Thanks for all the great responses to the last post despite the disappointing result last night. After reading through much of the comments, I posed a question below that I felt I would reiterate here.
Since much of the controversy surrounding this season is with the coaching staff, there is a question of approach by management when determining their rosters.
Do you hire a coach that fits the style of your current players?
OR
Do you bring in or change players to fit a coach's style?
There are pro's and con's to both. There's the old adage, "it's easier to change a coach rather than a roster of players." But then again your coach dictates the game you produce on the ice.
What are your thoughts?
I really Don't think the Coach makes a difference when following a formual to success. Although, some coaches preferr to play veterans.. the NHl is now a young mans game. Speed and grit is what makes the NHl tick (With horrible officiating), it just so happens our coach thrives under those peramaters. But the overall formula to win a championship in the NHl is Old as the day is long... Build from your net out! The Islanders,Devils,Wings, and even Anaheim have top notch defensive corps.. The Rangers have the goaltender in place.... now with 5 out of our best 10 prospects on the line, the plan is setting up nice.
Posted by: Chad Genco | April 29, 2009 at 05:42 PM
Teams at top refer to past cup years
Posted by: Chad Genco | April 29, 2009 at 05:43 PM
Always get the best quality players, if the coach is smart, he will exploit their talents and let them play to their own best game.
If not, change coaches, we will always wonder how Jags would have done under a scoring run and gun team rather than the stifling Ranger D of last year and the year before.
BTW, how did Jags make out in Russia? I have seen no info since the tragic death of his team mate.
Posted by: Bob M | April 29, 2009 at 05:45 PM
in this cae you change the roster because this is not a cup winning roster not close..
Posted by: stuart | April 29, 2009 at 06:32 PM
Boy, no matter who coaches this team we just can't score! Funny thing when all fo us were calling for Renney to be fired, we talked how Torts is the right guy for the job. But he has made many mistakes in so few games. He's been out coached quite a bit. I'm talking about when he left the penalty box empty against that game in Pittsburg while we were on a PK. That just added another kill, elementary stuff a coach should know. taking out Avery when things were going right, flipping out on the bench no matter WHAT happens, is no excuse. I would have alerted the refs and told them we won't come out of the locker room until security handles the situation. Short practices, instead of working on the PP IS ANOTHER MISTAKE. I'm disappointed to far. I think anymore mistakes, we have to start looking for another coach, Joel Quinvilesk. That being said, we need to dump salaries, and go after a Kovulchuk($7 mil/yr 5 yrs) to play w/ Gomer. He's a UFA after next season, and that will give us some time to work out the aches and pains. This team is just not built to score and we just have too many support guys, but no finishers. I buy out Naslund. Slats can get all the puck moving D's in the world, it hasn't worked. We trade Rozy and a 2nd rounder, and assign Redden to Hartford. Let go of Mara and Morris, which looks like the case anyway. We need a bruiser on the blue line. I resign Antro for no more than $3.5mil/yr 3 yrs, because he's a 2nd line guy. We trade one of our blue chip D's, for a bluechip, highscoring, forward who can go into traffic. We'll still have one or two left, BELIEVE ME! I would drop Drury. We have no leadership in that locker room anyway and he's overpaid. I rate Gomez higher than Drury even though they're both grossly overpaid(NEWS FLASH). Oh, and one last thing...FIRE SATHER!
Posted by: MarknMiami | April 29, 2009 at 06:37 PM
I just don't get this team anymore. Get younger? Well we did that for about a year and all of a sudden Gomez, Drury, Redden, Naslund, and now Antropov suddenly wind up on the roster. They are all big talents of the NHL but put them together and **POOF* they suck!!! I don't know if its the high salaries or what.
As far as Torts is concerned, I believe he came in a bit too late. I think the players, no matter who they are, can adapt and play under his system. No production on the ice and you ride the pine for a while. He makes them earn their spot on this team. Start out fresh next year with him and Shoney behind the bench.
I wish I could wave a magic wand and all the problems would go away.....but at this rate it may be another 54 years before we see another cup.
