Hmmmmm.....

[True Blue]

This is from today's Daily News:

"After a poor game Monday, D Tom Poti appears slated to be a scratch tonight as he paired with Dale Purinton at practice yesterday. Brian Leetch was with GregdeVries and Darius Kasparaitis with Joel Bouchard as the Vladimir Malakhov-Boris Mironov pairing remains intact.... "

This brings up several points of interest. Has Sather finally seen the light and will he truly bench Poti so that Bouchard can play. Let's take this idea a little further. Say that Bouch has his typical strong game again, does Poti continue to ride the pine or will Bouchard go back to being not dressed no matter how well he plays? Or will Sather finally do what we have been screaming to do and that is just sit the defenseman who performs the worst on any given night?
To carry the thought a little further, does anyone think that if Bouchard plays well tonight and then stays in the lineup and has another good pair of games against the Devs and Chicago over the weekend, does that facilitate a possible speeding up of Poti being traded? Let's face it, Kasper & M&M are pretty much untradeable, and Leetchie and de Vries are not going anywhere. So that leaves Poti as our best defensive (if you can call him that) trading chip.

[JR#9*]

Poti will bring little in return based on his high salary, poor play and soft reputation so I really don't see the point in moving him.He's still more valuable to us than anything he'd bring back in a trdae IMO.

And if they did move him for garbage I'd go F;'in ape ****!!!

Jar-Jar---juust the other day after the Oiler game you said you'd still make that deal for Poti again while giving up Mike York and all I can say to that is WHHHHHYYYYYY??????

York LOVED being a Ranger and I challange anybody to come up with a Ranger who in the last 15-20 yrs gave more each and every shift then this guy.

You need heart and soul conrnerstones like Yorkie could've been here for 12-15 yrs if they held onto him.He'd have fit in great with Lindros and a guy who brings the hustle,skill-versatility of a Mike York is much harder to come by then an offensive d-man in Poti's mold. :mad:

[Theoren Fan]

I really think M&M should be split up, that pairing is just too inconsistent

[Melrose_Jr.]

Originally Posted by JR#9

Poti will bring little in return based on his high salary, poor play and soft reputation so I really don't see the point in moving him.He's still more valuable to us than anything he'd bring back in a trdae IMO.

And if they did move him for garbage I'd go F;'in ape ****!!!

With Berard out there as a UFA, I can't see any GM in their right mind trading for Poti.

I think Sather has moving Poti in the back of his mind, but this could be a case of shopping Bouchard, who's definitely a more valueable trading chip. Not that I'm advocating it, but package him with Carter and we could get something decent in return.

[NYR469]

Originally Posted by JR#9

Poti will bring little in return based on his high salary, poor play and soft reputation so I really don't see the point in moving him.He's still more valuable to us than anything he'd bring back in a trdae IMO.

I disagree with that...poti is playing like crap now so he isn't earning the raise he got but his salary isn't high. if he plays like he did last year, than $2.8 mil for the 7th highest scoring dman is not expensive at all...especially for a team that desparately needs a guy to run the point...

and i also think that he'd have more value to another team because another team would be smart enough to use him properly...they wouldn't pretend he is something he isn't. they wouldn't make him kill penalties and they would pair him with a stay-at-home guy that covers up his flaws...not to mention that if he played in a team with an actually system around him his flaws would be minimized rather than emphasized like they are here...

on york, i absolutely hate the fact that we trade him (eventhough i'm one of the only people that doesn't hate poti)...but hardworking players like york are MUCH easier to find than a highly skilled defensemen...it might not seem that way when looking at the rangers since we never get them, but there are alot more hard working wingers than there are high skilled defensemen...of course that doesn't mean it was a good trade, just that there are more options to replace york

[NYR469]

Originally Posted by Melrose_Jr.

With Berard out there as a UFA, I can't see any GM in their right mind trading for Poti.

berard was signed by chicago

[True Blue]

Originally Posted by Theo Fan

I really think M&M should be split up, that pairing is just too inconsistent

For whatever the reason, Jackass seems reluctant to splint them up. Likewise, he seems afraid to go into a game w/o both of them in the lineup.

"Jar-Jar---juust the other day after the Oiler game you said you'd still make that deal for Poti again while giving up Mike York and all I can say to that is WHHHHHYYYYYY??????"

You waste your time on this, JR. He'll never respond.

"Poti will bring little in return based on his high salary, poor play and soft reputation so I really don't see the point in moving him.He's still more valuable to us than anything he'd bring back in a trdae IMO.

And if they did move him for garbage I'd go F;'in ape ****!!!"

I'm not advocating that we run him out of town, and I would be just as angry as you if we game him up for drek. However, my question remains. What happens if he truly is scratched tonight and Bouchard has another strong game? One would logically ass-u-me that he would then be back in the lineup. Someone clearly has to be the odd-man out if Bouchard forces his way into the top 6 tonight. Poti is the only tradeable defensive chip. As I said before, Kasper & M&M are pretty much untradeable due to age, $$$, injury history, and poor performance. One way to alleviate the problems of 7 defensemen (notice that I an not including Dale nor is my solution to play 7-dmen) is just to not dress the one who performs poorly. So if Poti sits tonight, he then has to hope that one of the other 6 performs poorly and then that other player will sit. Otherwise, keep him not dressed until there is a poor performance.

[Bacchus]

Originally Posted by JR#9

York LOVED being a Ranger and I challange anybody to come up with a Ranger who in the last 15-20 yrs gave more each and every shift then this guy.

You need heart and soul conrnerstones like Yorkie could've been here for 12-15 yrs if they held onto him.He'd have fit in great with Lindros and a guy who brings the hustle,skill-versatility of a Mike York is much harder to come by then an offensive d-man in Poti's mold. :mad:

Nothing to add...