http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/...=lebrun_pierre
One Eastern Conference source told us Saturday the New York Rangers have made Scott Gomez available around the league, but we're not sure how interested the Kings are in him. It's a heck of a big contract.
As much as trading Gomez is absolutely a terrible idea, the hand Sather dealt us with all these contracts it becomes a necessity.
You all thought this offense couldn't do anything last season? Wait until the only center in the organization we have that can pass for a number 1 center on a below average team isn't here.
Dubinsky isn't ready for that, Drury isn't good enough, and Anisimov is no where close ready to center a number 1 line in the NHL.
This leaves one option, filling that void in free agency because you can't not have a number 1 center, and we all know where this path leads.
Not surprising really. I wonder if anyone will take him. He's a good player despite the contract.
Our powerplay sucks to begin with. I can only imagine how brutal it would be without Gomez gaining the zone. Who the hell would take over those duties. Redden? Rozsival?
Yea but they'd rather have Ryan Smyth. The Kings I mean. With Ryan Smyth you'll get more goals. Both had similar years point wise. Forget it. No one wants Gomez because of his contract. He's going no where.
Only if the Canucks were to lose Henrik Sedin and not resign Matts Sundin.
What about San Jose though. Arent they sick of Marleau. Maybe they'd at least take Drury.
Has anyone here stopped to think that a bad year or two could actually help this franchise out in some ways?
Dumping these bad contracts and playing the youngsters could lead to a low finish which would lead to higher draft picks which could lead to that franchise center we've needed. I mean, we haven't had a draft pick higher than #6 in recent years, a 1st or 2nd overall pick could help this team out.
Has anyone here stopped to think that a bad year or two could actually help this franchise out in some ways?
Dumping these bad contracts and playing the youngsters could lead to a low finish which would lead to higher draft picks which could lead to that franchise center we've needed. I mean, we haven't had a draft pick higher than #6 in recent years, a 1st or 2nd overall pick could help this team out.
This is the reason why I think if Islanders use their first draft it should be on Hedman... Not that this is a draft thread but think of it this way. Defense is not as game breaking as an intense offensive player like Tavares might be. So building the team the right way... from the back end out might be the best way to go if they can survive. Only problem is that next year their are no total offensive studs so Tavares might be the deal for them. Next year we are not Stanley Cup bound... Bring up the kids, dump the contract, get ready for Kovalchuk and a responsible back end and some more good youth in the pipes. 1-2 years from now I could see it being a possibility but im not sure we should build to go too deep into the play offs.
Teams with goalies like Lundqvist in their prime never full on rebuild. Deal with it.
There in lies the root problem.
The rebuild was going fine until the organization realized they had a stud goalie who was going to be here for a long time. When Sather realized this, he tried to build a contender now and put a "pause" on the rebuild. He brought in players like Gomez and Drury to help Jagr, but that proved poor. This year was the same deal except he brought in Naslund and Voros to compliment his previous FA blunders of Gomez and Drury and he brought in Redden to "fix" the power play, and that blew up in his face.
Until Slats realizes this league has a cap now and you can't build your core through free agency, this team will stay mediocre.
The core is built from within, the complimentary pieces are brought in through free agency. Not the other way around Glen.
[See: Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Redwings, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders (2-3 years down the road).]
The Rangers will never finish at a low enough position to be drafting in a position where they are getting a sure-fire quality player that could step in.
The youth of this team is already marginal enough, where combined with Lundqvist they aren't finishing in the bottom 5, let alone the bottom 10. You would need to fully gut the team, which is probably impossible based solely on contracts, and even then I don't think you could do it.
Not to mention, to completely risk the team's future to the crap shoot of multiple drafts and the overall success rate of prospects in general, you would probably end up wasting Henrik's career more than if you continue at the current pace.
Betting that heavily on prospects rarely pays off, and while obviously Sather's trend of betting on FAs hasn't worked either, it takes multiple years of bad teams or just the luck of being bad when generational players come through to really get the core that people want to point to. Not to mention, it's not like those teams are immune to cap problems because of it, look at Chicago, Pittsburgh going forward, even Philly and Washington.
So Paraise, Carter, Richards, Gretzlaf, Zetterburg, Datsuyk, Iginla, Savard-- all these guys must have been top 3 picks huh?
The truth is, an organization doesn't have to be in the lottery to develop stud players, they just need to let their players develop instead of winning the UFA wars every year.
The Red Wings haven't been in the lottery in how many years now?
Agree. Don't think anyone wants him gone but we have no choice, gotta free up some cap space. Oh well...
Oh, there are plenty of fans that want him gone. You might want to check the poll titled "Gomez or Drury", which, the last time I checked, had three-quarters of the posters polled voting in favor of keeping Drury over Gomez. I'm sure at least half the board would vote to dump Gomez, if given the chance. But, I understand the fear of dropping from 28th to 30th in offense if Gomez was moved. Al Trautwig would be devastated if he couldn't interview Gomez on a nightly basis anymore.
