|
|
Sponsored by: |
The Habs have signed Paul Mara for one year.
See the story, and one last great picture of that beard, here.
————————
If you want to see our video chat about the Rangers’ offseason—or if you want to see it again—click here.
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 12:37 pm by Carp.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
Rick Carpiniello grew up in Harrison and began working in The Journal News' sports department (back when it was The Reporter Dispatch and eight other newspapers) in October of 1977 after a year of covering high school sports as a stringer. For more than 20 years he covered the New York Rangers and the National Hockey League. Carpiniello has been writing columns on everything from local sports to the big leagues since 2002. READ MORE
Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
Copyright ©2009 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties in New York.
Bad Behavior has blocked 4978 access attempts in the last 7 days.
Sad!
... we’re gunna miss mara, he was one of our most underrated d-man :/
That beard was worth thousands of comments last spring. We here at the Festivus Blog will miss it.
shucks. =(
2nd & 3rd :)
Fare thee well faithful Paul Mara. I will miss you and your exceptionally bearded ruggedness. Solid D. Quintessential North American hockey mindset.
Did the Beard get a 1 yr deal too?
hmmm ineteresting… i would think mara was looking for 2-3years
I liked Mara’s game, nothing fancy just did his job
:( NOOOOOO!
I miss it already
I will definitely miss Mara too and wish him well. But it is time for our young D to step up. So, do you sign Morris now, or do we inject two young guys in to the mix this year?
Good Luck to Paul
He was a true Lumber jack for our boys in blue the past few seasons
Will always be remembered as a good Ranger D man
Mara was a good/tough Ranger- was hoping he would come back on the cheap but oh well-
If we can have Morris for peanuts then i say go for it, he wasnt bad in few games that he played for us last season… if not, as many people have said before we have to stop babying our prospects and let them play in meaningfull before they turn 30.
Paul Mara actually didn’t sign with Montreal. The Beard did, Paul Mara was just a throw in.
I say give the young guys a shot
Im all for no more signigns and letting these prospects come up
Its time we use our D depth in the Majors
If we go into the season with:
Staal Girardi
Rosi Redden
Rookie Rookie
I seriously have no problem with tht, growing pains be damned
Save some cash, use it mid season for whatever we need, let the youth get some experience
AND BRING UP GRACHEV!!
The first time the Habs come to MSG this year, I can only hope that Gomez and Mara aren’t both on the ice at the same time. I’d like to separate my hat-tipping to Mara and my booing and yelling of obscenities at Gomez.
i say hide redden in that beard and ship him as a surprise to MTL
“Also.. it made me sick to watch us lose in shootouts.. while Hanks was basically near perfect.. apparently this guy is as close to an automatic in the SO as there is in the league.. to me thats worth at least 5 wins and a million bucks per yr alone”
You’re forgetting that we wont see as many shootouts, with Torts’ system. He plays for the win, not the shootout win, unlike Renney.
Id much rather have Z over Kotalik.
And NO to Afinagenov. Dreary, Kalinin, Kotalik, Afin, enough already, it’s not working out. I don’t want to knock Kotalik before he even plays, but this guy isn’t gonna do much for this team. Pointless signing !
And to bad Mara got signed by the Habs, but eh, hopefully he’s taking holding penalties every time he plays us, oh wait the refs never call penalties against the Habs. Good fit i guess. I like the guy, but it was time to move on.
Hopefully we don’t sign Morris now. Id rather have Zubov to be honest, if he gets hurt, who cares, we’ll have someone in Hartford to step in. I want a younger D this year.
This is why i love Mara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfkR1gnKjEU&feature=related
Mara was the first and only guy to chase after Brashear after the Betts hit. Big beard, big heart.
Lumberjack Paul!!!
Your fan club in 318 is devastated!!! thanks for bringing it every night!
thats why orr and mara are no longer needed Brashear is on our side now…ughhh i still get nauseous when I think about it…im getting better though
dupuy- that’s awesome I was at that game and had never seen that interview-
I swear if the terms of this deal are anything less than 2 million Sather needs to be taken out. Mara > Morris in just about every facet. Very disappointed as I had envisioned this guy signed for a couple of years and wearing an A on his chest. Sad indeed.
