Rangers Analysis: Rangers Would be Wise to Build Around Gaborik
by Nick Montemagno on Apr 24, 2010 7:00 AM EDT
in New York Rangers Analysis
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PrintSeason after season, the message from the New York Rangers’ front office is that their objective is to build the team around goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Obviously when you have a superior netminder on your team, you want to form the roster so that he is comfortable. However, when you take into consideration what really hurt Lundqvist the most this season, you will realize that defense should not totally be general manager Glen Sather’s focus this summer.
In past years, it was true that the Blueshirts left their goaltender out to dry in the defensive zone. In fact, at times this year that was even true; I will give you that. But what really came back to bite Lundqvist in the behind all season long was the fact that the team in front of him struggled to produce offense. Lundqvist has a developing defensive squad to help him out (minus Redden and Rozsival), and honestly, they did not do a horrible job of protecting their all-star netminder in 2009-10. The problem was that if Hank did not play a near-perfect game, it would not be good enough for a victory since the offense could not score more than one, sometimes two goals.
The defense, as a whole, is moving in the right direction and all they need is a rough and tough, "old school" mentality defenseman that will clear the crease, and then they can be one of the better blue-lines in the National Hockey League. I truly believe so. With that, the focus needs to shift to the lack of skill and ability up front, and that means no longer building the roster around Lundqvist, but building it around the club’s top forward in Marian Gaborik.
Continue reading after the jump.
Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal were arguably the only players that gelled with Gaborik on the first line this season. And really, that was just pure luck since Prospal was pulled randomly from the free agent market and Christensen the waiver wire, both being given a chance just for the sake of doing so. These guys were not brought to New York to center and wing a line with Gaborik. In fact, at the time of the acquisitions, I can almost guarantee you that the thought of either of these individuals playing with Gaborik did not even cross Glen Sather’s mind.
Do not get me wrong, I was very impressed with what Prospal and Christensen added to the lineup, but let’s get real here. Gaborik needs to be playing with legitimate first line players. The Rangers have a very limited amount of assets on offense, and by having all of those on the first line, the wealth is not being spread. Besides the first six games of the season, and the last six or seven games of the season, it was extremely rare to see multiple forward trios heat up at the same time. It just never seemed to work out that way.
By getting Gaborik a real center, Prospal and/or Christensen are then enabled to drop down to the second and third lines, where they can produce with players like Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan. That is, of course, if Prospal and Christensen are both re-signed in the offseason. Anyway, now you would have a solid first line, depending on who that center is that Gaborik is playing with, and then two capable lines as secondary scoring under that. Now you can begin to see how building around Gaborik and having him as the nucleus of the offense can improve this lineup from a broader angle.
Now comes the question, the one that always causes debate, of who? Who does Glen Sather bring in? How does he acquire him? When does he make his move? Draft? Free agency? Trade? Clearly there are many options here, but you really can only go down one path and stick with it. That is where Sather usually makes his mistakes that cost the team.
Out west, you have young stars in Joe Pavelski and Sam Gagner as free agents who play the centerman position, but both are restricted free agents, meaning it will be very tough to pry their rights from their respective teams. It was rumored that the Blueshirts were interested in Mike Comrie, who will also be a free agent come July 1st, but if I were the general manager, I would stay clear of that potential mess. Comrie’s time has come and gone in my opinion.
Tomas Plekanec, who is red hot for the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs, is an affordable free agent center. Plekanec recorded 24 goals and 70 points and did not miss one single game the entire season with the Habs. Believe it or not, that makes a player’s value automatically go up. He would probably be the Rangers best option at 27 years of age.
It’s not going to be easy, it is not going to happen overnight, but it is certainly possible. With three, even two moves that positively affect the Rangers offense, they can automatically improve their production drastically. Just think of Gaborik’s point totals if he had a legitimate playmaker to feed him every time they took the ice. The offense, and the team for that matter, needs to start being built around Gaborik, because that will also be aiding the team’s other star, Henrik Lundqvist, in addition to increasing the production of the secondary scoring.
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i agree 100%
The Defense is fine. I liked Joe Pavelski when he played on team USA, and i would have no problem with Slats trading a couple of draft picks for him. Same goes for Ganger. The only point i disagree with, is Mike Comrie not being able to play well with Gaborik. Gaby helped Prospal play one his caereer best seasons, and i think he could do the say for Comrie. As for Plekanec, i really hope the Rangers find a way to sign him. As long as they don’t resign Olli, that leaves a good amount of space to sign Plekanec. We also already signed that Mats Zuccarello-Aasen kid… do you have any news on him?
