Garrioch: Rangers Interested in Volchenkov?
by Dave Shapiro on Jun 4, 2010 12:38 PM EDT
in NHL Free Agents
Email
PrintAccording to Bruce Garrioch, the Rangers are one of the teams showing interest in soon to be unrestricted free agent Anton Volchenkov. Volchenkov has been a hot topic so far this offseason, after turning down a reported five-year $20 million deal after the Olympics from the Senators, ensuring that the highly sought after defenseman will hit the open market. Volchenkov has been linked to the Washington Capitals, but those rumors have been refuted.
Let’s play a game of which defenseman would you take.
Player A: 6′1, 226 lbs. 28 years old, 7 year veteran. Physical, shot blocker, stay at home defenseman. Averages 15 points per season, GVT of 4.7 (4.2 DGVT). Averages 65 GP/season. Will command at least $5 million/season for five years.
Player B: 6′1, 210 lbs. 28 years old, 6 year veteran. Physical, shot blocker, stay at home defenseman with a little offense. Averages 22 points per season, GVT of 4.3 (5.1 DGVT). Played a full 82 games for four of six seasons. Will command roughly $500,000-$1 million less than Player A for one or two fewer seasons.
Which defenseman do you want?
I think we can agree that Player B brings more value for the dollar, which is what the salary cap era is all about. If you said Player A, you said Anton Volchenkov. If you said Player B, you said Zbynek Michalek. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when looking for bang for your buck, Zbynek Michalek makes more sense than Anton Volchenkov. They have the same style of play, Michalek contributes more on the blue line, and is much more durable. The slight difference in GVT is negligible, but it’s worth noting that again Michalek has the better defensive GVT.
So the Rangers can be interested in Anton Volchenkov all they want, but they will not have the cap room for him. On the other hand, Michalek should certainly be an intriguing option, and worth more than just a kicking of the tires. Of course, Dan Girardi is an even cheaper option with almost identical numbers (6.8 GVT, 5.0 DGVT), but he isn’t as physical as the other two. Girardi, of course, will cost significantly less than both Michalek and Volchenkov.
55 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Keep the money locked away
DO NOT SIGN A BIG NAME FA!!!!! Re-sign Girardi, EC etc but do not throw more money at FA’s…besides Gabs what good has that done us?
I answered B, and was pretty sure it was Michalek. I’m not sure he won’t command a full 1.5m less, as I think he’s more in the 3.5-4m range.
As for Girardi, I just did a work up of him, and while he’s cost effective, he’s having a negative impact on his playing partners, which isn’t the greatest sign for a 26 yr old defensemen.
I could care less about the hitting, but it’s worth noting that despite being non-physical, he’s got more recorded hits than Volchenkov the last 3 years (though rink bias plays a serious role, as does the fact AV doesn’t stay healthy)
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
Well, I would expect you to get that one right.
Can you post the work up? How does he have a negative effect? That’s really interesting.
AV is just so overrated, I’m so sick of hearing about him. Michalek is the better option, it’s blatantly obvious.
by Dave Shapiro on Jun 4, 2010 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions
I did it as a supplement to something Joe was working on, I assume it will go up at some point.
Briefly though…Girardi seriously weighed down the Fenwick rates of all his playing partners this year, most notably with MDZ, but across the board (though Gilroy and Rozsival were insignificant samples, they barely played together)
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 4, 2010 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Interesting. I was about to do a comparison of Michalek and Girardi, something a poster at my blog brought up. Do you know when Joe’s post is going up? Those numbers are something I’d like to see.
Gotta ask him
It took me forever just to send it cause I got bogged down. I can shoot you the file though.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 4, 2010 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions
Either Volchenkov or Michalek getting more than ~2 million is horrific overpayment for what they actually do on the ice, unless there’s an elite puck-rusher they can pair with. But even then, you don’t want a guy with AVs wheels isolated in space against skill forwards coming back the other way.
Even so, I don’t think PHX lets Zybnek get away – I’d bet he’s locked up by draft day.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Jun 5, 2010 9:35 AM EDT up reply actions
Even if Mchalek is the wiser option
is there any doubt that Sather would go for Volchenkov? We all can talk about value and bang for the buck…but this is Sather.
He’s interested in Volchenkov…I think he’s a Ranger, somehow. Now if they went ahead and demoted Redden, then OK.
