Ignoring the fact that this post is about three weeks too late to be relevant, I wanted to weigh in with my thoughts on Glen Sather's busy first half of July. Slats has completely overhauled the team, but is it for the better? Here's the first installment of my reactions to the new-look New York Rangers:
COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE THE NEXT CONTESTANT ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT!
[I can mix together as many game show references as I choose. Pipe down, you!]
WADE REDDEN - 6'2" 208lbs, D
[Photo via The Hockey News]
For three years, everyone--from Tom Renney to Rangers bloggers to the average fan in Section 305 booing Marek Malik until turning some shade of purple--has said this team desperately needs two things. A hard-hitting blueliner and a puck-moving, powerplay quarterback. While Wade Redden will never be confused with the former, he is most certainly the latter.
Despite the shouts not to let the screen door hit him in the hockey pants on the way out of Kanata, Wade Redden is one of the league's best at the first pass, more competent powerplay QBs and one of the most reliable two way defenders. New team, new season, let's drop the conceptions from last year.
The Rangers front office may have lacked vision in signing Wade to such a long term, but he will be the answer to the Rangers infuriating inability to move the puck up ice and, at least in part, the answer to an anemic powerplay.
This move is solid as it addresses what has so long been a major need for this team, but again hurts because the deal is for six years.
This is the game show equivalent of winning a BRAND NEW CAR! But then realizing that you're paying out the ass for insurance on this thing when its barely running six years down the road. Still though, this is going to make them a better team in the short- to medium-term.
NIKOLAI ZHERDEV - 6' 2" 197 lbs, LW/RW
[Photo via Daylife.com]
Scouting reports, some highlights and the very limited amount of Blue Jackets' games I've seen were all I initially had to go on to judge one-half of the return in the trade that sent Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman packing. I knew something good was coming back in the Rangers' direction, but had no idea that something looked like this:
If that doesn't make you excited to be alive, maybe you shouldn't be a hockey fan.
I was under the impression that the Rangers were getting an immensely talented kid from what I had seen, but I was a little scared about what I hadn't. Does Nikolai bring baggage with him to Manhattan?
It was for this reason I asked a few questions of Aaron Portzline, the very solid Blue Jackets beat reporter and blogger for the Columbus Dispatch, about just what the Rangers should expect from Nik.
Aaron termed him as being "unlike any player [he has] ever seen." He describes Zherdev's offensive talents with the puck as "stupifying" and says that he has the ability to put people in the seats and to lift them out of them as well. He has a "very, very good wrist shot" and he has is able to dangle like few others. Aaron says a look or two in slo-mo might not even help you understand some of the moves Nikolai will put onto display.
My main concern--and likely the concern of many Ranger fans--was that he's been labelled as this petulant, moody player. Aaron sees that as being completely overblown and thinks Nik will do well in New York. He may never be confused with the consummate team player, but he seems to in no way be a problem for the locker room. He might be prone to the occasional neutral zone turnover that makes you cringe and possibly heave something at your television, but it seems that this kid will absolutely be worth it.
There is no substitute for talent. Here's hoping that Scott Gomez and Nikolai find some chemistry, cause mmm boy would that line be absurdly fast and dangerous. This acquisition is the creme de la creme of the off-season moves. I absolutely cannot wait to see Nik's first toe-dragging, shame-inducing, jaw-dropping moment in a Rangers sweater. Good luck Devil defensemen.
MARKUS NASLUND - 5'11" 195lbs, LW/RW
[Photo via CBC.ca]
As I the Rangers were putting the finishing touches on a deal with Markus, I was on the phone with a good friend of mine talking about the pool of talent still left up for grabs. Asked what I thought the winger offered a team, I didn't have a whole lot of positive things to say. It seemed to me, and still seems to many, that Mark's best days are behind him.
While that is likely true, it doesn't mean that a change of scenery and of system can't spark him to one of his best campaigns in several years.
Again, lacking in a lot first-hand knowledge of Mark's game, I went to an excellent source for info on the former Canucks captain. Alanah McGinley, vital cog over at Kukla's Korner and creative mind behind the blog Canucks and Beyond, was glad to give me her thoughts on what Nazzy might bring to the Blueshirts.
She posits that Markus' "slide has been more about the systems in Vancouver than anything to do with his talent." She also feels that given the right circumstances--perhaps playing alongside a defensive-minded centerman and being given a little bit more free range in the offensive end--that Naslund could put up some solid numbers. Not "West Coast Express"-era stuff from the days when he was riding shotgun with Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison, but solid nonetheless.
If Markus plays with Chris Drury on the second line he might find himself in just that kind of scenario. His presence will help them both as Drury would actually have legitimate weapons cruising his wings and Naslund would have some of that freedom that seems to be key to rediscovering his game.
The goal-scoring that we thought might be sorely missed when the Rangers' big UFA were handed their walking papers just may be replaceable after all.
The main thing to realize with all of these new acquisitions, is that they haven't played a single minute yet for the Rangers. If you're really upset about the way this team has come together, climb down off the GWB and at least see how the team starts to click on the ice. The Stanley Cup isn't won on paper. I think we proved that last year.
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