I dont see how people thought the cap would go down. The NHL has been doing pretty well financially this past season, agents see this and want a piece of the pie thus demanding higher contracts for their players, cap goes up. Rocket science!
With this extra 2 mil we need not cripple ourselves with another 7 million contract with Marleau or Kovy, we can now realistically add a solid second goal scorer. I say can Redden, bring up some Hartford kids and save the cap space for a season. We're not going anywhere even if we do spend to the limit, so why even bother? Take the rebuild season, get the pick and in 2011 we'll make some noise.
I dont see how people thought the cap would go down. The NHL has been doing pretty well financially this past season, agents see this and want a piece of the pie thus demanding higher contracts for their players, cap goes up. Rocket science!
With this extra 2 mil we need not cripple ourselves with another 7 million contract with Marleau or Kovy, we can now realistically add a solid second goal scorer. I say can Redden, bring up some Hartford kids and save the cap space for a season. We're not going anywhere even if we do spend to the limit, so why even bother? Take the rebuild season, get the pick and in 2011 we'll make some noise.
The NHL thought the cap was going to go down. They based their projections on the economy but last summer there were signs it was not going to be bad.
I dont see how people thought the cap would go down. The NHL has been doing pretty well financially this past season, agents see this and want a piece of the pie thus demanding higher contracts for their players, cap goes up. Rocket science!
With this extra 2 mil we need not cripple ourselves with another 7 million contract with Marleau or Kovy, we can now realistically add a solid second goal scorer. I say can Redden, bring up some Hartford kids and save the cap space for a season. We're not going anywhere even if we do spend to the limit, so why even bother? Take the rebuild season, get the pick and in 2011 we'll make some noise.
I called this 2 year ago at the buisniss board. Nearly got thrown off the boards for it, all the know-it-all were dead confident the cap would go down 25%, at least...
There is a numbers of factors I brought up then, that have played a part in the cap not skydiving. For example, companys buys NHL tickets. Companys cut costs. How much cost for an avg company seasonticket holder is a season ticket, or a box, or a handful of seasontickets? Nothing. How many in the US got less money in their pockets thanks to the financial crash? College funds etc probably took a big hit et c, but it was not like even 10% lost their jobs or something like that. The avg dude wasn't that hard hit.
And more importantly. The US can not get rid of their defecit without 1. inflation and 2. a lower dollar. The US owes China in US currency. If the currency goes down its cheaper for other countrys to buy from the US. Its like a store lowering their prices without it effecting their marginals towards the suppliers. Inflation also effects your currency negativly. So the financial crash were supposed to push up the cap with the USD going down, right? Nope it did the opposite. If their is a big storm you want to sit in the biggest boat. At the height of the crash the USD was still pretty safe compared to other currencys. Nobody believed in it long term, but short term people still wanted to trade in USD so it went up instead. This effected the cap in a negative way since revenuea of the canadian teams went down. The loonie were bound to go up a lot, which effects the cap a lot.
And at last, I am telling you, there is no reason whatsoever to not expect the cap to go up a lot in the future. If it weren't for the financial crash -- the cap would probably be closer to 70mil this upcoming season. Imagine if we had 10m more to spend? Drurys contract for example wouldn't be so horrible. I hate Slats with a passion, but the fact alone that he went UFA hunting before the crash wasn't so bad in itself (unless one claims that Slats should have forseen the crash...). Natrually Drury would not be worth 7m no matter what, and Redden would still suck tremendously, but had he overpaid moderately for a 7m player 3 years ago, and the cap today was like 67m -- what wouldn't have been all that tough to bear.
And unless one thinks we'll see another crash in the near future, the same applys for the future. Unless there will be a crash of the centruary in 2-3 years, its not a bad idea to bring in longterm contracts that are costly today, you'll get a de facto 5-10% discount per them the first year, then like a 5.5-11% discount the second year, then like a 6-12% discount the third year, then like a 6.4-13.2% discount the fourth year -- and so forth.