Posted by: BLEEDING BLUE | April 29, 2009 at 07:53 PM
This Team showed the lack of GRIT and HEART that is required to win when it counts. To be fair only a handful showed up(Callahan,dubi,henry,sjostrum and betts) which is a good start, but, to progress foward we need to dump the dead wood (Drury, Gomez, Zherdev, Redden, Naslund, Voros and Rozi). But as they say it is easier said than done, which is the truth. But a good start would be Gomez to L.A.for one of their young prospects namely Dustin Brown and another trade would be Naslund and a draft pick to Tampa Bay for Martin St Louis. One thing for sure is that the G.M. has to swallow his pride and undo the mistakes he made the last 2 offseasons
Posted by: Rangers666 | April 29, 2009 at 08:49 PM
yeah, i'm all for hot stove talk, but gomez to la for brown? not happening....
Posted by: joe | April 29, 2009 at 11:27 PM
Well, this certainly is a tough question. I think you have to look at what we have going forward. We have 9 players signed for 09-10 at 37 million dollars. Only 3 of those players, in my opinion, are worthy of such deals (Avery, Lundvqist, Staal). I do not think anyone in their right minds would take any of the contracts we have unless we eat alot of them (Drury, Gomez at 8 million per). Redden and Rosival stepped it up in the postseason yet the New York media especially 660 WFAN has been calling for their heads. I believe they are solid blueliners that will help us going forward. So its obvious they have to resign Dubinksy, Callahan, Sjostrom, Korpokovski, and Zherdev(the kids 23 years old, lets not go crazy here), whom are all restricted free agents. I say we let go of Derek Morris and consider resigning Antropov if we have cap space left over. So it is almost impossible for us to remake our roster. Our only hope is to sign or make a trade for some offensive player which will help our power play and our anemic scoring. So the question is who are hte possibilites? Getting back to the main question at hand, we have to keep Tortorella because we cannot rebuild our roster with the long term contracts we have. As long as we have Hank behind us, anyone we have will give us a shot. Our defense is really flourishing with Staal Girardi, the new BU star Gilroy they signed and an apparent plethora of talent in the minors. So please Glenn get us some offensive help.
Posted by: Jim | April 29, 2009 at 11:53 PM
I would like to see Marion Gaborik as a Ranger next year. I think Torts' mentality will work well for Dubinski and Callahan. I find it hard to believe Redden's contract can be shed so I would like to see Morris re-signed and Rosival shipped out. Naslund has nothing more than 3rd to 4th line potential anymore, and frankly if he's not in the lineup next year I would be more than happy. As far as Drury and Gomez I am excited to see what they will look like in a non- Tom Renney system.
Posted by: Chris from FLA | April 30, 2009 at 01:29 AM
I don't know how to answer the question set forth, but I do know no matter who coaches under what system, you can't win without putting the puck to the twine. We need a sniper, a guy who can shoot a hard accurate shot, if not to put the puck in the net, to at least generate some juicy rebounds. Right now even when our guys decide to take a rare shot, they either miss the net or hit the goalie in the chest without him even needing to move.
Posted by: Vince | April 30, 2009 at 02:18 AM
Jim: " Redden and Rosival stepped it up in the postseason yet the New York media especially 660 WFAN has been calling for their heads."
Would have been nice if they stepped it up at any point in the previous 70 games where they were useless lumps of dog meat, or if they picked it up in games 5 and 6. I'll steal a line from Dan Savage: DTMFA. Look it up.
As for coach... our players are locked into long deals, deals that will be soaking our payroll. You hire the coach around the players in this case. More to the point: A coach that doesn't throw water bottles or bench rally-making players would be really nice. I can't really express my extreme disappointment in Tort's actions and lack of actions. His coaching was in absolutely no way helpful to this series.
My opinion (and my hockey mind is not the best, so take my words with a grain of salt): Only 6 or 7 players IMHO did anything this series, and at least two of them are Hendrik. We know who they are. This series was a gutcheck most of our players fantastically failed at. If the Rangers are really interested in being successful over the long term - and not just a <5th seed and an exit in the first or second round for the foreseeable future, I think building the team around these players - from coaching staff to the people surrounding them - and shedding the dead weight would be the best idea.
My biggest wish? Dump Redden anywhere else. Pay his salary to get this slow, old, broken down cancer of laziness and screening out of the locker room. No, correction: Biggest wish: Finding Glen Sather floating in that really big puddle just outside of the front entrance to MSG. Then Redden.
