Podcast Ombudsman Report for Blueshirt Bandwidth Ep. 68

Welcome back to the Blueshirt Bandwidth Podcast Ombudsman Report. Each week, Charlie Vidal will listen to the latest episode of the podcast and correct the record on anything Joe and Eric get wrong. If you aren't already, you can listen and subscribe to the podcast here.

Ombudsman Mea Culpa

It is with deep regret that I must correct the Ep. 67 Ombudsman Report, where I mistakenly attributed the comment that J.T. Miller is a “petulant little bitch” to Joe, when it was Eric who called Miller a “petulant little bitch.” I take pride in my role as ombudsman, and will take steps to ensure that mistakes like this do not happen again.

So, for the record: Eric called J.T. Miller a "petulant little bitch," not Joe. Joe does not consider J.T. Miller to be a "petulant little bitch," as far as we know.

Jaromir Jagr Episode

Episode 68 is obviously the Jaromir Jagr episode, which raised the topic of the worst trades in NHL history due to the nature in which the Rangers acquired Jagr.

At face value, exchanging Jaromir Jagr for Anson Carter seems like a terrible trade for the Washington Capitals. That being said, it was a pure salary dump for the Capitals in advance of the impending 2004 lockout and uncertain future of the NHL at the time. The Capitals were so desperate to get out of the four years remaining on Jagr’s $11 million-per-year deal that they agreed to pay $4 million of that per season. The money quote from Capitals owner Ted Leonsis at the time was that he was preparing for the “new economic reality” and that:

"It moves the largest player contract in the NHL to a team that can absorb it, and it provides us with options as we seek to improve our team."

Two other candidates for bad trades were mentioned, including the Capitals giving up Filip Forsberg for a 31-year-old Martin Erat in 2013. At the time, Erat was a middle-of-the-pack second liner.

Of course, we all remember how that 2013 Washington Capitals season ended, especially me because I was at the Verizon Center when it did:

For good measure, let’s revisit some other times when the Rangers faced the Capitals in a Game 7:

The other trade that was mentioned as being particularly egregious was the shocking Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson trade that was consummated just days before free agency was set to start in 2016. At the time, it was seen as two similarly productive players who played different positions being swapped because of their teams’ needs, and the contemporary player cards bear this out:

Finally, Joe mentions that “the Rangers made some horrific trades over the years.” In this list, I would include from my lifetime (and in no particular order):

• Sergei Zubov and Petr Nedved to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson in 1995
• John Moore, Anthony Duclair, and a 2016 first round pick (Dennis Cholowski) to the Arizona Coyotes for Keith Yandle at the 2016 deadline
• Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vladislav Namestnikov, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, and a 2018 first round pick (Nils Lundkvist) at the 2018 deadline
• Pavel Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues for Sammy Blais and a 2022 second round pick in July 2021

Rangers Post-Letter

Joe said that “the Rangers play has improved post-letter.” Between the release of the letter on Jan. 16 and the recording of the podcast, the Rangers went 1-2, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3 and then losing the first two games on what would eventually be an 0-3 trip through California. All that being said, MoneyPuck actually said that the Rangers deserved to win both of the games that they lost in SoCal:

Will the Rangers Get This Right?

The question of whether or not the Rangers will get this right was raised following The Letter 2.o, especially considering that we’re just eight years removed from a similar teardown and retool. There have been a lot of changes to the Rangers front office since 2018, most notably Chris Drury replacing Jeff Gorton as general manager and John Davidson no longer being in the picture. Furthermore, Gordie Clark is out as the leader of draft operations with John Lilley taking over that job as the Director of Player Personnel & Director of Amateur Scouting. Two new hires, Andy Schneider and Ari Vuori, now report to Lilley in the amateur scouting department.

That being said, Jed Ortmeyer is still the Director of Player Development, having been in that role for almost a decade.

There is No Artemi Panarin Coming

Eric said that one key difference between the 2018 letter and this letter is that there is no Artemi Panarin coming via free agency in the offseason. If there was an Artemi Panarin coming, then we wouldn’t be having this letter.

Jason Robertson vs. Brady Tkachuk

When discussing potential trade acquisitions, Joe said that he thinks that Jason Robertson is a better player than Brady Tkachuk, both of whom are 26 year old American-born left wingers. JFresh’s model agrees with Joe’s assertion, although both are clearly elite players:

Artemi Panarin

As Artemi Panarin plays in his final games as a Ranger in the weeks ahead, Eric and Joe waxed rhapsodic about his time with the Rangers. Eric says that he has “nothing but fond memories of Panarin,” and Joe called him “one of the best free agent signings of all time, maybe the best.”

Long time readers of the Ombudsman Report may recall that if Panarin finished this season with the Rangers, he would have become the only unrestricted free agent signed by the Rangers to a contract of five or more years who saw his contract to completion with them. Marian Gaborik is the only other five-plus year contract signed by the Rangers who played it out, albeit after having been traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets and then the Los Angeles Kings. Brad Richards, Wade Redden, Chris Drury, and Scott Gomez all retired or were bought out prior to finishing their respective five-plus year contracts.

As far as the best free agent signings in NHL history go, I would give to nod to Zdeno Chara’s 2006 signing with the Boston Bruins, as he went on to play 14 seasons with Boston and captained them to their only Stanley Cup championship since the days of Bobby Orr in 2011.

The Ottawa Senators allowed Chara to walk because they thought that Wade Redden was a better bet. When Chara was captaining the Bruins to the Stanley Cup during the 2010-11 season, Redden was leading Hartford Wolf Pack defensemen in scoring with 42 points.

Snow

As Eric complained about snow, Joe said to Eric “that’s what you get for living in Canada.”

Eric lives in Grand Rapids, MI, which has not been annexed by Canada—yet.