Some News....

Not much has happened in Rangerland since they signed David Desharnais ten days ago.  The team inked their two first round picks to entry level contracts, but it remains doubtful that either Lias Andersson or 17 year old Filip Chytil will see time in the NHL this season.   The word is that Andersson will be given a legitimate chance to make the big club, but a lot depends on what moves remain to be made before camps open in September.

Lindy Ruff joined the team as defensive coach, replacing Jeff Beukeboom. There have been a lot of snarky comments about having the defense run by a coach who didn't have a stellar defensive record over the last few years in Dallas.  Ruff was a defenseman and he did have some very good years in Buffalo.  In 14 full season as the coach of the Sabres, the team had fewer goals against than the league average 11 times.  That's pretty good and better than I expected.

True to the rumors, Kevin Klein did retire from the NHL, announcing that he had signed to play in Switzerland with the Zurich Lions.  This does free up $1.9 million in cap space for the team to use as they continue to search for a second/third line center.  That leaves the team with $8.5 million in space and they still need to sign Mika Zibanejad.  If he gets about $4.5 million per that would leave only $4 million for the team to pay for a center and to add depth.

On the trade front, the only rumor that seems to have any legs is that the Rangers are making a pitch for Tyler Bozak of the Maple Leafs.  The 31-year old was a top two center for the Leafs for years and has a cap hit of $4.2 million for another season. However, he now slots behind Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri and newly signed Patrick Marleau.  That, combined with the fact that the Maple Leafs are hard up against the cap, means that Bozak could be on the market. If Mike Babcock believes that Nick Holden is better on D than Connor Carrick, Alexey Marchenko or Martin Marincin, there could be a deal.  It would be a good one for the Rangers as they would be on the hook for the $4 million for only one year....and Bozak scored 18 goals and had the same number of  points (55) as Derek Stepan and is also a very good faceoff man.  His career winning percentage is almost 54%, head and shoulders above anyone on the Rangers roster.  He's also a righthanded shot, something the team needs.

Besides the departure of Klein, another Ranger prospect bolted for Europe as Niklas Jensen signed with Jokerit Helsinki, a Finnish team in the KHL.  This one is a bit puzzling, just like the departure of Magnus Hellberg,  Hellberg had an excellent shot of being the backup to Lundqvist this season, but took himself out of the running when he signed with HC Kunlan Red Star.  Similarly, Jensen looked to have an excellent shot of starting the season in the NHL with Jesper Fast out after hip surgery. Jensen scored 32 goals in the AHL (second most in the league) and looked to be one of the top depth players on the Rangers roster.

It does raise questions as to why these players chose to leave North American and the Rangers organization.  It could be dissatisfaction with the opportunities they were given or dislike for the coach.   Then again, it is very likely that Jensen and Hellberg want the opportunity to play for Denmark and Sweden in the Olympics, which they wouldn't have if they remained with the NHL teams.

The Rangers are not particularly deep on the forward lines without Jensen and now it looks like the top call up will be either one of the newly acquired Paul Carey and Cole Schneider or farmhands Boo Nieves and Adam Tambellini.  One of them may not even be a call-up as the team has twelve NHL forwards on the roster (including Matt Puempel) and Jesper Fast will miss at least all of October and possibly some time in November.

That said, Jeff Gorton signed a handful of forwards close to training camp last year (Brandon Pirri, Nathan Gerbe and Josh Jooris) so he may waiting for a bargain.  Ranger fans all over the world are sweating out the availability of Tanner Glass who is a UFA.

Of course, all of this speculation goes out the window if he trades for someone like Bozak.

We are in the dog days of summer and barring any major transactions we will be taking a look at the competition in the coming weeks.

Rangers Sign a Center

As predicted in the last post, the Rangers went out and signed David Desharnais to a one year contract at a cap hit of $1 million.  Who is he?

Well, for one thing, he is small. He is a Mats Zuccarello clone at 5'7" and 176 lbs.  The hobbit is three pounds heavier (and a lot more talented).  He isn't known as a defensive whiz and exhibited some solid offensive skills a few years ago in Montreal. He is good on draws.  In the last seven years, his faceoff winning percentage has been lower than 49.5% only once.  He has consistently gotten his zone starts in the offensive zone (which fits his profile as an offensively oriented player).

