2nd Biggest Winners of the Trade Deadline: The New York Rangers.

I agree with most if not all of your post. Sather gets an “A” for his performance for his trades, and the trade he didn’t make. Clearly our young players and prospects are untouchable, and that’s as it should be. I also am not sure Richards is the right fit for us. I just worry that in 3-4 years he’ll be another Drury albatross with a history of concussions. He’s a far better player than Drury, but he’s on the wrong side of 30.

…..Zucc is exciting and is showing tons of promise, but remember, Prucha scored 30 goals his first year. I don’t know that Zuccarello is capable of that just yet.

As far as Richards, the intriguing thing about it is this. Since the lockout the Rangers have either had the sniper and not the center, or had the center without the sniper. With Richards in the lineup we have a big time chance to have both center and sniper together.

The Rangers depth with Richards on the team will be greatly strengthened. I think we could go deep into the playoffs with him in under three years, because all the kids we got playing now will be that much more experienced.

This team is only a few pieces away from being legitimate contenders. Richards probably has 3-4 seasons of good hockey left in him.

But there are many IF’s. IF Gaborik recovers from his concussion symptoms and stays healthy…..IF Del Zotto gets out of the funk and matures into the next Zubov (I will not say Leetch yet). IF Sauer and McDonagh continue to improve (something I’m willing to bet on), and obviously IF Boyle springboards from this season into a perennial 25 goal scorer, then I think we can utilize Richards while he still has gas in the tank for some serious playoff runs in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

You are correct in stating Zuc hasn’t been as productive as Prucha was in his rookie season but Zuc doesnt have an all-time great feeding him gimme goals like Prucha did. If you put Prucha from his rookie year on the same ice as Zuc, I would take Zuc’s potential all day long.
  As for your opinion on Richards complementing Gaborik, I may be closer to agreeing with you if Gaborik spent more time on the ice then he does in the press box. Even with a healthy Gaborik we would be talking about a massive chunk of cap space dumped into 2 players that have a history of inconsistency and injuries, not to mention that it is completely unknown if they would have chemistry. Not a good idea for building a winning team in my opinion. More realistically Richards would be stuck playing with other Ranger wings, and as he has shown in the past his productivity drops dramatically if not paired with the right players.

You’re right about Prucha. I think you or I could have gotten 20 goals playing with number 68.

Unfortunately, my confidence in Gaborik’s health has slipped. Plus, the stretches he did play in this year, he shied away from physical contact. Not good.

Why couldn’t we every pry Pavel Datsyuk off the Red Wings. I love that son of a bitch.

that whole Leetch comparo is very optimistic.

I’m letting you know now, the Rangers are going to build a dynasty with their talent.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Puck-Daddy-s-2011-NHL-Trade-Deadline-Report-Card;_ylt=Ag7DUYd930rccv6FidtZTyV7vLYF?urn=nhl-327742

you seriously changed the first impresion from that notorious thread… :) keep up the good work.

Very good take on the deadline. The big deals were before the trade deadline, getting Wolski for Rozi was huge and getting McCabe as our only real ‘deadline deal’ was big too. Giving up Rozi, a 3rd round pick, and Tim Kennedy (someone we could never have used because of the stupid waiver rules) and bringing in Wolski and McCabe is a great exchange on the whole.

Staying with our young assets and our prospects is the best thing the organization can do right now, it shows a commitment to doing things the right way. I am very pleased that Slats decided to spend most of the day doing crossword puzzles and only did one minor-league deal.

But, as a Colorado fan first and a Rangers fan second, your analysis of the Av’s is right. They just off-loaded a crap ton of talent for little in return. Holding on to young talent that will produce is very wise, even in NY.

Michael Gleich posted this on his site, Bleeding All Blue.
For the record I agree with nothing Roenick says other than that we are a passionate fan base.
http://bleedingallblue.blogspot.com/2011/02/video-nhl-on-fly-calls-rangers-deadline.html

Great read, but you always try to find a way to bash Henrik

I don’t know if I’d call the Rangers winners but Sather made the right move by not overpaying for a player and sacrificing the youth movement.

I think this season is an assessment year to decide which of the current players will be part of a future cup contending team and what pieces are still missing. Next step will be to evaluate which roles can be filled with prospects and what kind of players the organization doesn’t have in the system. Based on that you can decide what players to trade for and who’s expendable. Let’s hope Sather and his team will make the right decisions but I have a lot faith that they do based on what they’ve done lately.