Posted by: SaintStryfe | April 30, 2009 at 03:15 AM
First off the mindset about how they spend money needs to change. The Rangers need to learn the lesson that it is not how much you spend but how well you spend your money.
Second a decision needs to be made as to who will be making player decisions. Will Sather step aside and allow Schoeny to help Tortorella the kinds of players that fit the system that Tortorella wants.
Third and this one is one that fans will not like, a willingness for both franchise and fans to accept a step backwards in order to take 2 steps forward.
Enough of the attempts at a quick fix, stop trying to plug holes and build a team that will contend for the cup.
Now the worse news, there are few possible stars and mostly role players in Hartford.
All of the kids I cover have one thing in common: they all need more time with Grachev the closest to being NHL ready. Everyone else is at least 2 years away.
Posted by: Jess | April 30, 2009 at 03:32 AM
Agree with most of what's said...Torts could easily have taken his players off the ice until security solved the abusive fan problem, his volatility is a liability, but his sense of individual player responsibility is a concept the rangers sorely lacked under Renney. Also, I love the way Torts shows confidence in the youth movement and plays the younger stars (Dubi, Callahan, Staal, Girardi) when they earn the opportunity. You have to take the good with the bad, and everyone has their flaws.
Problem with Redden is the example he sets with the mils per and average to sub-par performance. Historically, this has been the problem Sather's personnel decisions have wrought on the Rangers since his advent. He plays like a 5-6 D man during the season, makes egregious errors and he's the top-paid D man on the team. We almost missed the playoffs, in part due to his lackadaisical play during the regular season, so why is his play in the playoffs important, particularly when we lost in the first round, and, ironically, on a shot that he screened? I don't think he plays with heart...something happened to him personally along the way over the past few years, and he doesn't seem to be motivated by either money, or glory. Perhaps psychoanalysis would help? I agree he belongs in Hartford right now.
Zherdev is a kid...Tort's has to treat him a little more sensitively and we should give him a chance. He's made some of those sniper plays on game winning goals during the year...some of you have short memories if his regular season heroics.
I like Freddie Sjostrom's speed and spunk...I would like to see him stay.
Posted by: wildplaces | April 30, 2009 at 08:26 AM
Quit talking about Gaborik, Lacavalier, St Louis and all those high dollar players. WE DON'T HAVE THE CAP MONEY FOR THEM. We should go low key, starting with prying Alex Radulov out of the KHL and onto Broadway. There are other low key, low price scorers out here and there is talent such as Anisimov in Hartford. Defensively, try to lose Redden and bring in Potter, Sauer, Sanguinetti. If Grachev has a good camp, keep him in NY. This automatic assignment to the AHL for young players is a bunch of crap. Give Torts a team he can work with and we'll go further. Until September, LET"S GO RANGERS!!!!!!
Posted by: Denver Frank | April 30, 2009 at 10:03 AM
I think everyone is missing the point here. Lets throw out the regular season. What we did in the regular season was good enough to get us into the postseason. We changed coaches and added a number of players at the deadline. So we get into the playoffs and we push the Capitols to the brink of elimination, the number 2 seed. No one on ESPN, no hockey analyst anywhere gave us a chance. The most favorable prediction was the Caps in 6. So lets analyze what we were missing in the postseason and caused our eventual eradication. Games 1 and 2 in Washington we shut down Ovie and the rest of the high powered offense of the Caps. We played a collapsing type defense and blocked a lot of shots. We grinded out our goals and Gomez played great. Games 3 and 4 were dominated by the Caps but we were able to take home game 4 because of stellar defense and amazing goaltending. Once again we lacked the offensive firepower to put the game out of reach. Zherdev was no where to be found but lets not get enraged with him because it was his first of many playoff experiences. So 5 we had no shot..can you attribute that possibly to benching Avery? Yea maybe you can but the rangers were outplayed, no goaltending no defense etc. Game 6 cannot be blamed on Torts. Him not being there was not the problem. They come out and score first we come right back and answer. Naslund then missed a WIDE OPEN net which im still perplexed by. The Caps come down put one away and score again to make it 3-1. Then our best offensive player in Zherdev missed a put back attempt which was an absolute heartbreaker as the Caps storm down on a 3-1 and Kozlov runs over Lundy. Lets keep in mind this entire time the officiating is in the Caps favor. So game 7 we come out and dominate. I mean our defense stepped up and shut down one of the best offenses in the game for 40 minutes. 