"What's your plan?? Rob Fort Knox on elephant back? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard....."
Sather’s problem is that he is attracted by big names. It explains Kotalik last year and Redden over Streit.
by Dave Shapiro on Jun 4, 2010 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
its the reason that should these 2 both sign to different clubs
one being a Ranger, I have no doubts that they get Volchenkov.
In no way is this as bad as signing Redden, or Redden over Streit (what’s worse….) since I think Volchenkov is the sort they need.
Its just a shame. That extra .5-1 mill could be used to add to Girardi’s contract. Maybe Volchenkov’s a slightly better player, but Michalek + Girardi makes for a deeper team.
"What's your plan?? Rob Fort Knox on elephant back? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard....."
Given these choices
Michalek would be nice and Volchenkov would be nicer, but Girardi stays and then is traded.
I Am HockeyMan!!
"When I tap my stick like this (thump, thump, thump), put the puck on the tape, and I'll take care of things." Jaromir Jagr, for Bud Light.
Paul Martin
Is the better choice. He will cost about as much as volchenkov and he’s the better player offensively and defensively.
Lundqvist-Staal-MDZ-McDonagh-Krieder-Stepan-MZA-Cally-Dubi-Gabby-AA-Grachev-Prust
The core of the 2014 Stanley Cup winners!
The only surprising one out of that group was Madden. All the others were easily replaced by Gomez, Parise, and Martin, respectively.
well if kovy is back (obviously unlikely), then i would doubt that they would be able to keep martin also
by Ahmad Bradshaw on Jun 4, 2010 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions
they are not keeping Kovy its a bad fit for them I think.
by CrazyRangerFan on Jun 5, 2010 2:35 AM EDT up reply actions
it's a bad fit for both of them
really the first bad move from Lou since forever (or so it feels)
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 Jun 5, 2010 9:25 AM EDT up reply actions
I don’t know if I’d call Paul Martin, good as he is, an easy replacement for Scott Niedermayer. If he hadn’t been playing concurrently with one of the three greatest defensemen of all-time, he wins a lot more than one Norris Trophy.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Jun 5, 2010 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions
I’ll also be astonished if Martin gets less than AV on the UFA market. He’s a much more complete (and better) player.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Jun 5, 2010 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions
I used to like Volchenkov a lot and I was on the band wagon for him earlier this season. But After looking at his stats compared to others I just want to stay away. I would love to sign Michalek and then Re-sign Girardi and send Redden off to the minors or buy him out whatever. Our team would be significantly better if we just make that one move. let alone bringing in other prospects on offense such as Weise, Zuccarello-Aasen etc.
while good defensive defensemen
both are quite one dimensional and won’t be worth the 4-5m they’ll get
MIchalek shouldn’t get 5m. If he does, then sure, you pass.
He’d really be an awesome option for us @ $3.5m though. He’s 1 1/2 dimensional, he give a little bit of offensive and does shoot the puck, with 100 shots in 4 of the last 5 years (for reference, only Girardi broke 100 SOG for our defense this year)
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 4, 2010 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions
Signing Michalek at 3.5-3.8, and Girardi at 1.6-1.8 would be ideal.
Signing Volchenkov at 5-5.5 is not worth it. 2 heads are better than one. Then we can convert Gilroy to a wing.
by louielounz1 on Jun 4, 2010 3:04 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Blame komisarek for the sudden jump in market value for stay at home physical defenseman. volchenkov being the exact same of komisarek allows him to command that kind of value on the market. personal opinion? not worth it, no matter how much id love to see someone in a ranger uniform destroy an opposing player, because i seriously havent seen that since beukeboom wore blue. what are the other options? hamuis? he made 2.5 mil this season and is probably gonna get an increase of about another mil for this one. his point production is a little brighter than volchenkov’s and he can come cheaper. he just isnt as physical and plays like a more expensive version of dan girardi. sigh. ive never seen zbynek play outside the det/phx series but for the money that seems pretty solid. oh and when the hell is sanguinetti getting here or is that fish hook gonna be permanently caught in that wolfpack jersey, scuse me, americans jersey.
