Sather's Choices

[panzerporter]

As Glen is rocked to sleep aboard his fishing boat tonight one has to wonder what his plans for next year are. What's nice for Glen is he has already been given a vote of confidence from Dolan for his steady management of the Rangers. That being said Glen has a plethora of free agency dilemmas:
1) Richards - I never liked the signing but who can blame Brad for taking such a generous contract from a desperate GM? Nice start to season and on pace for 60 points but is he worth $8.5 mil with all of next year's free agents?
2) Hank - Can play in NY, top 3-5 goalie yearly but what will he want to stay, $8mil, $9 mil?
3) Captain Callahan - UFA making $4.875 this year, small guy with a big heart but you have to get more than 45 points from your captain. How can Glen offer him any more than his current pay?
4) Girardi - UFA making $3.4 this year who will probably get ridiculous offers from other teams based on last year's free agency contracts.
5) Brassard - UFA making $3.7 thought he was a good playmaker after last year's playoffs but that guy has apparently left the building. Would be shocked if a team matched this year's salary.
6) Stralman - UFA making $1.8 can't see him commanding any more than that but youth makes him expendable.
7) Boyle - UFA also making $1.8 mil, decent utility guy Glen can probably get back for the same dollars.
8) Pyatt - UFA making $1.65 should have to wear a mask while he plays because he's stealing money. AV doghoused him which points positively toward his depature next year.
9) Pouliot - UFA making $1.3, big guy who plays little, 5th team since being drafted in '05. Doubt other teams will be knocking his door down this off-season.
10) D. Moore - UFA making $1 mil. second time wasn't the charm hopefully will be gone for youth before end of season.
11) Kreider - RFA making $900K due a huge raise
12) Zuccarello - RFA making $1.15 plays bigger than he is. I didn't like him in the beginning but he's impressed
13) MDZ - RFA making $2.9, the whipping boy, the bane of the board. No Rangers dman can go coast to coast like him, needs confidence boost would like to see him stay but wouldn't mind if he was part of a fair trade.
14) Falk - RFA making $975K big body small body of work to evaluate
15) J. Moore - RFA making $810K now residing in AV's doghouse for being a young, mistake-prone player

Glen has quite a bit of work ahead of him and can make his workload easier with a few trades. Guess we'll just have to sit and wait.

 

[theProdigy223]

NHLnumbers lists Brassard as a UFA next yr, but capgeek has him as an RFA. Anybody know which he is?

 

[Ranger71]

7-10 should all be gone, they need to putting together a well crafted bottom 6, not just plodders and fa leftovers. Maybe lindberg, fast or kristo grab one or two spots there to add price value. Dorsett is ok but it would be nice to see him chip in offensively a tad more. Falk resigning depends on whether Allen and Dmc are close to ready. I dont see Girardi getting much more from anyone but i would avoid him and grab someone younger like Hjalmarrson whos better offensively, they need more mobility on D. Callahan will get a bump up to 6 probably. Mza is a toss up and Brassard/Stralman bring back but only at the same $$.

 

[panzerporter]

This is Brassard's 7th year. I think the only guy I'd consider from 7-10 is Pouliot 71 because he should be cheap to resign but he is shades of Marcel Hossa.

 

[NYR1962]

Great job Panzerporter. Agree with each and every one. As far as Cally is concerned, he could get a bit more depending how much the cap goes up.

 

[theProdigy223]

Wow, didn't realize that. Always thought he was on the younger side in terms of years in the league

 

[chuckd3534]

Richards is gone for sure. Not even worth having a discussion on him. Pyatt will be gone for sure. Boyle and D. Moore most likely gone. The rest we'll see. We have a lot of choices to make this summer, and we'll see which way we go. I think we'll see a handful of different faces next season.

I am pretty sure Brassard is a UFA, but either way if we really want him back he'll be back. If not then we would let him walk anyway UFA or RFA. And MDZ I personally would not give him a 3 or 4 year deal worth over 3 or close to 4 mill per, but that's me. I would only deal him for full value, otherwise I would try and trade him around the draft for a nice return if possible. I just don't love giving this guy 4 mill a season, or close to it, which is what he will get.

