In a vacuum, the trade for Steve Rucchin makes sense for the Rangers. They had no one to fill the role of checking center, a role Rucchin is capable of filling while also providing leadership, and they got him practically for nothing from the cap-burdened Ducks (there's a switch, the Rangers taking someone else's salary dump). But the Rangers don't operate in a vacuum (even though some days it seems like they are) -- they are theoretically rebuilding. With Rucchin, they are now three-deep at center with players 33 or older, leaving no room for Jamie Lundmark [left] to win a job at his natural position. Sure, Lundmark never showed that he is capable of playing that position in the NHL, but here once we again we see why -- he never gets a chance. After predicting that as many as ten rookies could be on the NHL roster, Glen Sather has now added a ninth 30-something to the team.
Guess what, folks -- it's deja vu all over again.
Plus, the $2.2 million-plus that Rucchin will earn under the cap would have been more than sufficient to pluck a promising young RFA or two from a cap-strapped team, more in keeping with a re-building program for minimal compensation. The Devils' top three RFAs -- Patrik Elias, Colin White, and Jeff Friessen -- are now listed as signed, having accepted their QOs, but 24 year old defensemen David Hale and Paul Martin remain unsigned, with the $44 million dollar Devils in no position to match RFA offer sheets that would net them no more than a second or third round pick in return for those players.
Several more big name players who could have been UFAs next year at a young age, or could have been high-end RFA targets this year, are off the market. Martin St. Louis will not get his wish and come to New York, having signed a lucrative long-term deal with the Lightning. Marian Hossa, who likewise was facing possible free agency next year, signed a long-term deal with Atlanta after being traded for Dany Heatley, who also signed a rich multi-year contract with his new team, the Senators.
Six years ago, Ranger fans called John Muckler senile -- now he has managed to get one of the game's hottest young stars straight up for another young star, and dump an overblown 30-something salary in the process, unloading Greg DeVries and the $2.28 million remaining on the contract the Rangers gave him a couple of years back (Karel Rachunek, the player the Rangers got for him, will be playing in Europe this season, having hated his brief experience in New York). That gives Muckler more flexibility under the cap in re-signing his top defensemen, Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara, two more prospective 2006 UFAs who likely won't ever get that far.
Two other ex-Rangers are moving on: The ever-newsworthy Theo Fleury will be playing in Belfast, Northern Ireland this season, where presumably he will trash the integrity of fans there, as he has elsewhere. Josh Green, who will forever be in the Ranger All-Time Register with 14 games played during two separate stints with the club, signed with Vancouver. Green will best be remembered for trashing the Rangers after his first escape, only to be claimed on waivers a couple of months later, perhaps in retribution fir his comments.
More news on OLN's destructive attitude toward New York: Even Cablevision subscribers who get OLN will not be able to see the Ranger season opener vs. Philadelphia, as OLN tries to pressure Cablevision to move the network to basic cable. A defiant Cablevision insists it will nevertheless show all of its teams' games on its regional networks, MSGN and FSNY. Few will shed tears for Cablevision, which has frequently pulled this same power play on other cable operators with its sports networks. But as usual, the fans end up losers as huge corporations battle for their dollars. Interestingly, OLN is owned by the same company, Comcast, that owns the Flyers, and Cablevision owns the Rangers (Comcast was once a major minorty shareholder of Cablevision stock).
Hockey Rodent continues to follow the Petr Prucha soap opera in Paradubice, Czech Republic. There you will find a translation of an interview in which Prucha weighs his personal needs and desires against those of his club and his league under the new NHL-IIHF transfer agreement. It's not yet certain that Prucha will be allowed to come to New York despite signing a contract with the Rangers.
When did Martin St. Louis say he wanted to go to New York? Is there an interview I can reference?
Also, I find it interesting that this site earlier advocated tendering an offer sheet to Martin St. Louis, which would have cost 4 or 5 first round draft picks, but now complains when the Rangers get Steve Rucchin rather than try to pluck young RFA's away from cap-strapped teams "in keeping with a re-building program". Granted, Rucchin is no St. Louis, but drafting and developing your own talent is how you re-build, which is hard when you've given up all your draft picks to pluck other teams' players, young or otherwise, away.
Posted by: Tex Texerson | August 25, 2005 at 11:51 PM
The inconsistencies you cite do not represent our advocacy of one team-building strategy over another, they represent our reaction to the shifting sands of the Rangers' approach to team building. Signing St. Louis as an RFA was based on the Rangers' publicly stated desire to wait until next year's UFA crop, one that will not materialize because most of these players are signing long-term deals. Questioning the Rucchin trade is in the context of the Rangers' oft-repeated desire to follow through on the youth program, one that comes into doubt with the corps of over-30 veterans now just one player short of half the team that will suit up every night.
Posted by: Dubi | August 26, 2005 at 01:38 AM
Wow, I didn't know Karel Rachunek wasn't coming back to the NHL. I guess it shows how little I follow the Rangers when a player I'm still sorta half interest in following announces this.
It's not all that surprising. He was always moody in Ottawa, having sat out a year here as well. Eventually he caved. But he caved to a team that was a contender. I don't know how long it will be before the Rangers are one, but I think it's safe to say it won't be this season.
It's too bad because he's very talented.
Posted by: Chris McMurtry | August 26, 2005 at 02:33 AM