Rangers News:Larry Brooks says its time to fix the Rangers, do they have the stones?
If you haven't read Larry Brooks article today, you should. While we all are critical of Larry on occasion, I think today he hits the nail right on the head with his thoughts on fixing the Madison Square Mess.
Here are some of the highlights:
The Islanders are better. The Thrashers are better. The Lightning is better. The Senators are better. The Sabres are better. And they are all harder to play against than the Rangers, every single one of them.
There's not a single mean one on the back end. Not one. The Rangers play Washington and have to deal with John Erskine, Shaone Morrisonn, Milan Jurcina and Brian Pothier, every one of whom will come from behind and use the stick. They play the Islanders and have to deal with Brendan Witt and Andy Sutton. Opponents play the Blueshirts and have to deal with, just who exactly as they storm the crease?
You'd think that Tortorella might have embraced Sean Avery for his game on Monday, but no. Instead, lukewarm damning with faint praise. But let's hear it for the decision to sign Donald Brashear, whom Tortorella urgently wanted for his team, and who is getting about four minutes a game while pulling down $1.4M a year for no discernible reason.
Let me jump in here for a second and say this: Boy was I wrong on the Brashear signing. I defended it a lot over the summer, and I could not have been more wrong. I still think letting Colton Orr go was the right thing to do, but signing Donald Brashear has turned into another gaffe for this organization. To those of you who disagreed with me when Brashear was signed, I should have listened. Ok, more from Larry:
Is there anyone in the organization who believes Michal Rozsival remains an asset? Is there any reason for the Rangers not to get Bobby Sanguinetti here immediately so the club can assess whether he's ready? Or if not Sanguinetti, then someone on the blue line who will force foes to keep their heads up?
It's not fine, however, to have a rebuilding year with a capped-out roster. That, rather, is ridiculous. Rozsival is chewing up nearly $26,000 a day on his annual $5M cap hit. Deleting him by the end of the month via trade or demotion would clear an additional $3.4M of space that increases proportionately with the season.
The problem that we are dealing with here is that these are the New York Rangers, and the Rangers don't often fess up to mistakes. Sending Michael Rozsival to Hartford and paying him a bucketful of money to play in the AHL would be admitting to a mistake, and I'm not sure they have the grapes to do it. Larry also mentions trading Rozsival, but I'm not sure what the market is for a defenseman who has lost at least a step, doesn't play physical, and is routinely out of position. If they truly want to clear his cap space, I think Hartford is the only option at this point.