Comments on: Bye, bye, Nik

By: section 407

section 407 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:05:53 +0000

Gaborik without a strong support staff will be very easy to keep off the score boards by opposing teams. We need additional scoring. Give Zherdev the 4M already.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:48:03 +0000

Anyone who wants Zherdev gone is out of their mind. He’s a 23 year old who had 58 points last year while apparently not playing all out.

Where else are you going to get 60+ points for $4 million in this league?

And who now after Gaborik is going to be the scoring option? Callahan? Maybe. But that may be asking too much at this point.

Let’s give him his $4 million, see how he plays out under a full year of Torts and then decide whether or not he is a centerpiece of our future.

Giving up on a 23 year old kid with tremendous upside is the wrong move, any way you argue it.

By: NYRangersFan

NYRangersFan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:11:28 +0000

I kind of new it might come to this when they got Zherdev. The same thing happen to Kovalev here. Personally I think there is no problem here. Let the arbitrator decide how much he gets. I am sure it will not be over 4 million. Antropov is better than him at this point, and Antropov was a free agent. They gave Naslund 4 million but he retired after a poor season. All of this should be told to the arbitrator. 3 million he should get.

Where he fits in the lineup is another question. Hopefull on the second line. He has to beat out Callahan, another right wing who filed for arbitration after scoring over 20 goals last year, for that spot.

He is only 24 and if the Rangers are truly rebuilding then they will not give up on him. I cannot believe they traded Tyutin for him last year and will get nothing in return.

By: MAKO

MAKO — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:22:56 +0000

I just cant believe how Sather can throw an obscene amount of money at Redden, Gomez, Drury and Rozsival but not give this kid another chance. We all know how fickle some players are and he didnt really have much to work with last season, but before Antro he WAS the top scorer on the team. I think matched with Gaborik those two can do special things together. But that is just my opinion.

By: Wicky229

Wicky229 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:53:11 +0000

WOW!! My day off, I go run a couple errands and miss everything….where to start!!

I would put my vote in for versteeg (not sure at 5 mil per, but yes go get him slats)I’m ok with koivu or zubov, rozy must go!!!!!! Glad to see Z walk (if he does), just don’t think it will work in torts system with him!! Glad jagr is gone and no to him coming back.

Our d IS soft, If we are saying staal and girardi are our “tough physical guys” then we are a team with a softer D. This is not saying they are not physical, staal and girardi are, but if they are your “most physical guys” then it is a problem. Staal could develop into a big time physical guy and hitter, but isn’t now. We do not have that guy on D that we need that the other team says “is that guy going to bury me when I’m on the ice, how many times will he cross check me???” A guy like komisarek, pronger, phaneuf, bueke, pilon, samuelsson, witt, dare i say it GAUTHIER!!!!! A play with an edge or an unpedictableness that makes other team’s players always think of where is he and what is he going to do. Kinda what brash brings to the team….btw he is a ranger now so go brash!!!

Lastly, Brodiva…no class at all cheats on his wife, and his record is based upon being a goalie in the right system at the right time (can we say new jersey trap). He is a good goalie, but not great. the stifiling trap with lax nhl obstruction rules seriously bloated his record (but, it is his record)..I’d take Roy over him any day any time any game!!!!

Thanks, I feel better!!!

By: 4everanger

4everanger — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:18:34 +0000

As for Nic situation, unlike majority, I think it will be big loss. You can teach or force a lot of things for players, exept God given talant and that’s a case. Besides being able to score unbelivable goals he’s playmaker – watch his laser passes setting scoring guys and vision of the game, which a lot of his partners didn’t share or posess. By his character he is of course soft on puck and shy,witch was extremely annoying to watch sometimes,but he has time and desire to overcome it.He is not hartless or gutless; we saw him even try to fight and stand for partners. I’m pretty sure he likes and wants play for Rangers, just like all rear talants needs work and patients. Think about it, with everything negative being said he score 1.5 times more points than all favorite Calli.I do believe his potential is still huge and hate to see if it will bite us in an ass later in any other team. My point is – you almost always can force talant to work, but could never force mediocraty become talant. May be I’m wrong but we should try at least

By: Alex T

Alex T — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:34:32 +0000

J Bone

Spot on. Great comments.

By: CCCP

CCCP — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:26:08 +0000

7 years?? Pronger will be older than Redden when his contract is up! lol

btw…Redden and Pronger were both 2nd overall picks in their respective draft years!

By: rangerfan32

rangerfan32 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:22:56 +0000

“A local Fan” seriously get your head out of Marty’s Fat ass! There is no way you can be a Devils and a Rangers Fan!
No Matter what you say to defend your so called “Loyalty” to the Rangers you are wrong. I read this Blog everyday and it makes me sick, you are just here to piss off the real New York Rangers Fans! What a joke! If you are a Rangers fan, there is no other team that matters, everyone else on this site sat there and cheered for our team through the losing years while you were off cheering for Marty and the Debbies! But now that the Blue Shirts are relevent once again it is now convenient for you to be a Rangers fan. God I hate “Fans” like you and i use the word “Fans” very loosely!
Next your going to be a Fishsticks fan!

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: J Bone

J Bone — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:20:30 +0000

I feel like arguing about how many games Gaborik is going to play is somewhat useless in July. Looking at his last few seasons, it seems obvious that he could play anywhere from 0 to 82 games this season and there’s no way to predict it. We’re all going to have to hope for the best and just swallow our medicine if he gets hurt.

Also if the Zherdev arbitration only comes out to $4 mil, why wouldn’t we re-sign him? If you’d argue that you’d rather spend the money on an aging star like Zubov or Koivu, I’d like you to think about our signings the last few summers. (See: Redden, Wade.) There’s not many young players with Zherdev’s talent, and he might not fulfill it but I’m more than willing to give him a year to try, especially seeing as there aren’t other options out there we could acquire without a trade.

This team’s not going to win the cup next season regardless, so it really can’t hurt to give Zherdev one more year to realize his potential. If he does, then great for us. If not, we let him go and bring up a young guy.

Finally, am I the only person who isn’t quite ready to rush Grachev up? I know his video looks impressive and everything; he’s big and fast and looks like he has scoring instincts. But he played in Juniors last year. He was older and bigger than a lot of the players in his league, and that doesn’t mean he can come up and be effective in the NHL right away. Someone compared him to Ovechkin a little earlier, and I think we all need to just cool off a bit regardless of how impressive 4 minutes of YouTube highlights can be.