowered)

i go into next season with this lineup:

lundmark-nedved-satan
doan-moore-alfredsson
murray-holik-barnaby
lacoutore-larose-stals


poti-hamrlik
leetch-devries
lampman-kasparaitis
purinton-



dunham
markkanen

You know, there's a reason that Nolan isn't hired. He turned down a job from Tampa Bay and he's been out of the loop for years now. He was interviewed last year and he couldn't name hardly any of the roster players.

So I don't hire Nolan to be my head coach. I hire him to coach Hartford.

fire myself and hire a good GM
:joker:

1-Buy Lindros contract, then get Jagr and Straka. Use, Anson Carter, Fedor Tjutin, Garth Murray and picks to land these guys.

2-As my first PP unit, recreate the fab Czech line of Straka-Nedved-Jagr and put Kovy with them on the point.

3-Sign Ken Klee to solidify the D.

4-Keep Dunham as the main guy between the pipes.

5-I don't know about the coaching job. Would need to meet the candidates...

My lineup

Rucinsky-Nedved-Jagr
Hlavac-Straka-Kovalev
Messier-Holik-Lundmark
Simon-Petrovicky-Barnaby

Leetch-Devries
Kasparaitis-Poti
Klee-Mironov

Dunham

I know it's still a lot of thrown money but I feel it would be wise investment as I don't think the new CBA won't change as much as people might think. Plus, this lineup has some past history of chemistry with seven czech players and most of them having been acquainted with each other. Show me the money, I'll show you the cup. :D

Okay - I will play Rangers GM.

First move?

I trade all my players to the Edmonton Oilers for all of their players but keep the salaries the same.

Why pluck over time? Might as well get it all over with at once.

Looking at the teams that the Rags had when they won cups I see they had alot of hard workers on the team while having only a few true star players. They should go back to that and look over the roster and look after who is worth keeping of the one-dimensional players since hardworkers work both way.

Players (part of the big team) I'd keep:

-Offense
Kovalev
Simon
Carter (move back to center)
Barnaby
Lundmark
Petrovicky
Messier
Rucinsky
Nedved
Lacouture

-Defense-
Leetch
Malakhov
DeVries
Purinton
Kasparaitis

-Goalkeepers-
Dunham
Markkanen
Blackburn

Players I would play until they're contract is out and then not offer new ones
Lindros (Headache boy's a great player but brings a huge salary and not the greatest attitude)
Holik (not worth the money, resign only on alot smaller salary)
Mironov (overpaid, bad private conditioning will see him come in bad shape to camp)


Players I would try to trade:
Poti (not good enough offensively to be a one-dimensional offensive d-man, could bring a decent return)
Hlavac (has become a journeyman, could help a smaller team better than the rags)

Players I'd sign/trade for:
Steve Thomas (a hard worker who still can find the net, isn't useless when he's not scoring either)
Erik Cole (great tenacious forward with smarts and heart, a hard worker), if Erik Cole is untouchable they could try and go after either Leclerc of Anaheim or Hartnell of Nashville who play somewhat the same style, Cole is the first choice though.
Aaron Ward (great hard worker who can get nasty or make decent passing plays)

Lines:
Erik Cole - Anson Carter - Alexei Kovalev
Jamie Lundmark - Petr Nedved - Martin Rucinsky
Steve Thomas - Mark Messier - Matthew Barnaby
Dan LaCouture - Ronald Petrovicky - Chris Simon

Brian Leetch - Darius Kasparaitis
Dale Purinton - Greg DeVries
Aaron Ward - Vladimir Malakhov

Mike Dunham
Jussi Markkanen (for one year then trade)
Daniel Blackburn (takes Markkanen's place after one year)

Leetch would leave a big hole by being the only really gifted offensive defenseman, Purinton could produce 15 points a season if he continues to develop late. Tyutin could come in after a year as an offensive contributer from the blueline. Another optional need could be a star right winger to play instead of Rucinsky. I think that the rags will sooner or later go back to the wellbalanced kind of team.

Lines:
Erik Cole - Anson Carter - Alexei Kovalev
Jamie Lundmark - Petr Nedved - Martin Rucinsky
Steve Thomas - Mark Messier - Matthew Barnaby
Dan LaCouture - Ronald Petrovicky - Chris Simon

Brian Leetch - Darius Kasparaitis
Dale Purinton - Greg DeVries
Aaron Ward - Vladimir Malakhov

Mike Dunham
Jussi Markkanen (for one year then trade)
Daniel Blackburn (takes Markkanen's place after one year)

Leetch would leave a big hole by being the only really gifted offensive defenseman, Purinton could produce 15 points a season if he continues to develop late. Tyutin could come in after a year as an offensive contributer from the blueline. Another optional need could be a star right winger to play instead of Rucinsky. I think that the rags will sooner or later go back to the wellbalanced kind of team.