And good point Rick, he was indeed the only guy to go after Brashear. I wouldnt be totally shocked if Mara chose not to come back after Brashear was signed.
Any ideas at this point if Drury keeps the C and if so who’s gonna get the A’s? Off topic I know but now my only real prospect to get an A is gone, considering the core youngins aint back yet.
(and I fear may never come back at this point)
This guy will be missed. Ballsy and loved to be in Blue. Good luck to him.
Legendary beard is gone! f-ing sux!
This backwards organization is killing me! people who want to be here are shown the door(Jagr,Kaspar,Straka,Mara) just to name a few… and people like Broshame and captain floating clutch and Wade “not my fault I’m overpaid” Redden get to stick around.
Annoying!
How long more will Sather keep us all hostage? What is it going to take for him to leave us alone already??
Well, we still have Sally’s beard. So it’s not all bad news.
I wish Mara’s beard would eat Sather…He is the one defenseman who should still be here!
Mara was a good Rangers – gonna miss him & I wish him well, except when he plays against us !
Carp
Don’t get me wrong, I think Mara is a great guy. Really wanted to play in NY, took a discount last yr to do so. Solid, stand up guy….....kind a guy you need. But to point out that he was the first to go after Brash after the Betts hit is a bit misleading. I remember when it happened thinking that he went after him because he felt he had to, not because he wanted to pound him (which he didn’t). I know you have to show restraint in the playoffs but he wanted no part of B, that was half-hearted.
That said, his fate was sealed when Torts got here.
The writing was on the wall, I’m just glad he landed on his feet.
Mara is a class act.
Maybe Avery should get one? Claude Lemieux had one. If not him, then I guess Gaborik.
Sad as this sounds, Redden will probably get the other one.
GC
Mara’s half-heart (as you said it) is more then a whole heart of 95% of players on this team.
I will always like Paul Mara. I wish him the best even as a Hab. Tough guy, big heart, solid defenseman.
anyone got the dollar amount for Mara? I hope it’s at least 2 million.
Good Luck Beard!!
I’m over on TSN making sure the comments section making sure Mara gets a good send off and introduction to Habs fans… support The Beard!
http://tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=284314
yes and english is my 4th language. proofreading is my 5th.
Mara was a good person but not a great hockey player for the money.
ORR WHAT ?
– Rangers can’t afford MORRIS unless he takes a MAJOR discount. And the guy just isn’t worth $3.9 million.
Sooooo…
Eat your Wheaties, Sanguinetti and Gilroy. You guys are on deck. Potter and Sauer too. I’m still not 100 percent comfortable with the age of this blueline, but Staal and Girardi both looked like veterans throughout much of last season. And Gilroy at 25 and with four years, plus a captaincy under his belt ain’t exactly a youngster. That leaves one question mark: the number-6 slot. I’ve heard plenty of people say Sangs is ready and Sauer certainly didn’t look out of place, even though he did make some rookie mistakes.
Regarding Mara, I’m really sorry to see him go. He was a great team player…BUT…and this is a big ‘but’ for you Torts lovers…He and Tortorella never mixed well. That’s largely the reason he was chased out of Tampa to begin with. I could see the writing on the wall with that one…
Just ran into my buddy Bruce Lifrieri at a grocery store here in Montauk. He had absolutely nothing to say regarding any free agent/trade news. But he is excited about the olympics, and various camps during the summer. Sounded disappointed that Gomez is gone. Evidently they were pretty close. Really good guy.
Why did I become a Rangers fan?
CCCP
You’re absolutely right. My small knock on Mara is really a HUGE knock on the rest of the team. Except for Orr who fears no one.
One can only hope that their paths will cross again and Mara knocks the crap out of Brashear.
GC, that’s exactly the point. Of course he didn’t want to fight Brashear. But he knew somebody had to step up and he did it when most others wouldn’t even think about it. Sort of like when Shanahan fought Brashear. Just a great teammate type of guy.
And you guys are absolutely right, there was something awry in the Tortorella-Mara relationship going back to their time in Tampa.