Fair write up except I think it’s a pretty forgone conclusion that Dubinsky is going to play wing especially if Richards comes and you are forgetting Anisimov in your list of centers.

People forget that this years team wasn’t expected to make the playoff at the start of the season

I’ll agree that we got some pretty weak forecasts from the talking heads leading into the season, but this was pretty much the same team that was a shoot out away from the playoffs last year. We had a bunch of young players who should all be coming back better then before, we still had Hank between the pipes, and all we couldn’t do much worse then the some of the dry spells we went through in 2009-2010. Everyone (not just saying you) seems to think are doing this against all odds, but really, the only difference between where we are now and where we were last season is due more to Buffalo and NJ playing poorly for stretches then us raising our game.

Look what has happened with the Colorado Avalanche. Last year they were poised to begin a long rebuilding process but because of a handful of over achieving youngsters and a goalie playing out of his mind they made the playoffs. Nothing wrong with that right? Well yes there is. The Avs unlikely success lead to unrealistic expectations this year and has led them to trade away several key parts of their rebuild.

You’re obviously not an Erik Johnson fan. I think the St. Louis-Colorado deal was good, old fashioned, talent for talent. It’s not like Colorado traded strictly for picks/prospects, blowing up the team to start all over. They made a move to bring in what they thought were THE RIGHT pieces to get them where they want to be. They had ALOT of offense, but wanted to shore things up on D, and thought Johnson could be their #1 for the future. Shattenkirk was having a good rookie season, but you never how things will go from their. All around, I think Johnson for Stewart was fair, same with Shattenkirk for a #1.

Do the Rangers need scoring? Yes. Could they use a little more pop on the backend? Yes. Are those things we need now? NO. Why you ask? Because the Rangers still really dont know what they have yet.

But how long do you wait? A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, right? It’s more likely a prospect won’t pan out, then that they will – especially with the top end talent we crave so much. We’ve gotta start making decisions on players while they still have value, and trying to use some of these pieces to get the top the end talent we NEED and isn’t projected to come from within for a few seasons, if it emerges at all. As I’ve said before who’s the last Rangers prospect we let go who we couldn’t have claimed on waivers since? We can’t let ourselves get SO caught up in “homegrown talent” we begin to OVERVALUE players.

Is Dubinsky a legitimate top 2 line center?

Short Answer, No. He’s a wing, he’s producing their, you can’t keep juggling him from spot to spot. However, I agree that he was a very good player as a center, and could have been a nice complement in the middle to an elite winger, the way he was with Jagr as a rookie.

Is Derek Stepan a a top line player?

That seems to be where we are projecting him. I not so sure he’s the #1 we need, and certainly not ready to take the #1 role anytime soon. He’s going to be a good player though. I think we need to start looking hard and Step and AA and deciding which one is projecting as our #2 and move the other while they still have value

Is Brian Boyle’s season a fluke, or has he emerged as a legitimate force?

The work Boyle has put in to be a better player is what earns him a new contract. Even if he isn’t good for 20 a season, if he’s willing to work and grind he can fill the bottom 6 center roll he’s destined for. Anything over 10 he chips in is a plus. The thing with Boyle is HOW MUCH will he cost. While what he’s done is great, we don’t want to overpay for a skill set that can be pretty easily replaced by FA vet.

Is Henrik a goaltender that can win the big game, or is he a guy who will eventually get critisized for regular season success but falling short in the playoffs. (such as Luongo, Nabokov, etc.)

Hank is the LEAST of our worries right now. Hank will keep us in any game, playoffs or regular season, but we need some GOALS to win those games. That’s been the problem for years.

Is del Zotto going to fulfill his potential, or was his rookie season a flash in the pan?

For WHATEVER reason, things aren’t working out with MDZ here. You can blame him, the coaches, the system. We need to come up with a way to develop him that works, or sell while he still have value. At this point, I think the chances of getting a good return for him are better then our system figuring out how to develop him.

Is Zuccarello going to blossom into the offensive player he shows flashes of being or disappear like Prucha?

Zuc has shown too much promise to be compared to Prucha, but that certainly doesn’t make him untouchable.

Is Ryan Callahan the second coming of Adam Graves or just a really good grinder?

Graves was awesome as a Ranger. We wouldn’t have won our last cup without him. He won cups for two teams over a great NHL career. But, at no time in his NHL career, was he “untouchable”.

great post :)

i agree that we won at the deadline. keep it up and in time people will forget :)