New York, July 3, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms on a two-way contract with free agent forward Tyler Arnason.

Arnason, 30, skated in 71 games with the Colorado Avalanche last season, registering five goals and 17 assists for 22 points, along with 14 penalty minutes. He finished seventh on the team in scoring with 22 points, and tied for seventh on the Avalanche with 17 assists. He also ranked third on the club with 58 takeaways. Arnason recorded four multi-point games on the season, including a three-assist performance, which tied a career-high, on March 8 at Chicago. He posted a season-high, four-game point streak from January 10 against Pittsburgh to January 16 vs. Edmonton, collecting four points (one goal and three assists) over the span.

Click here for more. Obviously, not a big signing and certainly not a No. 1 center. What exactly is GM Glen Sather trying to do here?

SIGNING ALERT, SIGNING ALERT:

RANGERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FORWARD CHRIS CHAPPELL
New York, July 2, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with free agent forward Chris Chappell.

Continue reading "Chris Who?"

Rangers should be in on him for a couple years:

He made $4.75 mil last season and at 34, averaged 17 minutes a game…

Said Higgins: “I haven’t talked to him in a little bit...July 1st just came and went, so...his game is still really strong, that guy plays with a lot of heart, competes every night, he’s a winner and he’s a leader, have not one bad thing to say about him.”

Not a lot of UFA centers (Marleau or Richards in a trade is possible, I guess, but one’s earning $6 mil and the other $7 plus), there’s Sundin, Morrison, LaRose (who I like but not as a No. 1), Perrin, J. Williams....

Click here for more.  It would certainly be interesting but do you folks think he is a No. 1 center?

And, really, who wouldn’t be after getting a five-year deal worth $37.5 million which includes a limited movement clause after a season that consisted of 17 games because of groin, back and a hip surgery. Marian Gaborik, speaking on a conference call from Slovakia that introduced him as the newest Ranger, said he feels 100 percent healthy and believes he was able to prove that with his performance (13 goals, 10 assists) after returning for the end of last season with the Wild.

If Gaborik remains healthy - which still must be considered a big if given his track record, particularly over the past three seasons (48 games in 2006-07) - this should be a great move for the Rangers, who will marry Gaborik’s elite goal-scoring ability with John Tortorella’s aggressive, push-the-puck-up-the-ice brand of hockey.

There’s little doubt the Rangers have finished retooling their roster but Gaborik needs a top-line center to play with. In the media room today, I was making a case for the Rangers pursuing Saku Koivu but the ex-Canadiens captain seems destined for parts West - Los Angeles, Anaheim, Minnesota?

Gaborik said the Rangers pursued him heavily the moment the free agent market opened. He added the Wild made no attempts once noon struck yesterday to retain him. Gaborik said he spoke to several players and ex-players about playing in New York, including current Rangers Chris Drury and Aaron Voros (his former teammate in Minnesota) and ex-Ranger and fellow Czech Martin Rucinsky.

Click here for more. Hopefully, “Gabby” won’t be another free-agent disappointment for the Blueshirts.

Based on this week, it’s looking like the Rangers had a good draft in 2008. Defenseman Michael Del Zotto (20th overall), center Derek Stepan (51st), left wing Evgeny Grachev (75th) and defenseman Tomas Kundratek have all stood out at different times for different reasons. Del Zotto displays that same poise that marks Marc Staal’s game, though he needs to manage the puck better at times. That, no doubt, will come with age/experience. Stepan showed good anticipation in both the offensive and defensive zones. Grachev is just a fluid skater/shooter with obvious goal-scoring instincts. At the end of the session, with a group of players including this year’s picks Chris Kreider and Ryan Bourque taking penalty shots on Cornell goalie Ben Scrivens, all but Grachev tried to impress with dipsy-does and other unnecessary moves. Grachev just skated in - repeatedly - and simply flicked puck after puck past Scrivens. Kundratek, paired the last two days with Del Zotto, showed good offensive instincts and an ability to move the puck, plus a hard shot. In one drill, though, Stepan beat Kundratek with a quick move then roofed a goal off the goalie’s mask.