Rangers and the Blackhawks talking deal, with Patrick Sharp likely coming here. According to two Canadian sites, only a romor, but looks like it could happen, since Chicago is having salary cap issues.
That is about 2 million not coming back.
This just boosted the price for Morris. . . if anything.
Hi, Rick !
Do you know the exact date when the NHL will announce the regular season schedule ? It is usually around my birthday, which is tomorrow on July 11th!!!
Then my work will start planning another trip to the NHL and try to find the right matchups with the best possible logistices..
That is always a fun job to plan it for a huge schedule..
Can´t wait to start up with it….:)
Matthias of Eidengesäß/Germany..
P.S. best would be two games at the Garden including a derby either against the Isles or Devils followed or a before some huge matchups in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago with a first visit to the Minnesota Wild..!!!
8-10 Games in four weeks as I did in 2003!!!
Agree about Mara’s heart and loyalty towards teammates…but unfortunately having a big heart doesnt preclude you from taking lazy holding penalties (nightly) and getting beat rush after rush!
I say good riddance. Give his spot to Gilroy and let the # 6 spot go to Zubov or Sauer / Potter.
I actually like the idea of carrying 7 defensemen and only using Zubov on the PPs…
Rick
Maybe I’m making too much of it but if you’re going to point to that “fight”, then you got admit that stepping in to hug a guy is not the same thing as “stepping up”. You said it yourself, he didn’t want to fight Brashear. But he should have. Hell, somebody should have.
And not at all the same thing that Shanny did. He squared up and looked the punk in the eye and said bring it on.
If Patrick Sharp joins the Rangers…. (and depending on what we have to give up) I will denounce all the bad things I’ve sad about Sather ….
Carp – This is slightly off topic, but now that the Rangers brought in Kotalik for 3 mil per year do you see them having issues re-signing Staal and/or Girardi? Staal would obviously be a priority, but it would hurt to lose either of these guys.
Back on topic with possibly today’s most pressing question, which Ranger now grows the best beard?
CG,
Mara did what he had to do. In the playoffs you cannot exchange Paul Mara for Donald Brashere.
Need to be back at Madison Square Garden and New York City..
I ve been to Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto( vs Rangers !!!) in 2007,) so it will be time to return…:)
doodie link us these sites my man! sharp is nasty!! and he hasnt reached his ceiling yet, if he was centering gabby omfg!!
What sites doodie?
No way Hawks trade Sharp. That guy can play! Rangers always get guys that make their make someplace else. Sharp’s best years are ahead of him. I would trade anyone for him. Staal, Dubi, Cally, take your pick.
Bye to Mara, he was a good Ranger. It was time for him to go. Rick, I know Mara was the 1st to jump Brashear after the Betts hit, but all he did was bear hug em. I know it’s better than nothing but I would have preferred some knuckles to the nose.
BTW – just saw this on Puck Daddys blog. Cant wait to see Brashear knock this guys (Laperriere – now on the flyers) block off if he goes after MG again…
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Puck-Daddy-s-2009-Free-Agent-Frenzy-Report-Card;_ylt=Ar4WdDTJE4QlU55×86zBOrJ7vLYF?urn=nhl,174674
This whole Brashear vs. Mara grievance is incredibly fickle in my eyes.
That’s how you’re gonna remember a guy who took a pay cut to play here last year? Didn’t he drop the gloves with Tucker on the night he got back from his seperated shoulder? Speaking of the shoulder, he sought out Asham after the game just to thank him for pulling back a bit at the end of the fight.
Give the guy a break
bull dog,
I get it. No stupid penalties in the playoffs. But maybe, sometines the message is bigger than the penalty.
I will let it go now. Believe me I like Mara. Would have loved to have him back. BUT, there are some moments that last with you for years. I remember Dave Schultz pounding Dale Rolf until he was basically in a pool of blood, and NO RANGER DID A F***ing THING ABOUT IT. The Betts hit was not on that level, but it was close.
Sorry to rant.
while he meant well his game markedly declined half way through the season and even more so when torts got here, also while he “went after” brashear he did take a penalty as a result and negate a pp (tho i guess that was for the best given our pp last year). he was a fine player but not really a loss at all. there is no need to have redden, rosi and mara on the same team. morris while a little better will cost more, so I also say leave him be and let two rookies play and if u can move rosi then go after zubov
I’d heard that Mara found Asham after that game and thanked him for easing off after he realized Mara was injured. Great story.
