Many are the New York Ranger fans, bloggers, forum posters and unpaid experts calling for big roster changes before the next puck drops. Big, when you consider most are hoping Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi are all on the other side of the rink, when the summer ends. Indeed a monumental task for Mr. Gorton, when you consider contract effects on teams salary caps, no move, and no trade clauses. So monumental the afore mentioned experts will be disappointed when reality kicks in, and maybe Nash and Hayes are the only two moved.
If Gorton is able to move Staal and Girardi and their cap gobbling contracts, for any nugget of note, then just give him the “Executive of the Year” already, he will have earned it. Realistically there will be a market for Nash, he’s had his ups and downs, usually, season ups and playoff downs, but teams will be calling. He’s been a goal scorer most of his career and hopefully a couple three teams will think he can do it again. The problem for those who want him gone is replacing his 104 goals in 248 games. For the stats geeks that’s 35 goals over a 82 game season for three years. Certainly respectable numbers and in the park for his salary range. If they trade him, they better get some scoring back or the offensively challenged Ranger attack might be positively anemic without him.
Kevin Hayes is another often mentioned trade candidate who seems to have fallen out of favor in his two Broadway campaigns. Trading 6’5″ 230 lb skilled players averaging a point every two games, including and during what most would call a sophomore slump, is risky business. Many’s the sorry team that traded a player to early and watched his career takeoff elsewhere. Personally I think he’s not getting enough direction from the coaching staff. His game has to much soft indifferent play without the puck, and a little to much dipsy doodle with it. If he could be convinced to play a lot more straight line and physical going after the puck, and taking it to the net, he could be a force indeed, and a power forward X 2. The Rangers would be foolish to trade him before they figure out his ceiling, which could be as high as a solid number 2 center. It’s up to the Coaching staff to figure out how to motivate players to get better, and reach their potential. The Rangers need to be careful of big moves this off season, and should be thinking more of a 20 game assessment period next season, to evaluate young players development, veteran player rejuvenation, and coaching performance, and then decide the direction. Right now its to easy to blame last season on certain players.
More on Staal and Girardi next time.
PIT
CBJ