Sanguinetti getting here will be directly related to what they do with Girardi/Gilroy/Rozsival/Redden, as will any FA D signing.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 4, 2010 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Is Hamhuis as physical as Michalek? As good defensively?
by Ahmad Bradshaw on Jun 4, 2010 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions
i hear he’s very sound defensively, plays somewhat akin to stahl, but just is not all that physical (however there is the belief that dmen on the left coast play meaner, so its a different standard). but hes sound defensively from what i understand and he EATS minutes bigtime, plus he plays on one of the top 2 pairings if now the top pairing from what i understand, but hey, we’re ranger fans, how often do we scout or even watch the preds. btw he isnt as expensive as roszival which is a huge plus.
more than anythin
it’s the lack of quality UFA dmen out there. There’s just a lack of top two defensemen available, and that drives everything up. Most of the guys that can be hand are 2nd pairing on a decent team.
well apparently the caps are out of the running for volchenkov http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Capitals-Senators-are-not-going-to-pursue-Volch;ylt=AtkZeBF7zRoRscy.avMSGB7vLYF?urn=nhl,245681
Living in Phoenix and watching a lot of Coyotes hockey, I have to think Maloney is going to do as much as he can to resign Michalek. The guy is rock-steady, positionally sound, and he blocks a shitload of shots. He doesn’t provide much offense- that’s really the only “knock” on him. I really think Phoenix wants to keep Yandle, Michalek and Ekman-Larsson as the core of their D, as Jovo, Aucoin and Schneider are getting up there in years… well, Schneider’s already way over the hill, but you get the point anyway.
Marc Staal
Dont the Rangers have to resign staal? i would rather have him than girardi.
I always get scared this time of year around july 1st...........
waiting to see what stupid signing Sather comes up with to further cripple the Rangers.
Brooks Orpik’s caphit is 3.75
Michalik, Hamhuis, and Volchenkov are all worse than Orpik. Ergo, any offer should be at most 3.5 and that’s only for Hamhuis. Both of the other 2 should really be making about 2.5.
In seasons with at least 50 gp
Orpik’s career GVT’s: -3.5, 0.8, -0.1, 2.6, 4.2, 7.7 – total 10.9, average 1.8/yr
Michalek: 6.8, 3.8, 6.2, 5.6, 4.6 total 27.1, average 5.4 / yr
Hamhuis: 6.2, 9.8, 5.4, 7.2, 7.6, 7.2 total 43.5, average 7.2 / yr
Volchenkov: 4.1, 5.7, 7.3, 4.5, 2.3, 5.1 Total 29.0, average 4.8 / yr
It’s only one metric, but it does start to make your statement look a lot more like opinion than fact.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 5, 2010 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
This mean nothing to me since I don’t know what GVT is. Here’s what I see from those numbers:
Orpik has improved over each season.
Hamhuis is pretty consistent
Michalek is inconsistent and put up his 2nd worst number during his teams best season
Volchenkov is inconsistent
by NTB on Jun 5, 2010 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Orpik isn’t a positionally sound player – he takes huge runs at guys to make highlight reel hits, but that’s not effective defense in today’s NHL. By most metrics I can find, he’s over-rated and overpaid.
Only YOU can prevent idiots from commenting!
by Knee high to a duck on Jun 5, 2010 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions
And regardless of who is the best D-man of that group, it doesn’t change the fact that none of them should have a cap hit greater than Orpik’s 3.75M. Anything over that and the Rangers would be paying the Free Agent Mark-up Cost and the last thing the Rangers can afford is to overpay yet another player.
by NTB on Jun 5, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Agree on the cap hit
That’s why I don’t want Volchenkov and have already said that if MIchalek wants to command the same $5m type deal AV is looking for, you pass.
What I can say is it appears Pittsburgh overpaid (at the time) for Orpik’s production, but luckily for them he does seem to be growing into his contract.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 5, 2010 5:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Market value for this year’s free agent crop has been set by Dennis Seidenberg. If he is getting $3.25 million a year for four years, expect the big ticket guys like Volchenkov to get $5 million, at a minimum.
Then I think the Rangers need to pass and rely on their kids. Sather has a hard enough time keeping with market value, this can only make it worse.
Though I think for whatever reason, Hamhuis is actually going to command less money than the 1-way guys, and so perhaps he can be signed affordably and reasonably.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 6, 2010 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Sorry bout that
GVT is goals versus threshold, it’s a measure designed to try to evaluate players relative to replacement level players. Generally it breaks out where the people you tend to think are the best are the best. For instance, Keith, Green and Doughty led all defenseman in GVT. They also happen to be the Norris Trophy finalists.
