by BelieveMe
Now before i get into my ideas, opinions and views of this team, you might either hate me or love me. If your a common poster or viewer of the OTG forums, you most likely cant stand my posts however you cannot look away. I’m what you call that voice in the back of your head that you try and ignore, I’m that voice in your mind that you try and tune out…I’m everything you hate me to be, and last but not least…i am the truth. This game is my life, I was once a player, however, NO I am not the average guy at the corner or at the bar, drinking my worries away. Sure I was good, sure I was NHL ready but the biggest risk you take while devoting yourself to a sport is facing an injury. I faced my first and my last, and now Im a professional NHL SCOUT. My resume is long but I wont get into all of that, you can find more of my bio at the OTG forums.
Now let’s talk about something that I love and probably the only thing you and I have in common, and that’s the New York Rangers. Reading some of the posts being made during this off-season I begin to feel nauseous, surprisingly everyone that has a computer and the internet is now a General Manager/Coach/Player all in one. We take time away from our everyday lives to make up fairy tale line combinations and devote the rest of our time praising prospects we’ve never even seen play a full game. Some of my favorites are; ‘Marc Staal is the next Brian Leetch‘, no wait it gets better – ’Nigel Dawes is NHL SNIPER material’, wait one more, ‘Jarkko Immonen should center Jagr and Straka’.
Then of course there’s the daily moaning and groaning about Petr Prucha not getting enough ice time, the overuse of superstars like Jagr and Shanny and letting everybody know how much they feel Marcel Hossa should be traded. Well guess what people, if you feel that way, you should really check yourself because you are clueless in your beliefs. Jagr and Shanny must play all they want; they know what’s best for them and the team. Marc Staal isn’t NHL ready yet, and he is most likely the worst Staal brother. Nigel Dawes is nothing more but an AHL player. Jarkko Immonen was lucky to put on an AHL let alone a NHL jersey.
Petr Prucha gets knocked around like a pi’ata, unless he puts on 15 extra pounds, his NHL career will be over before he smells free agency. Marcel Hossa is quietly the most important asset to the first line, why did he bloom late last year? Well because Tommy Boy Renney failed to realize early in the year that you don’t keep a kid of that caliber as a checking forward. Marcel has size, speed, hands, agility, shot and instinct to be a threat in this league…before he was drafted everyone was saying Marion’s younger brother is better then him. And no, not everybody playing with Jagr is going to be good, Immonen was given that chance and he ended up in Europe.
Witnessing some scrimmages in the Rangers training facility, I wasn’t impressed with our so called ‘Young guns’. The roster should be left the same as last year with the exception of our new additions. Maybe having the 3rd line with Prucha Callahan and Straka is the best solution because a brand new kid filling that whole doesn’t do it for me. It kind of hurts we traded Cullen away. Hutchinson isn’t much but he sure is better then Thomas Pock, Staal and well Struds so maybe they should try him out as the 6th d-man.
Kasper wins that spot in my book but his contract begs to differ. And no, trading Kasper now is not the solution; he’s hungry and willing to take out key players on the opposition. If we trade him now, the Islanders would be on the block ’they want him so bad they’d take his contract. And you know what happens after that? Our key players like Jagr, Shanny, Gomez or Drury facing a season ending injury due to a vicious hip check by Guess who? THE NOT SO FRIENDLY GHOST KASPER. He’s determined to really use his body this year, he’s using it in training camp and you can tell he’s not putting full force into it.
Like I said, Sather is smart for keeping him around, he’s in game shape and now its up to Slats to think of a way to fit his contract into the cap – Avery, Kasper and Hollweg is just a few names your really going to look out for if you wear an Islander, Philly or Devil jersey. Another big question is who will take the back up goalie position, I don’t see anyone that might get the job done currently in camp, what’s stopping Sather from going after Robert Esche? Or just somebody else with NHL experience? Anyway, gear up for a very very interesting 07-08 season because this team sure means business this year. Until next time…
Believe Me a.k.a Newman
‘The Scouts Corner’