Totally agree we need a #1 center. TOP priority! This has been a problem since we signed Gabby. Who will play with him?? Christensen? He’s definately not a # 1. Dubi is better playing the wing. Prospal? C’mon. He’s a decent player but not a # 1. The problem is though who can we get? I’m gun shy about getting Marleau. He’s gonna be too pricey and I think he benefits greatly being on a great team loaded with scoring. To be the # 1 guy here I don’t believe he can produce.
I want Pavelski!
by 76 Blueshirt on Apr 24, 2010 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions
I forgot about Marleau. I like Marleau, i think he would be great with Gaby, but honestly… he is a terrible playoff performer. If he could change the way he plays in the playoffs than i would sign him. As for Pavelski, Slats should do whatever it takes to get him! Even if it means giving up a couple of picks. Pavelski is talented, young, and he would be a huge assest to the top line.
by Nick G. Perri on Apr 24, 2010 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
I wouldnt trade a bag of pucks for that piece of crap Marleau.
by CrazyRangerFan on Apr 24, 2010 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions
Patrick Marleau is a FA this offseason. We arn’t trading for marleau, we would be trading for Pavelski.
by Nick G. Perri on Apr 24, 2010 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I'll repeat what I've said
The priority should be a 2nd line that can actually be a consistent offensive threat.
Gaborik-Prospal-Dubinsky were on the ice for at least 49 goals each at even strength.
The next highest on the team was Anisimov at 37. That’s a problem considering he was mostly a 3rd/4th liner all year.
Getting a #1 C is not a guarantee to fix that issue, as moving Prospal down is not all the likely to fix that. They need a legitimate, top 6 player that can score 25-30 goals, to play AWAY from Gaborik, not with him.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Apr 24, 2010 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions
Well said…..again
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Apr 24, 2010 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions
The Defense is terrible what have you watched this year?? Staal is a great player, Girardi is average, and Rozi, Redden well they are plain terrible and our better prospect in MDZ cant play positional defense very well, while our 6th Dman is in complete limbo, Gilroy? Sangs? Eriksson???, Potter? Our Defense sucks and we MUST address that this offseason by dumping Redden and adding a solid crease clearer.
by CrazyRangerFan on Apr 24, 2010 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
I wouldnt + anything to that
Staal is brilliant. Girardi has better numbers than the newest-must-have D-man Volchenkov.
MDZ’s +- was indicitive of his time with Redden, he was actually okay on the back end, and oh yeah hes 19.
Redden sucked.
the way Rozsival played at the end of the year, I wouldnt mind him back
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"We can trade Lisin for a gun, then hold it to Drury’s head and make him waive the no-movement clause" - XLII
by Joe Fortunato on Apr 25, 2010 10:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Have you not read Joe?
MDZ’s numbers are indictative of his time with Girardi, not Redden.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Apr 25, 2010 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm confused lol
it was a rough night last night. What do you mean?
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers the only NHL team with three home arenas.
"We can trade Lisin for a gun, then hold it to Drury’s head and make him waive the no-movement clause" - XLII
by Joe Fortunato on Apr 25, 2010 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
Breakdown of MDZ's +/-
-6 on the PP
+8 in 5v5 situations w/o Girardi
-5 in 4v4s
-17 w/ Girardi @ 5v5
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Apr 25, 2010 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions
I stand corrected
although you would think Torts would have realized this and moved him with someone else.
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"We can trade Lisin for a gun, then hold it to Drury’s head and make him waive the no-movement clause" - XLII
by Joe Fortunato on Apr 25, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions
That's what I've been saying!
And actually, Redden rarely played with MDZ this year. MDZ-Rozsival was the pair, Redden-Gilroy.
+5 out of the +8 was Rozsival-MDZ.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Apr 25, 2010 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions
So much for playing the rookies together being bad.
I hadn’t checked, but the other +3 is MDZ-Gilroy, despite an awful team sv% with them on.
Gilroy was -2 @ 5v5 without MDZ.