Until Slats realizes this league has a cap now and you can't build your core through free agency, this team will stay mediocre.
The core is built from within, the complimentary pieces are brought in through free agency. Not the other way around Glen.
[See: Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Redwings, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders (2-3 years down the road).]
That's what the Rangers have been doing...they've just had some bad picks (Jessiman comes to mind), unfortunate circumstances (CHerepanov), and have not gotten as lucky as you'd like to see when compared to a team like Detroit (cmon I know Detroit has good scouts but getting both Datsyuk and Zetterberg in such late rounds is also a lot of luck).
The core of the Rangers team IS homegrown, the problem is just that they don't have any homegrown superstars, and they haven't been crappy enough to get the sure fire superstar picks (or hell, in the year where they drafted in the top ten, it was a crap year for forwards so they drafted Montoya) and yeah, they haven't drafted well enough or lucky enough to get those great picks in later rounds (other than Lundqvist). We can hope Grachev turns out to be one of those, but we'll see.
at any rate, trading Gomez makes a lot of sense at the moment, even if it does leave a hole at center. Because either he needs to step up and be that consistent 80 point player, or he needs to go, because they can't afford to pay him that much to not produce. I know it's not entirely his fault, but it is at least somewhat his fault that the team was so poor on offense last year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jas
Oh, there are plenty of fans that want him gone. You might want to check the poll titled "Gomez or Drury", which, the last time I checked, had three-quarters of the posters polled voting in favor of keeping Drury over Gomez. I'm sure at least half the board would vote to dump Gomez, if given the chance. But, I understand the fear of dropping from 28th to 30th in offense if Gomez was moved. Al Trautwig would be devastated if he couldn't interview Gomez on a nightly basis anymore.
The fact that they lost Naslund, probably Antropov, and who knows what's going on with Zherdev is enough to make them easily look like one of the worst offensive teams in the entire league. Not to mention the complete lack of offensive ability on the blueline. If trading Gomez opens up space to somehow acquire a legitimate pointscorer, then honestly the team will probably be better for it in the long run. It's easier to build a team around that star player than it is to pay just "good" players top dollar and then hope to add a scorer.
frankly...if the rumours are true than it looks like Slats is throwing his master plan of 2 years ago overboard. Ditching what looked like the promissed land
it Gives me no pleasure to say "I told you so", we are in a fine mess.
Let me recap this: Naslund gone, Zherdev possibly, Antropov probably, Drury on offer to Avs and Gomez offered to the league, and the crowd wants Redden, Rozi gone as well.....
It seems we are starting from scratch. Now if we do get Gabby who is going to center for him? Dubi, Ambuhl, Korpo....why would he join a team in tatters? leaving one difficult coach behind to join another over here.
I am just fearful we might do an Avalanche season next year...
Yeah, it's obvious things didn't work out as well as Sather had hoped. I can still see the reason in his moves, but things just weren't lined up correctly for it to all come together. The Rangers lacked the high end prospect depth to compliment signings like Gomez and Drury, and in fact, necessitated those signings because they had no one to legitimately take those center positions.
Everyone clamored for a defenseman and Sather tried to get one, but it didn't work out so great (though it's not surprising). The Rangers have just had needs at the wrong times and Sather wasn't reserved enough in those circumstances.
I think things are a lot different if a player like Gaborik or Kovalchuk had been available 2 years ago instead of Gomez and Drury. But I'm wandering off course here anyways
But basically, if Sather can find a way to rectify his mistake without hurting the team too much, then hey, why not. To be honest I'll take a bad year and a top 5 pick if it means the Rangers will be very competitive in the coming years.
I still think his plan is to trade one or two players and sign Gaborik. It's just so Sather. Some risk, high reward, could potentially work out great...
frankly...if the rumours are true than it looks like Slats is throwing his master plan of 2 years ago overboard. Ditching what looked like the promissed land
it Gives me no pleasure to say "I told you so", we are in a fine mess.
Let me recap this: Naslund gone, Zherdev possibly, Antropov probably, Drury on offer to Avs and Gomez offered to the league, and the crowd wants Redden, Rozi gone as well.....
It seems we are starting from scratch. Now if we do get Gabby who is going to center for him? Dubi, Ambuhl, Korpo....why would he join a team in tatters? leaving one difficult coach behind to join another over here.
I am just fearful we might do an Avalanche season next year...
This team is in disarray.
I just wish Dolan would smarten up and realize that the sooner he cans Glen the quicker we can restore a legit team. Do it now when you have some good young players as the core and stellar goaltender.
Thats' what some people just never seem to grasp.