Mara is a total class act and a good defenseman. He really represented the kind of character that the team had in the 2006-2007 season (for my money, the best one since the lockout). Seemed like he was a great fit during the good years with Renney. Good locker room guy, bummer to see him go.
I thought Steve Zipay just suggested the Rangers go after Sharp – didn’t look like there was anything substantive to it other than an idea. Are those sites just parroting his idea as rumor?
Doodie, please tell me you’re not joking?
Mara had heart – going to miss him but it is time for our young D men to get the NHL call.
why are players going to the KHL? sure they’re blasting nhl salaries away, but the league is very unstable…
Torts didn’t like Mara. I wonder about Torts. Mary played with more heart and guts than anyone, but because Torts didn’t like him he goes. Lots of bang for the buck missed there. I am not suprised though.
The Rangers have announced that they have re-sigend restricted free agent forward Dane Byers.
Byers, 23, was the 48th pick in the 2004 NHL draft.
Byers only played nine game last season due to a knee injury but had four points in six playoff games last season.
It seems like it was best for Mara to leave due to Tortorella’s presence, but I will still miss him. I think he would have been better to keep around over Morris, but maybe Morris won’t be back either. It sounds like Sather is trying to trade a defenseman before deciding on signing another one.
Even Wyshynski (Puck Daddy) gets in on the beard jokes: “Habs announce they’ve signed Paul Mara to a 1-year deal; his beard gets 3 years with a logging company in NW Territories.”
Mattias – happy birthday
Great… now there are two gaps to fill on D
And none of the D prospects are ready so dont spout out Sands/DZ
Rob F—re: KHL—good question!
Last season some players were forced to take salary cuts – some were paid late, if at all. Makes me wonder if the players going there now are more motivated by leaving the NHL spotlight or politics than making more money.
“thats why orr and mara are no longer needed Brashear is on our side now…ughhh i still get nauseous when I think about it…im getting better though”
Brashear on the Rangers is almost as bad as Megan Fox dating David Silver from 90210. Im sorry but id actually rather have Brash on Nyr for two years than see that has been loser dating a piece of pie like Fox. Ugh, im gonna be sick !!!
And i would love to have Sharp on Nyr, but what are the odds the Hawks trade a 40 goal scorer ? Hossa, Sharp, Kane, Toews, Versteeg. that was what they need to build around as far as forwards go.
i brought up the khl thing because i saw hudler is in some mixup with them and the wings…i wanted hudler to be a ranger at some point lol
I guess mara will just take kovalev’s number again hahaha
GC, you are totally missing the point. Sorry I brought up the Mara-Brashear thing.
Guys can we relax with Paul Mara-I understand he was an honorable player by taking less money because he wanted to stay in NY but lets face it he was not an upgrade to Aaron Ward. He is not a good skates, his shot was decent but he couldnt hit the net for his life, tks Paul for trying but time for you to move on! let the kids come in and learn, let them make some valuable mistakes that they can learn from…..
I second that Seth. Mara was an OK defensemen but good Ranger. We will not miss him in the up coming season. Let the kids play!
why are you all obsessed with slow defensemen.. mara may have had heart..great..but he was slow and old..i could care less
I’m sorry to see Mara go! I would have liked seeing the Devils sign him to a one year deal but I guess it wasn’t in the cards…
Also I’m looking forward to watching the Islanders next season. I’ve always liked them a lot too and they might have a decent squad next year. Say what you want but they are local and so am I.
SUCK IT.
Thanks, BANJ :)
Carp – Will the beard competition still be named after Mara?
WE’LL MISS YOU BUDDY!!!
A LOCAL FAN, who do you root for when the local teams face off against one another? do you plan on buying a lot of plane tickets to fly to kansas city?