His best statistical season was 2011-12 when he had 16 goals and 60 points in 81 games.  His numbers have dropped steadily from the 16 goals he scored in 2014 (14-11-6 goals) and last season he was traded from Montreal to Edmonton for 25 year old defenseman Brandon Davidson.

For Edmonton he was a regular, appearing in 13 playoff games and scoring the OT game winner in game five of the San Jose series.

He has consistently been a plus player, as high as +22 in 2015 and his possession stats are positive as well with a career Corsi of 51.1%.   That number is better than the entire 2016-17 Ranger team except Kreider and Zuccarello.   He will be 31 in September.

So, Desharnais slots nicely in as fourth line center.  The team now has ten forwards under contract with two RFA's still to be signed (Zibanejad & Fast).  That includes Matt Puempel. If this is the team that goes to training camp, look for Nicklas Jensen to make the varsity at least until Jesper Fast has recovered from his hip surgery.  Beyond that, Boo Nieves is next on the depth list along with Lias Andersson.   It's a thin group and Gorton has to be out there trolling for more forwards through trades (Nick Holden anyone???).

The critics still believe that the Rangers need a legitimate top nine center and Bluelines Station proposed trading Tony DeAngelo (newly acquired in the Stepan deal).   There are no top nine centers out there in UFA-land and it won't be easy to find a trading partner.  Unfortunately,  Nick Holden or Marc Staal won't be bringing back a top nine center.

On the ex-Ranger UFA front, Vegas signed Oscar Lindberg for two years at $1.7 million per.  Other forwards with new teams include Brian Boyle who will be playing in Newark and Micheal Haley in Florida. Benoit Pouliot was bought out and signed with Buffalo. Josh Jouris has surfaced with Carolina.  Marek Hrivik signed with Calgary.  Dominic Moore gets to play one more season, this time a second tour with Toronto (he has played for ten NHL teams). On defense,  two former Rangers signed with the Penguins in Matt Hunwick and Chris Summers.  Michael Del Zotto is now a Canuck. Dan Girardi is with Tampa .  Adam Clendening will ride the bench for Arizona.   As for goalies,  Chad Johnson will be playing for the Sabres.

Only 13 weeks until opening night!

Free Agent Frenzy Weekend Recap

Free agent frenzy is almost over (there are still a few BIG names still out there).  Let's recap the moves made by our Broadway Blueshirts.

• Kevin Shattenkirk - The Rangers inked the top free agent in the pool to a four-year contract worth $6.6 million annually.  This has to be considered a win for Jeff Gorton. They got a shorter term than anyone expected and Shattenkirk left money on the table to sign with his favorite team since childhood.  The other offers are unclear, but from the interviews he did after the signing was announced, it is obvious that he took less from the Rangers than he was offered elsewhere.  It's acknowledged that he isn't the greatest defenseman in the league five on five, but what he brings to the power play has been lacking for years.  He slots in nicely opposite Ryan McDonagh with what promises to be the best USA born defensive tandem in the league. 
• Ondrej Pavelec - The Czech native assumes the role of back-up to Henrik Lundqvist and should be expected to start 20-25 games this season.  He has been a regular goalie for ten years for Winnipeg since they were the Atlanta Thrashers.  Admittedly, he had an off-year in 2016-17, appearing in only eight games while splitting the season in the AHL.  He is three years removed from his best NHL season (2014-15) when he started 46 games with a 2.28 GAA and a .920 save percentage.  He signed a one year deal at $1.5 million and is still only 29 years old. He wasn't the best goalie out there in free agent land, but the Rangers honed in on him early, so they must know something. 
• Cole Schneider - Who?  He's a 27 year old winger from upstate NY who has been a career minor leaguer after being signed as an undrafted player by Ottawa in 2012.   He played college hockey at U Conn.  He was acquired to help Hartford after scoring 24 goals for Rochester.  He saw action in six games the last two seasons in Buffalo with one assist.
• Paul Carey - Another career minor leaguer, this 28 year old was a teammate of Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes at Boston College. He was originally a 5th round draft pick of Colorado, but was in the Washington Capitals organization last season.  He scored 24 goals in 55 games for Hershey and was called up for a six game stint with the Caps.  He also saw action in one playoff game this season for Washington.  His acquisition will help  a rebuilding Hartford team and also hurt Washington's depth.  We may see him at MSG this season as a call-up. 
• Dan Girardi - The Ranger stalwart signed a two year contract with Tampa for $3 million a year.  He is one of five NHL defensemen under contract in Tampa and is slotted in for third pair duties which should suit him fine. If he has to play on the top two tandems, Tampa fans will soon learn what Ranger fans have known for a while, that he has lost a step. 
• Marek Hrivik - Hrivik saw action in 16 games for the Rangers last season, but wasn't offered a contract so he signed a one-year two way deal with the Calgary Flames for $650k. 
• Adam Clendening - The stat freaks favorite signed a one year deal withe Arizona Coyotes for $650k.     Clendening fans will go crazy on social media since the Blueshirts spent ten times that amount on Kevin Shattenkirk when Clendening clearly is the better player.   Clendening will go on to lead the Coyotes to the Stanley Cup Finals and will win the Norris Trophy.  Yeah, right.  I guess that is why one of the the worst teams in the league signed him to a cut-rate contract.  The Yotes have six defensemen under contract who will play before Clendening does. 