Though it’s a much smaller sample than their main partners, clearly there might’ve been something there.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Apr 25, 2010 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions
Zuccarello hasnt signed yet and wont sign until after the championships.
Do you remember Jörgen Jönsson ,who played most of his career in SEL, who easily could’ve taken a spot on any NHL team when he played. When he had his career year in SEL, With one of the best lines in SEL history, he made 47 points in 45 games.
MZA made 64 points in 55 games. If he keeps developing in the same pase he is then he will be a perfect player for the rangers. And i think he would be a perfect fit for Gabby.
It's unwise to build a team around ANY one player
Then Gaborik gets injured and we’re dead in the water. Look at the panic after the story broke that Lundquist had an injured knee. If all it takes is one injury to marginalize us, we’ll never get anywhere.
Take a page from the flyers.
If you look at the flyers that is how a team should be constructed. I am not saying they are a great team and they have underachieving issues but look at that lineup. Richards, Carter, Gagne,Hartnell,Pronger,Giroux etc. They are very balanced and tough. Carcillo is a better version of sean avery. The flyers might be mental cases but it shows what the Rangers need to do. Get some scoring depth. Plain and simple.
I disagree with our defense issue unless we get rid of redd and blowsitall and get a banger to clear the net its gonna burn us like it has last couple or years .As for center i agree but we also need a tough wingers that can score and grind it out i think we have to many soft forwards. Just look at what happen with gab and carcillo and hank getting run at all year
I agree with Gabby’sGroin…although I never want to say that again………One thing I don’t understand here is that I’ve read several posts where ppl are considering trading Gabby for picks……He is one of the top 10 players in the league…easily and you know what he brings……why trade him for something that is not a definate thing? No doubt build on him and the King. I think Avery is a more talented player than Carcillo. The Rangers need to stick up for themselves.
You simply cannot build a winning team and a core via free agency. Look at the teams that win, the core of every good team is build around home-grown stars. You bring in free agents to complement a solid nucleus, not the other way around. The rangers pathetic drafting over the past decade has doomed this team for the near future.
Ummm….gonna disagree about the rangers pathetic drafting. Lets look at our prospects. Stepan, Krieder, Grachev, AA, Del Zotto, McDonagh, Heikennen, Sanguinetti. We are loaded with good prospects and i’d say in 3-4 years we will be close to the top of the league with these kids maturing into very good hockey players.
by 76 Blueshirt on Apr 24, 2010 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions
Forgot to add Staal, Dubinsky, Cally, LUNDQVIST
by 76 Blueshirt on Apr 24, 2010 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
Lets look at our prospects. Stepan, Krieder, Grachev, AA, Del Zotto, McDonagh, Heikennen, Sanguinetti. We are loaded with good prospects and i’d say in 3-4 years
But that is exactly my point. 3 to 4 years from now b/c the Rangers drafting record prior to 3 years ago was horrid. Where is the reward for missing all those years missing the playoffs? No reward. That is why this current roster is so reliant on FA.
I agree, I think the Rangers are in good shape going forward. I just don’t think the Rangers will be a truly competitive team for at least 2 more years.
We dont need change 3-4 years from now. The change needs to come now!
by Nick G. Perri on Apr 24, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
rebuild but be competitive?
i like all the youth we have but i want to win and rebuild at the same time. this team needs a #1 scorind center and two good defensemen. any possible way we can get souray and dustin penner from the oilers ?and i agree if we can get pavelski and pleckanic that would really make us better and i also heard about ales hemsky is that true ?
Souray is terrible
He’s legitimately worse than Redden. I think someone put a post up about that, maybe RangerSmurf I dont remember, but Redden has better stats in almost EVERY category than Souray. And Souray is injury prone.
DO NOT REBULD AROUND GABBY
sorry for the caps but let me explain. Gabby is a shift sniper, gamebreaking at times, but also a huge liability and doesn’t give dominating performances night in and night out. Hes an amazing cornerstone don’t get me wrong. The reason it didn’t work in Minnesota is because they tried to do exactly what you are saying to do in this post, having an allstar goalie in Backstrom and Gaborik. The Rangers still need that Cindy Crosby, Alex Obitchken, or Iginla even. You build from that player out and give your team allstar snipers such as Gaborik.
