I agree, the only one that I have observed that has the potential to be elite is Kreider, but that remains to be seen. Everyone else projects to be a solid 2nd liner if they reach their ceiling. On defense we have a logjam of prospects who have potential to be top4 guys at best
The thing is you just never know. Without picks at the very top of the draft it becomes very hard to project. You just have to keep drafting well. I term elite talent as legitimate first-liners, first pairing defensemen, and star goalies. A guy like Stepan could hit all the right notes and top out as a true first-line center. Thomas could fulfill his potential. Or a guy like Fasth could surprise. We shall see.
Gaborik is not good defensively because he doesnt think about it all the time.
Agree. On some nights he'll look quite Ok defensively but on other nights he looks lazy and disinterested.
Dont care too much though. Gaborik and Richards are here for production and if both can put up PPG type season next season I'll be happy with that regardless of their defensive play.
Yes this is unfortunate news about his injury problems. I do think Gaborik's release is top 3 in the league while Kane will beat you in so many ways, his backhand shot is also one of the better ones in the league. This is why I choose Patrick Kane over Gaborik, nothing against Gaborik but Kane is better.
I actually think Kane is a little overrated but that doesn't mean he's a damn good player. He's probably overall better than Gaborik but not by a whole lot. Yes he can create with the puck better but he also turns it over a lot and he isn't the goal scorer that Gaborik is. Better playmaker though.
The issue of Richards' defense is being exxagerated to an extent in my opinion. Im not saying hes going to be good or even above average in the defensive end, but the guy has been on some pretty shoddy defensive teams over the past several years, especially when it comes to goaltending.
I'd imagine Torts is going to match the Richards line against other team's #1 lines most nights, meaning he'll be on the ice with Staal and Girardi the majority of the time - with Lundqvist back there as an additional safety net.
But the most important thing is Richards' offensive contributions to this team will FAR outweight any defensive shortcomings.
Finally, Richards knows the length of his contract will bring questions as to how effective he can be for the life of the pact. He just turned 31 and he said he feels he’s coming off his two best seasons in the NHL.
“I don’t consider turning 31 old, I’ve got a lot of years left,” Richards said.
Richards has always been known as a fitness/workout fanatic and Fedotenko said he expected Richards to remain an effective player for a long time as well.
“I don’t think it’s about age anymore,” Fedotenko said. “It’s about a player’s preparation and how he takes care of his body. If you’re willing to do these things, it doesn’t matter if you’re 27 or 32.”
Richards is different from those players for one major reason: the era he plays in. When the NHL returned from its lockout in 2005, rules became more favorable for finesse players—"clutching and grabbing" was outlawed and generally, players take less of a pounding on the ice. It has prolonged careers, changed what type of player can thrive in the NHL and it might just have saved the Rangers' future.
One of the most similar players to Richards is center Ed Olczyk, who had 743 points at Richards's age but retired at age 33. Olczyk, now an analyst for NBC and Versus, said he thinks Richards will not fall apart quickly because of the post-lockout rules and his devotion to fitness. Olczyk says he doesn't see a fall off for Richards, "certainly not anytime in the first four to five years."
"You can get rid of your anti-aging cream. You don't need it—the body takes a lot less pounding," Olczyk said of being a center in the post-lockout era. "A player can use his veteran savvy to prolong your career. It is much easier to get to the end of your career now without the hooking, grinding, grabbing—that's all tiresome."
The fact is that no one can predict how an athlete ages: it's a matter of genetics more than anything else.
An interesting article in the New York Times Sunday Magazine a few weeks ago focused on Derek Jeter and aging and the consensus among doctors seems to be that an athlete's peak years are between 26-30.
Obviously, nutrition and workout routines can extend that to some extent, but not totally and not predictably. Strength seems easier to hold onto than quickness and reflexes.
We've all seen elite pitchers lose miles off of their fastballs in the late twenties and early thirties while others retain their velocity well into their thirties (and I don't mean drug enhanced athletes like Clemens).
I think it is a truism around the NFL that few high end running backs remain effective beyond 30, but there are exceptions.
Few elite soccer players remain as productive beyond 30 as they were in the twenties, although some are.