I think that lineup is horrible.. no offense, but I'd leave it where it's at now. Getting rid of Hlavac is incredibly stupid. NYR is the ONLY team he's ever had success with. The preseason line of Hlavac - Nedved - Kovalev is stunning.

We're already naming them the 2nd Comming Line.

I think that lineup is horrible.. no offense, but I'd leave it where it's at now. Getting rid of Hlavac is incredibly stupid. NYR is the ONLY team he's ever had success with. The preseason line of Hlavac - Nedved - Kovalev is stunning.

We're already naming them the 2nd Comming Line.

Thanks for the feedback. Do you reckon Hlavac as a hard worker or is he a guy that can't provide when the offense is lacking? Does he work through cold streaks by trying to score again or by working hard in other areas of the game? Do you reckon he is a guy who will pour out his heart and soul to help his team, even in situations that hurts his numbers? I was choosing between Hlavac and Rucinsky and remember seeing Rucinsky as a decent hard worker while I haven't seen too much of Hlavac except his offensive game, do you reckon Hlavac is more of a hard worker than Rucinsky?

Wait until the deadline and dump everyone and pick up money if I have to. That will be their last chance before the new CBA.

Their largest asset would be Kovalev. He could bring in three strong prospects. I would immediately pull the trigger on that.

Getting rid of Lindros will be harder.

Getting rid of Holik means picking up 4-5 mil if you want to get anything in return.

In other words, instead of spending money on free agents, I'd spend money on picking up parts of contracts and then trade these guys to restock the farm.

Then I'd go out and sign some credible free agents depending on what happens with the CBA. The Rangers need to be a little unorthodox if they want to win again.

In fact, I would do this immediately and get into the Ovechkin/Crosby sweepstakes.

They could pick up Cujo, pick up part of his contract and dump him on someone else.

They never should have signed Leetch and Messier. I'd buy out Messier immediately.

Package Poti and Nedved and try to get something for that.

Basically I would trade nearly the entire team and tank.

If they can pay all this money on crappy free agents (aside from the brilliant Kovalev deal), then they can pay the money to restock the farm.

Thanks for the feedback. Do you reckon Hlavac as a hard worker or is he a guy that can't provide when the offense is lacking? Does he work through cold streaks by trying to score again or by working hard in other areas of the game? Do you reckon he is a guy who will pour out his heart and soul to help his team, even in situations that hurts his numbers? I was choosing between Hlavac and Rucinsky and remember seeing Rucinsky as a decent hard worker while I haven't seen too much of Hlavac except his offensive game, do you reckon Hlavac is more of a hard worker than Rucinsky?

Hlavac works his ASS of for NYR. He has always said it was his home away from basically. He and Nedved are very good friends. He will hopefully be good for 60 points this season. He is a good backchecker and will actually go to the net and dig for the garbage goals. Weird thing is, the only place he ever did that was in New York. And he's done it now and in training camp so I wouldn't expect much different in the regular season. He's been great so far.

With Rosie and Hlavac... I'd go with Hlavac. He might be good for 60 and Rosie might go for 45-50 points and not play the game that Hlavac will do.

Getting rid of Lindros will be harder.

Which is why they'll keep him.

Getting rid of Holik means picking up 4-5 mil if you want to get anything in return.

so the team getting him will have a 2.5 million dollar a season (or around there) Holik? Hah. No. We'll keep him.

In other words, instead of spending money on free agents, I'd spend money on picking up parts of contracts and then trade these guys to restock the farm.

The farm IS getting restocked if you haven't looked at their drafts and depth charts. It's a lot better then before.

Then I'd go out and sign some credible free agents depending on what happens with the CBA. The Rangers need to be a little unorthodox if they want to win again.

Credible free agents? Who is a "credible" free agent if Holik, Hlavac, Rosie, Kasper, et all are NOT? The Holik and Kasper contracts were frontloaded as well.

In fact, I would do this immediately and get into the Ovechkin/Crosby sweepstakes.

I'd rather not. They are beginning to get out of the rebuilding hole.

They could pick up Cujo, pick up part of his contract and dump him on someone else.

Why don't the Wings just do that? We have enough money here as it is. THat would be a retarded move.