Are there risks with long term deals? Not per say. The Islanders for example isn't paying one cent "of their cap" for DiPiertro today.
The Rangers "balanced attack" consists of a bunch of plumbers and Marian Gaborik.
A guy like Kovalchuk to shoulder the offensive load isnt just what the Rangers could use, its exactly what they need.
First off, we don't know how Gaborik will do in the playoffs. So far, in big games, like the last game of the regular season, he was just one of the guys, he did not stand out at all.
Second, Kovalchuk is a player who needs to be the center of the team. That is how he was able to score a lot of goals in Atlanta. He is a pug hug and he will not share the puck with Gaborik or Dubinsky or Callahan and it will only lead to locker room problems. In NJ, he rarely shared the puck and it made their PP look completely out of sorts since he did not attempt to have any chemistry with anyone else on that PP. This kind of strategy might work in the regular season but it will not work in the playoffs when the top teams will hone in on that one player...as Montreal did with Ovechkin and Malkin.
Finally, what the Rangers really need is a #1 Center. If you notice, every team that has made it far in these playoffs(and in years past) has had a very strong group of Centers:
What the Rangers have is a number of #2 and #3 centers. We do not have a Toews or even a Richards or Briere right now. I don't know if Marleau is the solution. But I do know he would be an improvement over having Christensen as our first line center! I also know that Kovy will cause more problems than solutions.
First off, we don't know how Gaborik will do in the playoffs. So far, in big games, like the last game of the regular season, he was just one of the guys, he did not stand out at all.
Second, Kovalchuk is a player who needs to be the center of the team. That is how he was able to score a lot of goals in Atlanta. He is a pug hug and he will not share the puck with Gaborik or Dubinsky or Callahan and it will only lead to locker room problems. In NJ, he rarely shared the puck and it made their PP look completely out of sorts since he did not attempt to have any chemistry with anyone else on that PP. This kind of strategy might work in the regular season but it will not work in the playoffs when the top teams will hone in on that one player...as Montreal did with Ovechkin and Malkin.
Finally, what the Rangers really need is a #1 Center. If you notice, every team that has made it far in these playoffs(and in years past) has had a very strong group of Centers:
What the Rangers have is a number of #2 and #3 centers. We do not have a Toews or even a Richards or Briere right now. I don't know if Marleau is the solution. But I do know he would be an improvement over having Christensen as our first line center! I also know that Kovy will cause more problems than solutions.
The Rangers didnt make the playoffs this season. Are you saying they wont make the playoffs again this season and actually be worse off if they sign Kovalchuk as a free agent?
Take a minute to think about that one....Because thats a proclamation I'd be happy to bet against.
This may not be feasible due to some bad contracts lying around and the 10% rule.
Here goes anyway:
RFAs
Re-sign Staal @ 4 yrs/14 million
Re-sign Girardi @ 3 yrs/8.5 million
Re-sign Christensen @ 2 yrs/1.6 million
Re-sign Shelly @ 2 yrs/1.4 million
Re-sign Prust @ 2 yrs/1.2 million
Resign Lisin for cheap if possible (probably not)
UFAs
Sign Kovalchuk @ 7 yrs/60 million
Sign Volchenkov @ 4 years/18 million
Sign C Foster @ 1 yr/2 million
Sign Hedberg @ 2 yrs/2.6 million
Let Jokinen, Prospal and Eriksson (?) walk.
Trades
Trade Rozsival + our 1st pick (nr 10) + sweetener to Atlanta for their 1st (nr 8) + their 3rd pick 2010
Redden to Hartford or terminate contract if he refuses assignment.
Trade Brashear to Colorado for Preissing (who does not make NYR team in camp) or terminate Brashears contract if he refuses assignment in Hartford.
Try to trade Lisin + Voros + Rissmiller for ev low picks at the draft, AHLers or for future considerations
(What became of The Specimens offered future considerations from Nashville btw? A defunct box of Cheerioes?)
I would also try to use Gilroy to move up in the 2nd round of the draft
Roster
Weise, Byers and ev Lisin (if resigned for cheap) battle for the 13th forward spot.
