Quote:
Originally Posted by Antithesis
I don't think its a major coincidence that the one year Gaborik scores 20 goals instead of 40 and is out injured for a period, Del Zotto puts up little to nothing in terms of production. And we all know that he is average at best defensively.
If Del Zotto gets too much this contract, and makes the Rangers have to trade Gaborik, DZ's production will then likely diminish as a product of not providing to as much goal scoring talent. It will hurt his future worth, is what i'm saying.
|
Hmmm it's difficult to imagine how MDZ's point production would be at risk of diminishing considering we just added Rick Nash to our line-up. How many of MDZ's points do you believe were a product of Gaborik's doing and plays that no other forward in Gaborik's position could have finished or contributed to? Plus you have a roster of developing young forwards (Hagelin, Kreider, Stepan, Cally) who have not peaked offfensively and will contribute more offensively as they gain experience... That alone would serve to benefit not only MDZ's point production but that of all of our defenseman.
I thought MDZ's season last year was nothing short of SOLID. He battled and worked hard all season and bought into the defensive system well. With Staal missing 36 games he logged a lot of minutes playing alongside 2 defensemen I would consider average defensively, and MDZ finished with a +20 on the season compared to Eminger (0) and Stralman (+9). He was 2nd among the defensemen in hits and put up 40+ points with 2 GWG. I have to imagine the Rangers brass were very pleased with his season. He did what they asked him to do coming back from a disappointing season. He certainly played and carried himself like a 2nd pairing defenseman last season and I thought his defensive play was certainly better than average. Plus he's still just 22 years old and with just 200 NHL games played, there's no reason to believe he has peaked in terms of his offensive game or his ability to improve his defensive play.. If he can replicate the season he had last year he's going to establish himself as a valuable/effective 2nd pairing NHL defenseman.
Most important thing here will be to try and structure a contract around the other contracts that are going to expire in 2014 (Callahan, Lundqvist, Girardi, McDonagh (RFA), Kreider (RFA), Gaborik). Rangers have leverage and need to try and use it but it would be best to try and ink MDZ to a 3 or 4 year deal. We don't want his contract set to expire with the rest of those in 2 years and on a short year deal if he continues to predominantly bring his A-Game, he is going to command a higher cap hit to re-sign to a multiyear deal then, than he is now. I bet Sather will extend a real low ball offer short-term and then a more enticing longer term offer. This will only be his 2nd contract so he may be inclined to accept a nice payday on a negotiated multiyear deal.