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 5, 2010 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks. Do you have a link that explains GVT in-depth? (too lazy to do a google search and yes, that is very lazy). I’m more familiar with the (basic) advanced statistics and I’m hesitant to use anything I’m not familiar with.
by NTB on Jun 5, 2010 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions
http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=233
http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=235
http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=236
Camp Tortorella - Where Vomit is a Mainstay
by George E. Ays on Jun 5, 2010 7:38 PM EDT up reply actions
PLEASE… Forget Volchenkov, forget Michalek, forget Marleau, forget Plekanic, forget Paul Martin (forget ever signing ANY NJ Devil for that matter). The Rangers are nowhere near contending, at least not for a couple years MINIMUM. This is not the time to be signing late-20-something free agents that will be past their prime in a few years to fat contracts. Continue to build from within, develop Staal, Anisimov, Del Zotto, Grachev, Stepan, Kreider, hopefully McDonagh unless he bails, and for God’s sake don’t f*** up this upcoming draft! (i.e “get Jessiman’d!”)
Face it, we’re all going to have to live with the pain of this Redden contract for a few more years and just pray he retires sooner rather than later so we never have to see him getting burned to the outside on every other rush up the ice by the opposition. No offense Chris Drury, but I cant wait for your contract to be off the books as well.
Look at Chicago: Kane, Toews, Seabrook, Keith, Niemi, Bolland, Brouwer, Burish, Byfuglien – all developed within their system -THAT’S how you do it. And who’s their Achilles heel? Brian Campbell, a ridiculously overpaid defenseman that hasn’t lived up to expectations or his enormous contract (sound familiar?)
Sather, if you want to at least redeem yourself one iota – Don’t leave Messier with a, well… a mess.
End of Rant.
I'm big on Michalek for the reasons you mentioned
I put up a post maybe 2 months ago breaking down their off-season options, he was at the top of my list. not only could he end up being signed relatively cheap, but i think he could fit in with just about any of their dmen and make it a solid pairing. with that being said, the two players it would make the most sense to put him with would be:
staal- this would create a top notch shut down unit.
or rozi- this gives rozi more support and room for error. hopefully player with a responsible stay at home guy gives him more confidence, and aggressiveness, and gets him back to form. it would then allow girardi to play with staal giving them 2 solid defensive units. (since girardi is much better when he plays with staal)
alot depends on if
the ownership will let the rangers send redden and rosey posey to the minors that would make my day.. better yet tell redden and rosey posey they had there contracts sold to jagrs team for a penny or something
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Blueshirt Banter
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
New Jersey
|
Wed 05/23 | 8:00 PM EDT |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Fri 05/25 | TBA |
|
New Jersey
|
Sun 05/27 | TBA |
Last 5 Games
|
@
New Jersey
|
Mon 05/21 | L 1 - 4 |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Sat 05/19 | W 3 - 0 |
|
New Jersey
|
Wed 05/16 | L 2 - 3 |
|
New Jersey
|
Mon 05/14 | W 3 - 0 |
|
Washington
|
Sat 05/12 | W 2 - 1 |
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Monday’s Three Stars: Parise scores, Brodeur saves in Game 4 Devils win
- Zach Parise, Devils respond after a quiet Game 3 to even series with Rangers in Game 4
- Mike Rupp shoves Brodeur, sparks Game 4 chaos as Devils, Rangers coaches squabble (VIDEO)
- Devils try to even series with Rangers; watch the ‘Sandley Cup’ get built (Playoff Puck Previews)
- Sean Avery: Not in NHL playoffs, getting a handle on semi-nude modeling (PHOTO)
Latest stories and headlines from NHL.com
- Brodeur, Parise lead Devils to 4-1 win over rattled Rangers; East final tied 2-2
- Brodeur, Parise lead Devils to 4-1 win over rattled Rangers; East final tied 2-2
- Wild prospects lead Saint John past Edmonton
- Labrie stars in Admirals 1-0 overtime win over IceCaps; Norfolk leads series 3-0
- Frattin scores twice, including winner, as Marlies defeat Barons 5-3 in Game 3