Sangs, McD, Niemmi and Sauer battle for last dman spot.
Sign a vet D for cheap (Eriksson?)
Draft
Choose Johansson in the 1st Round as nr 8 (from Atlanta)
Choose Evgeni Kuznetsov in 2nd Round (ev trade up to get him with Gilroy as bait)
Choose a goalie in the 3rd round (Atlantas pick)
LINES 2010/2011 FORWARDS
Brandon Dubinsky ($1.850m) / * Erik Christensen ($1.300m) / Marian Gaborik ($7.500m)
* Ilya Kovalchuk ($8.571m) / Artem Anisimov ($0.822m) / Mats Zuccarello-Aasen ($1.750m)
Ryan Callahan ($2.300m) / Chris Drury ($7.050m) / Sean Avery ($1.938m)
* Jody Shelley ($0.700m) / Brian Boyle ($0.525m) / * Brandon Prust ($0.600m)
*Dale Weise or Enver Lisin or Dane Byers ($0.700m)
DEFENSEMEN
* Anton Volchenkov ($4.500m) / Michael Del Zotto ($1.087m)
* Daniel Girardi ($2.833m) / * Marc Staal ($3.500m)
* Kurtis Foster ($2.000m)/ Bobby Sanguinetti ($0.855m) * Anders Eriksson or other Vet through trial or UFA ($0.600m)
GOALTENDERS
Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875m)
* Johan Hedberg ($1.300m)
Comments
We would then still have Stepan, Johansson, Grachev, Kuznetsov, Werek, Borque, Hagelin, Kreider, Kveton and Horak in the pipeline on F. Here we should reasonably get at least 3-4 real NHL caliber players on the team in the future. These would be able to fill up the top 3 lines (Christ/Drury/Avery/MZA?…) in the future
On D – we would have a very young D core already on the team + 3 of Sangs/McD/Niemi/Sauer(if resigned), Valentenko, Williams, Kundratek and Dowzak in the future mix
Voros spent the weekend in the Hamptons with Henrik and Avery who has rented a house there for the summer. Another season @$1 million for Voros. If you look at the Rangers 32 SPCs,they have so much garbage signed. Some of those players like Soryal,Didiomete and Zaborsky are not even AHL players.
Dave Maloney was a co-host of NHL Live yesterday. A caller asked about the Rangers. Maloney said the Rangers top priorities are re-signing Staal and Girardi. He felt the Rangers would not look to add money on defense via free agency because they already have the R&R boys for big money. He talked about Redden. Felt the Rangers have to do something with him. He said the Rangers can't trade him because he makes too much $ and buying him out isn't the answer either. You can fill in the only other alternative. LaGreca asked him if the Rangers were to offer #10 as a part of a Redden deal,would that work?Maloney said the Rangers wouldn't make that offer and another team wouldn't take on the contract even with the pick added. He said the Rangers want to sign Christensen,Prust and Shelley. Add a goalie and there goes most of the money. He said the Rangers would look to add players bwtn 25-30 years old who can grow with the team. Mentioned Stepan, Kreider and McDonagh as players to be added to the team soon. Didn't think the Rangers would be big buyers this summer.
The CBA is going to expire after next season or 11-12. Nhlpa has the right to extend it 1 year which would the 11-12 season. Brooks and LeBrun have written about there being some type compliance buyout/transition period after the new CBA is negotiated. Redden can cool his jets for 1 or 2 years and the Rangers can buy him out during the compliance buyout period which won't count against the cap. That is the only logical solution. Torts doesn't want him on the team anymore. His salaries are $6.5 million per in the next 2 years. 1 or 2 years in the AHL.
would we be able to send work a redden to europe deal like nylander if we just say hes playing in the AHL for the next 4 years if he doesnt agree to go overseas?
would we be able to send work a redden to europe deal like nylander if we just say hes playing in the AHL for the next 4 years if he doesnt agree to go overseas?
where would a canadian, living in NY making 6.5mill, want to go in europe?