Click here for more on prospects. Nice to hear about the potential the Rangers’ prospects have and hopefully, they’ll be on Broadway in the near future.

Also, click here to read about Marc Staal’s invitation to Team Canada’s camp.

When the New York Rangers lost tough guy Colton Orr(notes) to the Toronto Maple Leafs, there was opening for someone who could provide sandpaper in the lineup and protect his teammates (now including the glass-like Marian Gaborik(notes)).

Enter Donald Brashear(notes). Enter a player who became Public Enemy No. 1 in New York after his late hit on Blair Betts(notes) in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals last April, knocking the Rangers’ best penalty killer out for the remainder of the playoffs with a broken orbital bone.

At the time, Rangers fans were calling for Brashear’s banishment and expressed their disappointment in the NHL for allowing a repeat offender from continuing to be a “thug.” Now, Rangers fans will have to come to grips with the fact that Brashear will be wearing their colors for the next two seasons. While there’s plenty of utter disgust being expressed about the move, isn’t it like Jerry Seinfeld said about how, at the end of the day, it’s just really about rooting for the color of the team’s laundry?

Click here for more. It’s going to be tough, that’s for sure.

As this point, your heart just goes out to Steven Stamkos(notes). The No. 1 overall pick in 2008 for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the kid battled through absurd expectations placed on him through offseason marketing—and his own struggles—in a season that saw him earn just three third-place sympathy votes for the Calder.

But he played better as the year wore on, and played very well for Team Canada in the 2009 world championships. Olympic hockey analyst Pierre McGuire thought his international experience might be enough to earn Stamkos a roster spot for Team Canada in the 2010 Winter Games.

Click here for more. I for one am shocked that New York Rangers’ defenseman Wade Redden was not asked (just kidding obviously)!

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Signing Marian Gaborik was extremely risky. On one hand, Sather managed to sign an offensive superstar who has scored 30-or-more goals in five of his eight seasons, including a career-high 42 in the 2006-07 season. He totaled 437 points in 502 career games, all with the Minnesota Wild, and he’s just 27 years old. If these were the only things that Ranger fans knew about him, there’d be no problems and even Sather thinks that the team improved with this signing.

“Gaborik is an exciting guy to watch play,” Sather told Jim Cerny of NewYorkRangers.com. “He can skate, and he does a lot of great things. He’s a great player, and he’s young. I certainly think he’s in the top ten in this league.”

Continue reading "Grading the Blueshirts on July 1"

On Sept. 12, 2006, the New York Islanders signed goalie Rick DiPietro(notes) to a 15-year contract worth $67.5 million. Anyone else want to climb into the time machine to tell them they’d be desperately signing a soon-to-be-40-year-old starter to a two-year contract worth $5 million in 2009?

Dwayne Roloson(notes) joins the Islanders, and if that doesn’t speak volumes about their concerns about DiPietro’s heath then nothing does.

Click here for more. Why can’t the Islanders just come out and say what is wrong with DP? Would that be so hard to do?

What do you folks think of this?

What do you think this means for the New York Rangers? Who is going to step up and be their enforcer? Sure, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan can hit but I’m not sure Blueshirts’ head coach John Tortorella wants them fighting.

What do you think?

Recently, Millian took time out of his busy schedule to do an e-mail interview with us where he discussed how he got into the game, having his own show about the game, thoughts on the NHL and more.

Continue below to check it out!

Continue reading "For the Love of the Game"

When news was floating around that the Sedins were close to inking back with the Canucks, we delayed this ranking. Taking Daniel Sedin(notes) out of the equation does affect the rest of the wingers, albeit minimally because he’s obviously a package deal. If the Sedins are re-signed before noon, then add Steve Sullivan(notes) of the Nashville Predators to the list.

It’s an intriguing list because there are some real risk/reward situations here. Marian Gaborik(notes), in particular, could be the signing of the year if he can stay healthy; yet there’s a better chance that the new “G.I. Joe” flick wins Best Picture than that happening, based on Gabby’s track record.

