If Dubinsky has a good year, this teams RFA raises between Dubinsky, Callahan, and Anisimov could amount to an extra 3 million or so between them.
So i'm bit caddy on our UFA situation as of right now. Frolov, Prospal and Fedotenko expire and that gives us an extra 3 mil or so after the raises, hopefully Sauer will be good enough by then that we can deal Rozsival and open up 2-3 more mil, but that is still scraping to find cash to sign a guy like Brad Richards, who is probably going into the downswing of his career.
You want my opinion, we should keep Stepan-Anisimov-Drury as the center line next year, and maybe make a bid on Semin if his price drops.
The importance here is patience. I like Sauer, and think he could be an effective partner for either Staal or MDZ, but, he needs time to prove me right. Stepan and Anisimov each need another year of development. Richards would be a nice fit, and moving Grachev in such a deal would not bother me, but, another hole may be created in the process.
i dont know if people realize how horrible this team would miss rosi right now if he's dealt
we would absolutely need sometime of serviceable defenseman coming back in return
we cannot afford to replace an experienced defenseman with a rookie right now
I agree with you. Im saying hypothetically if Sauer turns into Girardi 2.0, which i think he can be, it puts us in a situation where we dont need Rozsival as badly.
Still not comfortable with MDZ playing top 4 minutes, though.
I agree with you. Im saying hypothetically if Sauer turns into Girardi 2.0, which i think he can be, it puts us in a situation where we dont need Rozsival as badly.
Still not comfortable with MDZ playing top 4 minutes, though.
your probablly talking to the wrong guy because i personally feel that girardi is horendouslly overrated
but i see where you're coming from...and while its possible for the future, i cant see it happening magically this season
he's got a ways to go, and no one else in the lineup or system, girardi included, can handle rosi's minutes
i just dont think its a good idea, in regaurds to this season, to trade rozsival
I agree with you. Im saying hypothetically if Sauer turns into Girardi 2.0, which i think he can be, it puts us in a situation where we dont need Rozsival as badly.
Still not comfortable with MDZ playing top 4 minutes, though.
Even if sauer pans out like that which I think he can this team CANNOT afford to loose rosival right now, in two years yea but not now our defense (which isn't great now) would be awful without rosival.
Bravo on the Rozy love. What an extremely underrated Ranger.
Regarding the bolded, I dont think the Rangers are really in a position to give up assets for anybody.
i agree
my reasoning is because they dont really know what they have yet
after this year we'll have a lot better idea of what we're going to get from Dubi, AA, and Stepan
im pretty sure the front office is using this season as an oppritunity to get a good hard look at what we really have in our system...not a bad idea if you ask me
After the first two games, it seems like the Rangers shouldn't be trying to trade for Richards, but rather they should focus on upgrading the defense.
They need an experienced LD in the worst way.
And Fitzy is right about Del Zotto... the way he plays defensively, he belongs on the third pairing. A top 4 lefty defenseman would be ideal right now.
Larry was a guest of Maloney's yesterday after the first intermission,he told Dave the Rangers are looking for a defenseman and could make a move this week.
imo this is an absolute must...if rosy's near 28:00 last night is any indication of how little trust and faith torts has in eminger/sauer then trading for another dman is a top priority. we won't survive going with only 4 dmen (especially when one of them is del zotto who as a 2nd year player has his own issues). and that was in game 2 against the isles. what happens as we get later in the year and face the caps and pens? do rosy and staal play 40 minutes those games?
as far as richards goes, i say talk to me after xmas. if we are a contender than we can seriously think about it. but imo we won't be even close to a contender at that point if we are only using 2 d pairs.
After the first two games, it seems like the Rangers shouldn't be trying to trade for Richards, but rather they should focus on upgrading the defense.
They need an experienced LD in the worst way.
And Fitzy is right about Del Zotto... the way he plays defensively, he belongs on the third pairing. A top 4 lefty defenseman would be ideal right now.
I don't want to see anyone traded. This core is looking good. They've been together for a few years now. They're getting stronger, faster, and more experienced. I'm damn proud Sather hasn't moved the Dubinsky's and Girardi's, and I hope he never does.
The guys I want moved, don't have the value necessary to acquire a talent like Richards, even as a rental. I'd rather wait until July 1st, and see if we can squeeze him in somehow. I imagine he re-signs with Dallas though.
I'll tell you this much, if we sign Brad Richards it spells the end of Drury. He will inevitably be bought out of the last year of his contract to a) make cap room and b) no point in having a guy making 7 mill as your 4th line center. I'd love to see our middle next year look like richards, anisimov, stepan, boyle (re-signed).
Frolov(4.5)-Richards(7)-Gaborik(7.5)
Dubi(3.5)-Anisimov(2)-Callahan(2.75)
Avery(1.9)-Stepan(820k)-Grachev(820ish I believe)
Boogaard(1.6 )-Boyle(600k)-Prust(850k)
Give Kreider a year in Hartford and insert him into avery's spot the following year when avery comes off the books. Re-sign Frolov 4 years 4-4.5 max per, anymore than that tell him to f off.
Drury bought out
2011-2012 cap hit: $3,716,667
2012-2013 cap hit: $1,666,667
2011-2012 team cap: 60.26 mill. (including potential raises and drury buy-out) assume the cap will be around 61 mill. leaving us room for a spare forward/dman. The following year rosi, avery, prust, boyle will come off the books to provide funds for raises to our rfas. Were in great shape!
I don't know where he will end up playing. But barring retirement or a career ending injury, Drury will be on the payroll next year.
I agree that a buyout is extremely unlikely. However, I wouldn't characterize his spot on the roster as a guarantee, because the season is long and there's the possibility that he declines further. If buying out Drury was the difference between Sather being able to afford Richards (or whatever other big ticket item he wants) I don't doubt that he would consider a buyout.
There's also a chance that Drury becomes dissatisfied with his role on the team and asks to be moved to a contender (assuming we don't make the playoffs). He's getting up there in age, but I find it unlikely that he's been happy with his performance or role over the last year.
He is the captain of his (allegedly, can't claim to know for sure) favorite franchise and is making big bucks doing it.
He takes each loss as a personal blow, but to me that doesn't scream "trade me" as much as it does "Im gonna try to make us better"
Oh, I don't think it screams trade me either, but do you think he's happy playing a 4th line role (which he did for a decent amount of time last year, and isn't out of the question this year -- especially if Prospal returns)? I don't discount it as a possible occurrence.
Personally, I don't put much weigh into the favorite franchise thing . . . especially when that franchise is failing to make the playoffs while nearing the end of his career.
Even if he played 4th line, he'd probably get 10-12 minutes a game from being on the top PK unit, and maybe even throw in some PP time.
With the amount we're paying him, the only problem he should have with that role is feeling like he should be playing well enough to be higher than that.
The NHL's best teams can roll 4 lines. Kennedy-Drury-Prust is a very comfortable line to roll, and probly will get 10 more goals over the course of the season than Boogaard-Boyle-Prust
)-Boyle(600k)-Prust(850k)
