It's safe to say the after a day of being annoyed at the move we just made, I have to admit...it was a great "Hockey" move. I mean the long and short of it is Nash has to make the power play top ten instantly. Our top line (when healthy) should be tops in the division ("yeah Pens, I just said that bitch!" - Jessie Pinkman voice) and probably in the conference, even if a line of Skinner, Eric and Jordan anything to say about that. Nash scores. He does it in bunches and when movitated (team Canada) he can step up to the plate and play big in big spots.

On the flip side...

He is a defensive liability that will not be skating when we are up 1 goal in the 3rd period with 3 minutes left, that I can almost guarantee. And I would be amazed if he survives a year with Torts without strapping him the pine once or twice, but this overall should be an okay trade off if we think about this logically how different will this years team be from last years team.

Face Offs

Main 11-12 best three for faceoff %: Dubinsky/ Richards/ Boyle (in order)

Main 12-13 probable best three for faceoff %: Halpern/ Richards & Boyle

Edge : 2012-13 slightly because Halpern was among the top in the league last year and Dubi(our best) was not. And slightly because now that Stepan has essentially won the second line center role he gets AA's faceoffs, so it could very well be a wash but...

Power Play

Dubinsky and Anisimov combined powerplay points are 6 for last year.

Nash's total powerplay points were 19 for last year.

Edge: The 2012-13 squad should definitely be better than last years team in terms of power-play percentage.

Penalty Kill

Now i'm not going to include this stat for short handed goals but Anisimov, Prust and Dubinsky did have more than Halpern, Asham and Nash.

This is pure judgement and I think everyone seemed to be somewhat concerned about our PK with the difference in grinders to finesse players now.

Probable forwards for 12-13:

1st Unit - Callahan & Stepan

2nd Unit - Boyle & Hagelin

Back up killers - Halpern, Pyatt, and Haley would be my guess for other regular contributors here.

2011-12 forwards:

1st Unit: Prust & Boyle

2nd Unit: Callahan & Dubinsky

Back up killers- Stepan, Hagelin, Fedotenko, and Anisimov

Edge: 2011-12 by a lot because Halpern should win some face-offs on the pk that should actually help us gain puck control in key moments. Dubinsky was really valuable here in these spot just check his minutes in the playoffs.

Join me after the jump

Those were our main area's of concern in my opinion and this years team should be better than last's.

So player by player this years expectations

Dubinsky vs. Nash - way more goals for and a nice amount more goals against

Anisimov vs. Pyatt - Less points this year in this player comparison.

Prust vs Asham - Fighting wins should take a dip and energy altogether should be down.

Feds vs. Halpern- More faceoff wins and more physicality this year.

Mitchell vs. Haley - This is tipping in this years favor a lot, for some reason I think this move was great by Sather. And Haley definitely becomes more effective for us.

I compared player to player and however unfair that is, ultimately they are replacing each other.

All in all we are upgraded from last years squad, and the only thing that might be the glaring weakness on this years team is (gulp) I cant believe i'm saying this but...

blocking shot...(thank god)

which means more shots on our goal ultimately. I just don't see losing Dubinsky, Prust, Anisimov and not hurting badly in this department from now on but really who cares I want to see us in the offensive zone more often. That should be the priority of a 50 win team...scoring.

And all getting Nash did was just make us a dangerous bunch of scorers with crazy upside. Can't wait to for the season to start. What do you guys think? Which version of the Rangers do you think will be better?