by Timmy Corbett

Despite having injured his ankle and being on the shelf for a bare minimum of six weeks, rumors will not go away about Curtis Joseph coming to New York. Joseph is a talented goalie, but it appears his best days may be behind him (particularly after the injury, which he may never fully recover from).  His numbers are strong, but how do they stack up against Mike Dunham’s, the Rangers current goalie?

2002-03 Season:
Joseph let in an average of 2.49 goals a game, Dunham allowed 2.29 – advantage Dunham 
Joseph stopped .912 Dunham stopped .924 – advantage Dunham 
Joseph had 3 shutouts, Dunham had 5 – advantage Dunham 

The most important number, Joseph was born in 1967, Dunham, 1972 – advantage Dunham

I will not say CuJo isn’t a good goalie with a great career, but if the Rangers do trade for him, they will only be haunted by the ghost of Neil Smith… going after an older, more expensive, bigger name player whose best days are well behind him. 

Tom Poti is rumored to be on the trading block, from several sources, possibly going to Boston for hold out forward Sergei Samsonov.  Losing a young defenseman will hurt the future, especially with a serious lack of proven offensive defensemen in Hartford.  Additionally, to trade him to a team in the same conference who sorely needs a defenseman is just bad policy. The Bruins will probably be playing the rangers for one of the final playoff spots, helping them in any way could come back to haunt us.

The waiver draft could see some huge players available, players in better times who would never be exposed.  Any holes the Rangers have could be filled here for next to nothing, with a chance to pick up a building block for the future.

More on the Poti front, he is not likely to be traded unless the Rangers re-sign either one or both of their free agent defensemen, Boris Mironov and Sylvain Lefebvre.  The Rangers have a chance to have a deep, well rounded corps of defensemen this season… a sure sign that not only the NHL will end, but the world also after this season.

Pavel Bure’s knees which have been operated on seven times are still painful and weak, not as weak as his desire to continue playing appears to be. Rumblings are he may not return.

Mark Messier still has not announced publicly if he will return, very un-captain like, holding up the rangers from going out and filling the role he would have played, if he decides not to return.