They never should have signed Leetch and Messier. I'd buy out Messier immediately.

You are insane if they never should've signed Leetch. What the hell are you talking about??!!?? He IS the team. What are you talking about??!??! And I have NO problem signing Messier if he gets the 4th line time (which it looks like he will).

Package Poti and Nedved and try to get something for that.

It better be for the #1 overall pick then. Nedved is easily the best offensive player besides Kovalev. Poti will probably score 60+ points if he stays on the "2nd Comming Line".

Basically I would trade nearly the entire team and tank.

Then you haven't followed the team in the last few years...

...

...

Whew... you're dreamin pal. I didn't know Holik was front-loaded, so you can keep him. But you aren't winning any cups with these other guys. Leetch doesn't matter if you have limitless resources I guess. But the general point is that you got nothing on the farm and your defense is horrible.

Boris Mironov and Vlad the Magician? With Tom Poti? horrible

Sather isn't the greatest at stocking a system, but he's a pro at salary dumps.

The Rangers Defensive Corps is not horrible. It's not even bad. Their team defensively is quite awful, but stick 6 Lidstroms back there with the kind of team they've had the last 6 years and MAYBE you make the playoffs twice. When the forwards sag low all the time and consistantly leave the pointment open, and when you're giving a fossil 18 minutes a night of prime playing time, including 1st PK and 1st 5 on 3 against, you're going to get scored on a lot.

Leetch is very good positionally; he gets in trouble when he tries to overcompensate for his partners shortcomings. It's no coincidence that the last partner he had that he played well with (other than Malakhov for half a season, and even then Leetch finished with 79 points -- what defenseman has come close to that??) was Beukeboom, and Beuke knew his limitations and took care of his side. With Quintal, Lefebvre, Kevin Hatcher, Popovic, and Poti as his partners, it's a micracle Leetch has done as well as he had. Take it from someone who watches him every game.

Malakhov, if he's explicitly told to concentrate defensively, is very, very good. He made a great shutdown pair with Purinton for around 15 games until Dale got injured, and played probably his best hockey ever when paired with Leetch and told to only worry about defense -- Halfway through the year he was mentioned as a Norris possibility.. he was that good... for half the year, thats the rub.

Kasparitis started out God awful last year, but for all the times he was called "Kasparminus" he still finished a +5 and was +22 the last half of the year. He roped himself in and stopped taking himself out of position.

Poti I dislike intensely, but he is what he is. If he can become average defensively it will be an accomplishment. By far the worst defensive guy we have. He does block an ungodly amount of passes with his stupidly long stick, but he's bad positionally and the least physical 215 lb. guy this side of Jonas Hoglund. The weakest link.

de Vries I haven't seen enough of, but seems to be one of those 'smart, steady' types. Whether he craps the bed for us is up to him, but I reserve judgment.

Mironov, as much as I didn't want him re signed, was fairly physical and only took around 30% of so of the games he had with us off. Maybe if he's made to concentrate defensively he can pull it out, but I'd call him our 6th D in any case.

Purinton improved incredibly last year before he got injured. He actually showed moves in the offensive zone, and say what you want about him backing up while playing D, but at least he doesn't get beat wide much anymore, and he knows what he can and can't do, and doesn't try to do what he can't do. He knows his role, and plays it... can't ask more of him than that.

Overall, except for Purinton, all the Rangers D can move the puck out of the zone fairly well. Also, barring Dale, they can all at least skate fairly well to very well. Other than Poti, none of them are soft. They have all the ingredients, and what they need more than anything else is for the forwards to truly make the defensive zone a 5 on 5 situation, instead of 5 on 4.5 or 5 on 3 with a couple of them cherry picking (one notable goal against last year with both Kovalev and Messier jumping... Kovy is Kovy, but come on Mark, my 12 your old cousin could catch you late in the season). Take it from someone who watches them every game, they can absolutely be the sum of their parts, if they get enough help.

Not going to defend NYR's team D, etc., But I will defend one player. replace the great (and I mean that seriously) Al MacInnis right now with Brian Leetch, and the Blues wouldn't miss a beat. Likewise, put him on Philly, and they'd quite possibly have the missing ingredients to kick start their offense that disappears every playoff season. Ditto Toronto. Put him on Detroit and he's quite possibly a Norris candidate once again.
There are many other examples.

Point is this: Injuries certainly take their toll and Leetch is no exception. However, at 35 y/o :eek:, he easily remains one of the best in the game, when healthy.

Re-signing him was, by far, Sather's smartest offseason move.