Not to be mean but did you not see the first half of the season. Gabby was the whole offense and probably the best player in the league. He absolutely had no help from anyone besides maybe prospal. Towards the end of the year he sustained some freak injury due to a skate in the leg and then which lead to a groin injury which slowed him down at the end of the year. in addition he didn’t play at all the year before so maybe he started to burn out not being used to the regular season; look i don’t wanna make excuses for gabby but he is a dominant player who needs help. Ovechkin and Crosby wouldn’t be able to take this team to the cup, plus look at the top teams (capitals, pens, sharks, red wings, blackhawks) they don’t have a terrible contract, let alone 3 (drury, redden, rosival). I say once these contracts are gone can the rangers move on, look at the caps they got rid of nylander, free’d up some space and signed some key players to make them a legitimate cup contendor. Also these teams have 2-3 scoring threats on the team, the rangers only have one.
the blackhawks have bad contracts, Huet and Campbell
by CrazyRangerFan on Apr 24, 2010 3:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Only a Rangers fan can have a player like Gaborik and undervalue him that much.
by Lunkwill Fook on Apr 24, 2010 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions
A lot of how we build is going to depend on the draft. Right now, at #10, I’m thinking our best bet would be to try to get Johansen. He’s a tall, lanky kid that once he fills out should be a force against some of the other centers in our division. He’s not as good offensively as a guy like Etem, but he’s a better overall player and could probably come in and contribute earlier.
If we do take a center, then I say we avoid going after a guy like Plekanec. I’d assume that the draft pick would need a year in the AHL, so we re-sign EC to be the #1 guy. Then hopefully in a year we’d get Johansen in, then if we were really lucky Stepan would be ready too, but I’d say 2 years for Stepan. Then it’d be some combo of Johansen/Stepan/AA down the middle, giving us a counter to teams like Phi/Pitt etc. who are really strong down the middle. Having an older guy on a big contract (including Dru) would just clog the C position and delay bringing in the young guys.
If we go in another direction in the draft (we won’t get Nino….so Forbort or…?) then I think we should go after Pleks (as long as it’s not going to take some retarded 6+m 10 year contract to get it done). Then we’d have Pleks/AA/Drury/Boyle down the middle. EITHER WAY, a top center isn’t just the only thing we need, obviously. I know RangerSmurf has done loads of great work on the ‘#1 center’ debate, and I agree with him in that we need secondary scoring. But…an off-season isn’t just about 1 thing.
Skipping the D for now, our top needs are a #1 center for Gaborik (if it’s not a FA this year, then I’d hope our draft pick this year could become that guy next year, or Stepan if he’s deemed ready), and I would have to say a skilled winger for AA (who I would hope will be our #2 center-a good 2 way guy who needs to play more, especially getting his big body in front of the net on the PP). Give AA a solid 2 way winger and a skilled scorer and I think we’d have a great 2nd line.
I’d like to hope that the new guy from Europe (Zucchini or whatever his name is ) could be that guy…but he’s never played in the NHL level. There’s plenty of options here, we’ve had guys like Sharp mentioned. Another I’d like to throw out there, since some folks love to talk RFAs, is Patric Hornqvist from Nashville. 30g this season and a +15 on a team that doesn’t score much, 10 PPG, only 23, and seems like a real hard-nosed player. Nashville is a low pay-roll team that needs to sign like 3d this off-season as well as forwards…I think if Sather put together a good offer we could get him. He’d be worth the 1st/3rd pick if we got him for under 3.9m. Just another name to put in the suggestion pot.
Rangers Analysis: Rangers Would be Unwise to Build Around Redden
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by inventor frank on Apr 24, 2010 10:54 PM EDT reply actions
Who do we give away?
To get a number one center and a skilled winger through a trade, whom would we be willing to give up? Wouldn’t we have to give up something juicy? Do you think dubi or aa might be bait? I sure hope not
by Massi on Apr 25, 2010 12:34 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Dubi has been in rade conversations for a while. He was in trade talks when the Rangers made an offer for Souray, and there was supposed to be a huge trade between us and the Panthers, and Dubi was in those talks as well.
by Nick G. Perri on Apr 25, 2010 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions
Just a question in general...since a lot of people seem to love his game.
Is El Nino NHL ready? I just ask because others (Stepan, Kreider) are obviously still in the college ranks and I didn’t know if anyone had a good read on Nino and if he fell to the Rangers where he would go for next year.
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