Guy was serviceable and good team guy but I’m not gonna lose any sleep over his departure. Another guy who primarily was brought in primarily to help the offense and didn’t
Gabby Days areHhere Again ! : Marian Gaborik For Dummies Video
http://www.rangercrisis.com
I’m not sorry to see him go. We knew he wasn’t resigning. I just don’t have an overwhelming urge to point out all of his inadequacies.
I’m glad the kids are getting a chance (though 30 games into the season you’ll all be clamoring for a veteran presence on the blueline) but I enjoyed rooting for Mara. I love being able to root for GOOD humans.
well, larry brooks is at it again. Here is his take on the Kotalik signing and what he thinks of the rangers.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07102009/sports/rangers/rangers_kotalik_in_zherdev_likely_out_178502.htm
did you hear michael jackson died tomg?
get with it buddy
lou-lol! tomg, you see the people on this site, they bleed blue, the larry brooks article was probably read by everyone on this site by 6am this am
tomg,
did you hear Messier signed with the vancouver canucks.
Gonna miss Mara, he brought leadership and some stability to the blue line. Not the best game ever, but a solid, consistent guy who gave it his all every night, even on nights when he screwed up. Hard to dislike a guy like that.
Like I said before, our blue line NEEDS some veteran presence who can lead and mentor these young guys. Redden can’t do it, and Rozy is gonna get shipped out. Paging Chris Chelios to take the 6th spot?
as opposed to 6am this evening
rough crowd I tell ya!!!!
where is kaspar?
Happy birthday Matthias, and Linda too on Sunday!
I wonder if Freidrich will sponsor the beard contest now that Mara’s gone…..
Mara was as good at chatting up his teammates as anyone could be. he is the consummate team guy.
too bad his lack of foot speed makes him more of a grabber than a hitter in the corners. that does not wear down opposing forwards when you don’t hit them.
just bustin chops tomg..
i would agree with the sentiment out there about letting some of these young guys play up finally.. let’s see what we got in our system..
can’t find anything on the sharp thing..my buddy who is a hawks fan says they will need to trade someone.. whether it’s now/deadline or next offseason in order to sign toews/kane and keith
I liked Mara. He wasn’t Lidstrom, but gave 100% heart. You can always appreciate guys like that (Mara, Betts, Ortmeyer, etc) and hate to see them go. Too bad we couldn’t keep him on the cheap as a 7th D to help out the kids or step in when we have a gap (injury, etc).
here comes the cup now!
http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=436696
lol…
byers signed
canadiens d is gonna be slow with mara and hal gill, maybe they can get hatcher out of retirement to perfect the trifecta
Are there any girls on here? I am having troubles picking out outfit to go to “Key Food”
I need an advice.
Should I wear my below the knee blue skirt and a padded bra on top, OR should I wear my above the knee red skirt and no bra?? I was thinking no bra and red skirt… what you girls think?
DON’T HATE MY CUZ IM LOCAL! TALK TO THE HAND, YEAH!
Local fan. You just explained A LOT!
Oh, and… bye, bye!
now it all makes sense local fan..now it all makes sense..
a local fan….no bra and red skirt lol im a guy but if u look good, id rather see u with no bra….just my personal opinion….lol i joke i joke
eventually we are going to have to log in here to comment.
so ill thank you idiots now for ruining this site.
thanks
Colin, I agree.
I agree, A local fan go talk to Marty and DP!
you still pissed off about those stupid shoes colon?
lou-
actually i got 2 pairs of em
thanks for caring
means you have feelings
nice work.. see there ya go..later all
Thanks for the bday shout out Laurel!!
gonna miss Mara and BEARD! Stand up guy, great team guy, AWESOME AS ALL GET OUT BEARD! Wish him well with the Habs, except when they play us!! Now is the time for one of the Hartford kids to grab the spot!
Schedule comes out July 15 (moms bday) and I can’t wait to pick my game of the year!
The most under rated of all the defensemen, and quite possibly their best. NO ONE rode a fast forward out of a play without taking a penalty than MAra – and he was dynamic against Kovalev. He would skate shoulder to shoulder with the forward with his stick out but not interfering until the guy ran out of skating room, or out of gas. He had a terrifc shot from the point, low level and usually on the net. But he was on ice for the PP so seldom that few noticed it. This team will miss him believe me.