With the signings of Kevin Shattenkirk and Brendan Smith, the Ranger defense is set.  The tandems should be McDonagh-Shattenkirk, Skjei-Smith, Staal-DeAngelo.   The wild cards are Nick Holden, Steven Kampfer, Neal Pionk and Alexei Bereglazov.   If Holden is traded then Kampfer will be the first fill-in while Pionk and Bedreglazov get some needed experience in Hartford.    All in all, the Ranger defense is once again one of the better groups in the league...a major change from the last year.  There is no room for Kevin Klein in this pack, so retirement looks even more likely.

There are still some holes in the forward lines, most notably at center.  All of the likely candidates signed big money contracts elsewhere.  The craziest contract is the $6.25 million a year that Toronto is paying 37 year old Patrick Marleau. True, he scored 27 goals for San Jose, but the idea of paying a 40 year old over $6 million a year is a little nuts. That signing put Toronto OVER the cap (though they will get back $10 million in Lupul and Horton, both on injured reserve) and they face a ton of UFA's next summer and the need to pay Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander big dollars in the coming years.  That will be fun to watch.

Nick Bonino was snapped up by Nashville for four years at $4 million, a bit more on the reasonable side.  It makes you wonder if the Rangers were in the running for the services of the 29 year old.  Dallas grabbed 30 year old Martin Hanzal on a three year deal at $4.75 annually.  He's injury prone, but  would have been a great addition on Broadway.   The last candidate was 27 year old Sam Gagner who signed with Vancouver for $3.1 million for three years.   The simple answer as to why the Rangers lost out on these players is simply the salary cap.  With only $8 million left after the Shattenkirk signing they still need to ink Jesper Fast and Mika Zibanejad.  The uncertainty about Kevin Klein doesn't help.

Who is left?  The list is a small one.  David Desharnais, Daniel Winnik, Mikhail Grigorenko, Ryan White or old friend Brandon Pirri. Desharnais had a pretty good playoff against the Rangers in 2014 and was traded from Montreal to Edmonton who didn't offer him a contract.  The 30 year old made $3.5 million last year, but will take much less.  He's a solid option as a fourth line center.  Winnik is a career journeyman who had a personal high of  12 goals last year for the Capitals.  The 32 year old played on the penalty kill, but doesn't have great faceoff skills and was awful in the playoffs.  White is a Coyotes reject  who has bounced around a bit. He's a 29 year old who made $1 million last season.  Mikhail Grigorenko is the most intriguing name on the list.  He is a former first round pick (12th overall) of the Buffalo Sabres who is only 23 years old.  He was rushed to the NHL as an 18 year old and was traded to the Avalanche after two disappointing seasons. He made $1.3 million scoring 10 goals for Colorado. There is word that he just signed a 3 year deal with Moscow off the KHL so he may be off the table. 

Keep these names in mind, though over the weekend, Jeff Gorton and Alain Vigneault were talking about J.T. Miller being a natural center and also talking up Lias Andersson as a potential 4th line center.  Apparently, Andersson did nothing at the prospect camp to discourage that thinking. 

Most of the big name free agents are gone...though there are some interesting names still out there. Next post, we'll take a look at how free agency will be affecting the competition, specifically in the Eastern Conference.

The takeaway is that the Rangers came out as one of the "winners" in the free agent frenzy, mostly due to the Shattenkirk contract.  However, we would be hardpressed to portray Lias Andersson and Boo Nieves as upgrades over Derek Stepan and Oscar Lindberg.  And don't forget that we do not see Jesper Fast for the first two months of the season.  Stay tuned.