I can't worry about next year though. We still have a long way to go this season. And we have so many options, and available guys for next season that it is really hard to dig that deep and go through a team worth of players not even 30 games into a season. All I feel strongly about is Richards is 10000000000000000% gone (unless he is injured). No shot he is back. And Pyatt is 100% gone. And D. Moore is 90% gone. And Boyle is 75% gone. The rest we'll see how Sather plays it, if he bothers to pick up a phone and actually work that is.

 

[Ranger71]

I wouldnt mind Pouliot back at that price but not if he cant score 15g. He could be a really good 3rd liner on a cup contender.

 

[chuckd3534]

I like Pouliot also, but he needs to start to score some goals. I think he is a solid 3rd line guy that can score 15, and has a big body, but he needs to start producing. We'll see...

 

[BigDaddyAl1973]

Giving cally 6m per is overboard.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[Disturbed]

Cally is a tough one. His production really doesnt equate to $6m but he is a Captain with intangibles off the chart. I hope they can settle in at $5 yrs/$25m but I see a scenerio where they overpay

 

[mrmel29]

They will probably overpay for cally but his production is not that of a 6 million dollar player. Not that that means anything of course.

 

[cagedlion]

It looks like Sather will drive every Ranger fan up a creek without a paddle.LOL
After all these years, I still do not know what his plan is.

 

[Disturbed]

Well so far Sather's big move is getting Beach for Mashinter LOL

 

[vroppelt]

Beach, Awesome. A first round pick (2008) that has never even impressed enough to play a single NHL game...

 

[dumpstralmannow]

I think Sather is in a difficult position because of Girardi and Staal not playing consistent hockey this year. I'm sure he would love to trade MDZ. However, he is faced with the fact that he might not sign Girardi. So basically, that would leave him with Moore, Staal, McDonagh and Stralman at the end of the season if he traded MDZ and Girardi left. That is assuming he can sign Stralman. So McIlrath has to make the team. Hope Skjei comes out after his second year and gets into the AHL.

It's more complicated than people here make it seem. Girardi and Stralman can both leave. So if he trades MDZ, that might mean there will be three defenseman openings next season. That could be a significant problem.

 

[chuckd3534]

No one said it was easy, but that's why Sather gets paid millions of dollars. He does not get paid millions of dollars to do nothing at the trade DL two years ago, and sit on his boat this year when we need more scoring. We can trade players/picks/kids outside of MDZ right? At least I think we can....

 

[Ranger71]

I think if they can deal mdz theyll give stralman a little extra to make sure he's retained. The FA dmen market is fairly weak but theres a few guys that could help like Hainsey and Niskanen. Hopefully they dont get lulled into keeping Girardi and look to get something for mdz this year. Maybe Mcilrath and Allen are ready to contribute out of the gate, at least as a spare.

 

[dumpstralmannow]

The Beach move was actually interesting. I figure they think Mashinter wasn't a pro but Beach might be, Pyatt is useless and Pouliot just can't figure it out. Maybe they want Beach on the 4th line for some toughness. This team really needs McIlrath to take a 6th defenseman role this season to police moron teams like the Bruins.

 

[Ranger71]

Beach sounds similar to Palmeiri who they never did anything with. Both were high picks with size who i guess flamed out. Im surprised they got him for Mashinter alone but it sounds like he needs some work.

 

[theProdigy223]

Would honestly not be surprised to see this guy up at some point, especially if Dorsett has to miss more time. Hawks probably gave up on him and just needed somebody to protect their AHL team. Who knows. At least we know Sather remembers he's allowed to make trades

 

[Disturbed]

They need to help the offense NOW and can't worry about Girardi and Staal's play. You need to trust them that they will play better and if you lose Girardi so be it.

This teams top 9 forwards as currently constructed wont do jack in the playoffs

 

[cagedlion]

Beach, Awesome. A first round pick (2008) that has never even impressed enough to play a single NHL game...