1-0 Rangers 5 minutes to go and disaster strikes. The Rangers are just finishing their powerplay and Avery gets RUN OVER going to the bench. The ref was right there shoulda been a 5-3. Instead on the ensuing series of plays the puck ends up on Alexander Semins stick. after two absurd bounces Lundqvist barely gets beat right over his outstretched leg. This was the game changer here. The Rangers deserved to be up 2-0 after 1. To go into the locker room 1-1, after dominating a period like that is an absolute travesty. So I do not put the blame on Redden or Rosival, they stepped up when it mattered the most. Staal and Girardi also stepped it up. So lets look at who did not. Naslund, we got you for this kind of game, and you let us down big time. Drury did not play great but keep in mind the guy is hurt and played through it all series and showed a lot of guts. Gomez skated well and just didn't have the firepower to make things happen. So we are missing a finisher is the main point. But I do not htink we are that far off from being a championship team. Everyone wants them to overhaul their whole roster which is not going to happen. If we had Jagr this year things would have been differnt. The man had 53 points in 55 games this year in Russia. Think our power play would have been a little better?? Sather just dropped the ball on this one. Jagr was the piece we needed to get to the cup. We pushed the number 2 seed with arguably the best player to the brink of elimination. We just needed a finisher to FINISH THE SERIES. Wow Glenn, you let Jagr go when he obviously has some gas left in the tank and you pay for it.
Posted by: Jim | April 30, 2009 at 10:07 AM
I just love all the comments about getting rid of Redden and playing the kids from Hartford. Even any of those kids were even remotely as good as Redden, they would have been playing in New York.
The fact is that Staal got beat much more than Redden against the Caps. In fairness, he may have been out against the top players slightly more often. But nobody breathes a word when he gets beat.
Ranger fans always need a whipping boy, and Redden was this year's model. The way people talked about Tom Poti a few years' back, one would think any team that signed him would suck horribly. I guess he isn't hurting Washington all that much.
What we need more than anything is a couple of forwards who can put thepuck in the net.
Posted by: pf | April 30, 2009 at 12:15 PM
First of all, Am I the only one who been moping and listening to depressing love songs for two days? I feel like my heart got ripped out. I hate when they choke!! What am I to do without hockey??? And Secondly, Torts has to stay there is no doubt about that. As for Redden, I'm sure he is a very nice guy but he sucks. He passed the puck to Ovechkin more than people on his own team! Rozi has played better than in the begining of the season when he got booed everytime he touched the puck. It really is a shame but I don't think a new roster is possible. I would love to see Redden and Gomez gone. Dubinsky will do us some good, and he so adorable. We can only hope for the best, and I completely agree that Sather has to go. My 5 year old cousin knows more about hockey than he does. He has just made one stupid descion after another. I don't know about you, but i'm counting the days till October, and will probably wear out my Airsuply cd.
Posted by: Joanna | April 30, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Joanna:
Air Supply...C'mon...you can do better than that...that is worse than any Star Trek Movie...Try Pink or Gwyn Stefani...what is next..Barry Mannello or Neil Diamond...why not Gordon Lightfoot while you are at it...lol
Anyway, as for the Rangers:
1. Zherdev being gone will save 2 or 3 million on the cap. However, this will be absorbed by Cally and Dubi (who is a good player but looks like Charlie Brown with hair)
2. If they can, and big IF dump Gomez, that is over 7 million they can get back.
3. Morris and Anthro probably will both leave, that is a 5 or 6 million savings. Add Mara to that list and its 8. Add Sjostrom and its 9.
4. Free Agents- I like the Sedin twins, if they don't break the bank, but I'd lvoe a banging defenseman that has a bit of a psycho edge to him, a scoring winger, and a new center who actually can set up wingers other than Brian Gionta.
But I do agree, Sather has to go!!!
Posted by: Freedom Prime | April 30, 2009 at 12:57 PM
Freedom Prime: You would love a banging defenseman? Me too!! But Dubinsky looks nothing like Charlie Brown!!
Posted by: Joanna | April 30, 2009 at 01:00 PM
No Ranger fans never learn, let us dump one set of free agents and bring in still more.
Nobody looks to see if those players they want to see signed would be good fits in either New York or under Tortorella's system.