In hockey, for every Joe Sakic, there is Chris Drury. For every Ray Borque, there is Wayne Redden.
It's not a question of effort. It's not a question of dedication to working out and diet (though that certainly helps), it's a question of genetics and each person's internal aging clock.
Certainly, the style of play in the post-lockout NHL is a positive factor, but players continue to get bigger, stronger, and faster while the ice remains the same size. The league also seems to be skewing younger and younger....thus faster and faster. Players who slow down even a tiny bit are more apt to be hit. Certainly the speed of the game is a factor in concussions.
The bottom line is that with BR we can only hope for the best and that he is one of those athletes will can maintain high performance well into his 30s. With all apologies to Eddie O, there is simply no way of telling, predicting, or knowing. Every contract or trade for a 30+ player is a gamble. In BR's case, a gamble worth taking, but a gamble nevertheless.
NHL star Brad Richards signed his nine-year, $60 million contract with the New York Rangers in plain view of other guests at Cablevision honcho and team owner Jim Dolan's Oyster Bay, LI, estate at an Indepedence Day party last week. Rangers general manager Glen Sather pulled Richards aside at the barbecue to sign the papers. Teammate Sean Avery was standing nearby at the surprisingly low-key and impromptu moment. "He just sat down and signed on the dotted line on a table outside," a spy said. Later in the evening, fireworks rocketed over the beachfront property.
The relationship between Richards and head coach John Tortorella makes this different than the all the failed signings preceding it. This isn’t a coach hoping a player can do the job; this is a coach knowing the player can get it done.
And it is the relationship between Richards and Tortorella that allowed the head coach to sell the owner on front-loading to the count of $20M over the next 12 months, that allowed the coach to vouch for this player as he never could for anyone else.
Marty St.Louis was a Hart Trophy finalist at the age of 35 this season.
I think just about everyone here would sign up for a 70 point season from Richards in year 7 (age 37) of his contract. lol Honestly, 100 points in that season would make this one of the best UFA signings in not only NYR history, but I'd also argue NHL history...assuming the first 6 are typical Richards in terms of production.
Richards got out of Dallas just in time. Richards was waiting for the team to get sold.
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Gaglardi entered his 30-day exclusive window in late April, and the lenders and the NHL extended that window once, but they declined to do it a second time. However, for the purposes of the process, Gaglardi still is miles ahead of any other potential bidder. What the lenders, the NHL and the Stars would like is an official ``signed purchase agreement,'' that they can use either as the starting point in an auction or as a document that will be taken to a pre-packaged bankruptcy hearing.
Getting that purchase agreement is complicated for many reasons. On one hand, the bidder wants to put forth a price that will win him the team and that will hopefully not send the bidding process into an auction. But, he also doesn't want a bid so high that it's a bad deal. The lenders, meanwhile, want to agree to a price that would not be disappointing if it's the sale price of the team. While the lenders are hoping for an auction, if they sign a purchase agreement, there is the chance nobody bids over that original price
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The Stars are a distressed property right now. One source said they lost $15 million last season and that was with player costs of $47 million and an average attendance of 15,073. This season, they are budgeted to have player costs around $52 million and could actually see attendance drop even further. They have very little momentum in ticket sales this summer, and have not been able to really put on much of a push.
Watched a lot of Stars games on NHL Center Ice this year (usually a later start out west) and Dallas always seemed to be a really, really empty arena.
When I played U16, we had a Tourney in Dallas. We went to a Stars home game, and it was empty. Not even half of the stands were filled. It was pretty sad, and the place was flat as hell. I would hate to play there
It's not the Stars' fault. It's huge, awesome steaks. People in TX want their hockey, but they make a mistake of eating 72oz of glory before the game.. they're too tired to get to the arena and just go home to watch it.
It's not the Stars' fault. It's huge, awesome steaks. People in TX want their hockey, but they make a mistake of eating 72oz of glory before the game.. they're too tired to get to the arena and just go home to watch it.
I went to a game in chicago in early 2007, against detroit. I was able to buy a ticket in the 1st row next to the penalty box on the day of the game. The place was only have full and half of those were detroit fans.
In the 5 months I was working out there, I don't think I saw even 1 blackhawk game televised.