Amazing. Another "soft" pick up by genius Sather. Unreal.

 

[dumpstralmannow]

Sather has a fantastic history of trades. It's his FA's signings that blow.

 

[panzerporter]

I think Girardi will easily get offers in the $5 mil range in the off-season because he's a solid one-way player and as mentioned above this is not a strong free agent market. Stralman doesn't command the same salary but a team short on dmen may throw $3+ his way. I also think Glen resigns MDZ because his judgement isn't clouded, he didn't want to include MDZ in the deal for Nash and he knows that MDZ has offensive talents that can't be taught, resigning him for $3.5 is a no brainer. J. Moore should also be back and shouldn't cost as much. I agree with others about trading away established dmen, the Rangers are not as deep there as it seems because of impending free agency issues. Staal is a free agent the following year and is playing nowhere near the money he's going to want. Glen does deal from a position of strength, he doesn't have to make a desperation trade for a player like Nash or Richards. The Beach trade was nothing spectacular other than Glen received a former 1st round pick who is 6'3" 210 and 2 years younger than Mashinter, who was an undrafted free agent.

 

[chuckd3534]

I agree. Re-signing MDZ for 3.5 to 4 mill per long term is a no brainer....

The thing that amazes me about how some people view MDZ is this. Whether you like him, hate him, love him, other...AV is not a fan. That is crystal clear. It cannot be argued. He has scratched him a bunch of times. He said the other day he was in the 6th dman battle with Falk. He simply is not a fan. That is a fact and is what it is.

Now that doesn't mean he cannot become a fan, he 100% could. It also does not mean we should deal MDZ fo anything less than high value, we should NOT. But we do need to open our eyes here and see what the kid is. He has not played well (neither has Staal but that has nothing to do with the discussion on MDZ). And AV is not a fan. That's just the way it is right now period end of story.

I am sure what I just said will somehow get twisted into I hate MDZ, or I think we should deal him for a pile of junk, or I think he is the worst player in hockey. None of that is true AT ALL.

I am simply saying AV is not a fan. We should deal MDZ IMO for HIGH VALUE ONLY. And I personally would not re-sign him for 3 or 4 years at 3.5 to 4 mill per. That's just my opinion. Doesn't mean I am right and someone else is wrong. That is just my own personal opinion.

 

[chuckd3534]

And as for Sather, again, the guy needs to wake his a** up. He has been pretty useless. The list goes on and on (Nothing at the trade DL 2 years ago. Did nothing this past summer. Hasn't done anything this season yet). Wake up Glen and get something done to help this team upfront.

 

[dumpstralmannow]

I think you are confusing AV wanting and expecting more out of MDZ compared to not being a fan. If he wasn't a fan, he would never play and would be traded already or in the minors. I don't think AV is happy with several players on this roster right now. Difference is with the forwards, there just aren't replacements for guys he is pissed at.

 

[chuckd3534]

I didn't say he hates MDZ and thinks he is awful, but there is simply no way to argue that he is a fan of his IMO. The guy is our 6th dman. That is it. Just the way it is. To me giving our 6th dman a 3 or 4 year deal for 3.5 or 4 mill per doesn't make much sense. We would be paying him that much based solely on him getting better and reaching his "potential" which may or may not ever happen.

Here is what I see when I look at MDZ. A dman who can skate well. Has good vision and can make some nice break out passes. I won't take either of those things away from him. But to me it is buried by the fact that he is very soft. Soft with the body. Woefully soft in the corners battling for pucks. And worst of all is an "offensive dman" who simply cannot shoot.

That is what I see in MDZ. Some good traits, for sure, but some very questionable traits as well. And as I have said numerous times, maybe he gets it and it all comes together, that is certainly possible no doubt about it, but I am at the point where I let someone else see if he fully develops. Especially if it means I have to pay him 3.5 to 4 mill per over 3 or 4 years.

 

[dumpstralmannow]

MDZ is not soft. That is nothing but nonsense. The reality is that there aren't any soft defenseman on our roster. This team has been winning 2-1 games forever. You don't do that with a soft defenseman on your team.