To be blunt thinking like that is Glen Satherish.
Instant fixes do not work, never have and never will.
Posted by: Jess | April 30, 2009 at 01:12 PM
pf: The only reason Redden is on the ice is we paid that much for him. To have him in wolfpack blue would be insane given what we're paying him. He either needs to find the stick up his arse, pull it out, and skate, or go away.
Posted by: SaintStryfe | April 30, 2009 at 01:29 PM
Putting Redden in the minors may be the only way o dump his salary off the cap...we did it to Darius Kasperitis and he made what Redden does.
Free Agency should not be the main way to fix our problems, but it is a way to help solve our problems.
Overall, the Rangers need to draft better, spend money wiser, and focus hard on offense over defense. No more 2-1 games next year. They need to learn how to win 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 games. They went out and signed Gilroy to a big rookie contract, what does that say about their defense prospects? And who are their offensive prospects...Anisimov & Gratchev? Both will probably be fine players, but who else do they really have?
Posted by: Freedom Prime | April 30, 2009 at 02:35 PM
This is what I would like the 09/10 Rangers to look like!
G-Lunquist Valiqueth
D- Girardi - Staal
Baranka - Sanguinetti
Gilroy - Potter
Lines LW C RW
1.
2. Drury Gomez Callahan
3. Avery Dubinski Antrpov
4. Kopikowski Betts Anisimov
Trade: Naslund, Sjostrom, Rozival,
Minors: Redden
UFA: Mara, Orr, Morris,
???: What to do with Voros?
If you can trade either Drury or Gomez listen... I know no trade clauses but listen...
We need to get a 35 goaler on the first line... But the way this team is constructed is fine we just need to be creative and get a gamer...
Gaborik, Hossa, Kovalchuk, Heatley, thornton, Radulov, Lacavelier.
No one over 30 please let's keep it young! Let's have this team grow into a champion...
Roc328
Posted by: ROC328 | April 30, 2009 at 03:40 PM
Freedom Prime: Does Redden's contract let us pay him less if we put his laggy arse in Hartford?
Really... I kind of feel bad. For Hartford.
/they need real popcorn at the XL Arena, not that prebagged junk
Posted by: SaintStryfe | April 30, 2009 at 04:21 PM
ROC328
No, he has a one way contract that pays his worthless butt 6.5 mill wherever we send him.
I do think it is worth sending him there...let him watch from the stands if he must, MSG can afford one 6.5 million dollar player in the minors...that is what Sather did to Kasperitis when he deemed him not a good fit anymore. Ask yourselves this, who would take rEdden for half his contract by claiming him off waivers??
We could also buy him out and take a 2 million cap hit for the next five years. Not an easy pill to swallow, but doable.
Same thing could go for Gomez , as far as sending him to Hartford.
However, the Rangers will have cap room since Antro, Morris, Sjostrom, Betts, Vally, Mara, Voros are UFAs and I'm betting Zherdev won't be back.
Vally and Betts are the only guys I'd say have a definate spot. Mara would be next on that list. I'd like to see Anthro back, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. And I think Joanna has a better chance of seeing an Air Supply reunion tour or David Bowie with Bing Crosby play her wedding and sing "Peace on Earth" than Morris back, unfortunately.
Posted by: Freedom Prime | April 30, 2009 at 11:01 PM
go to my new rangers blog
http://allrangers.blogspot.com/
Posted by: the fan | May 04, 2009 at 08:49 PM
Cap managerment 101...lets put things in perspective here
we have about $40 million locked up on 11 players, leaving us 17 million to lock up 11-12 players, ouch
Figure "IF" we get lucky and sign Dubinsky, Callahan, Korpi at bargains (1.75, 1.5, 1 mill per year respectively) that brings us to around $44kish...this will shore up our young core and protect our future
If we could get Sjostrom, Betts, Orr? 1 mill a piece?...$47ish...this will preserve our 4th line/PK
This gilroy kid is costing us $1.75 one-way contract, thats $49 on 18 players
If Bobby Sanguinetti comes up it will cost us 855k
likewise with Ansimov at 822K
That leaves us around 5 million to lock up a defenseman and scoring wing at the least and thats not including bonuses, other call ups, injuries etc
In other words pray Sather can move a contract somehow
Posted by: IAMARANGER81 | May 06, 2009 at 04:09 PM