Click here for more. Will any of these players be New York Rangers by the end of the day?

Many National Hockey League general managers are of the belief that you should build a team from the goal out and, to use a football motto, defense wins championships.

As we’ve seen many times before, it doesn’t take six superstar blue-liners to hoist the Stanley Cup. A mix of some offensive flair with defensive-minded bodies along with a touch of brave souls willing to give up the body to block shots is a blueprint that wins championships.

This year’s free agent defenseman class features players that fall into each of those categories, with most looking for a significant raise in salary.

Here’s a look at who we see as the Top 10 UFA defensemen, pending buyouts and re-signings. No Niedermayer, because he’s coming back as a Duck.

Click here for more. How many of you wish the Blueshirts didn’t sign Wade Redden?!

I’ve been told that Heatley is coming to the Rangers tonight. Not sure what the Rangers are giving up to get him, but they can fit him under the cap now.

Click here for more. All I can say is - WOW! I wonder who GM Glen Sather is going to give up. Thoughts?

Update:

Now it sounds as if the Rangers are done for the night—I was wondering why they had the Glen Sather conference call so early. And if they are done for the night, that probably means they are done in the dealing for Dany Heatley.

Earlier I said it looked like it was getting done. Apparently what I was actually hearing but not comprehending was the Gomez deal going down. Sorry about that.

But once Ottawa makes that $4 million bonus payment to Heatley, I’m pretty sure there is no reason for the Senators to trade him … or to do it any time soon. So I assume the Sens will make a deal with Edmonton or some other team by midnight tonight.

Click here for more. We’ll see what happens tomorrow folks. I apologize if I got anyone excited but at least I posted an update unlike some rumor monger we all know.

If the team is not able to find a suitable replacement, they’ll certainly miss his speed and his ability to get the puck in the zone. Again though, the Blueshirts aren’t done yet so stay tuned for more.

What are your thoughts?

Update from TSN.ca:

Getting a jump on the free agent market, the Montreal Canadiens moved to secure their centre ice position, making a big trade with the New York Rangers Tuesday.

The Canadiens acquired centre Scott Gomez, winger Tom Pyatt and defenceman Mike Busto from the New York Rangers in exchange for winger Chris Higgins and defencemen Dpug Janik, Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko.

Gomez, 29, is coming off a down season for the Rangers, finishing with 58 points, his lowest total since 2002-2003.

“We are extremely pleased to have acquired a player of the caliber of Scott Gomez. He is an outstanding playmaker and an excellent skater. Having won the Stanley Cup twice with the New Jersey Devils, he brings to our team a lot of playoff experience. Scott is an elite player who will certainly contribute to the success of our team for years to come” said Canadiens GM Bob Gainey.

Click here for more.

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Drew Rosenhaus, the NFL agent whose Miami-based Rosenhaus Sports reps over a hundred names including Chad Ocho Cinco and Terrell Owens, had a curious message on his Twitter feed this morning about the NHL:

“I have been hired by the fans of the NHL’s Florida Panthers to negotiate lower season ticket prices. I will keep you posted on the outcome.”

Curious because the Florida Panthers do in fact have tickets of above-average price, according to the 2008-09 Fan Cost Index (.pdf). Curious because Rosenhaus taking on what amounts to a class-action movement on behalf of hockey fans is about as random as it gets.

Click here for more. Interesting, right? Think the Rangers should hire someone?

ESPN.com is reporting that the agent for Nik Antropov has said that his client will become a free agent because the Rangers have no room to sign him.

ESPN is also reporting that Antro’s agent asked the Rangers for a contract in the neighborhood of five years and $5.25 million per season.

It was nice knowing you Antro. The deal Antro is looking for has such an NBA feel to it. A talented but enigmatic player who can put it together from time to time gets a big deal. Only problem is that by December you are looking at every which way to get rid of him. Also known as a Wade Redden contract.

Click here for more. It was nice while it lasted I guess.