By my count, it had been 254 days since the New York Rangers had won a hockey game, and after the first two games of the season, it felt even longer. Sigh of relief cut somewhat short, the Blueshirts are right back in action tonight, against the Flyers. Herein lie some things that I feel like I need to say about Arron Asham, followed by some other scattered thoughts on the three games that led to the Rangers' 1-2 start so far.
Arron Asham will be out again tonight, due to the same groin injury that kept him out last night. And that is awesome. Asham is a big dumb douchebag, which is a position I do not have to justify here. But let's talk about the only thing he's done for us so far: his home-opening-faceoff choreographed fight with Tanner "I'd make a pun about his last name and 'Glass Jaw' except that he kicked Asham's ass in the fight" Glass.
First of all, this fight was orchestrated by Penguins head coach and noted hat-wearer Dan Bylsma, who chose to start the game by putting out his second line - and then replacing his right wing with Tanner Glass for some reason. (Take notes, Bob Smizik: the home team gets to pick its lineup after the away team.) John Tortorella (he of the much less classy neckties) followed suit and replaced his scoring line's winger with Arron "seriously, this guy is the worst" Asham, and so the Rangers' home opener started with a meaningless fight.
The lockout made me wait 4 extra goddamn months to watch hockey in Madison Square Garden, and then Arron Asham made me wait yet another 5 minutes.
Here's the thing: there was absolutely nothing on the line in this fight, other than Asham's and Glass's jobs. This was stupid. Blame was placed, sort of?, at least by the coach a little, on the Rangers not pulling the requisite spark from the fight, but that is a stupid idea.
You don't magically rally around a dude getting his face punched, whether he's Brandon Prust or Arron Asham. Prust's fights rallied the team because they happened when they fucking mattered at all. I think Scotty Hockey put it best: some good times to fight in an NHL game might be when you go down by 2 late in the first period on your home opener, or when your team comes out flat in the second regardless, or when deep in garbage time your skill rookie gets flattened at the blue line and doesn't get back up. Those are good examples of when you might want to fight in an NHL game, all of which fucking happened that night. Instead, Asham got his face punched by Tanner Glass for a minute or two before the hockey game started, and -- go figure! -- it didn't have much effect on the game!
Also: in losing Asham last night, we moved Bickel up to forward, and brought Eminger back in on defense. That means that the only things that changed were our fourth line and our bottom two D-pairs. I want to be explicit here. We went from:
Rupp - Halpern - Asham
Staal / Stralman
Bickel / Del Zotto
to:
Rupp - Halpern - Bickel
Staal / Del Zotto
Eminger / Stralman
Look at those two lineups. The one without Asham is just plain better! We keep Bickel in the lineup to be big for 4 minutes a game, and our defensive pairs get way more reliable (not in the least by moving Del Zotto up to where Staal can cover for him). Everything looks better without this guy!
So, here's to you, Arron Asham's groin. May you stay minorly injured for the next 17 months or so.
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In non-groin-related news, how excited am I about Rick Nash? Long-time regulars to this space (a chiefly fictional entity) will recall that I have been crushing on Nash for years. Along with a small handful of others (Dustin Byfuglien, Brooks Orpik), he's a guy I've dreamed of seeing in Broadway Blue for a long-ass time. But, like, for some reason, my dream came true on this one, and holy sweet Goddamn, he is so good at hockey, especially when he's on a real team. If this were a 3-game season, he'd undoubtedly be team MVP (and it would be a very disappointing season). Defensively responsible, strong on the puck... seriously, everything you want in a forward. Actually, the more I think about him, the more this news might be groin-related after all.
That was an erection joke.
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After a win in which Gaborik, Richards, Stepan, Callahan, and Nash averaged 21:28 of ice time each, and no other forward touched 15:30, Coach Tortorella doubled down on his one-line-to-rule-them-all strategy, explaining: "Quite honestly, I'm not comfortable playing a four-line rotation. I don't think guys have played well enough for me to play a four-line rotation comfortably, because we need to win."
And the worst part is: he's right. Hell, I'm not even comfortable rolling three. Beyond the big three marquee names (who have at least pulled their weight and at most been Rick Nash), there hasn't been much from anyone. We all expected Kreider's play to take a significant dive (or, if you didn't, you damn well should have). But all the other second-and-third-liners really need to step up. I understand that Dubinsky and Anisimov are gone (for good reason), and Prust and Fedotenko are gone (possibly for less good reason), but this team still has Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle, Carl Hagelin, and Derek Stepan, all of whom need to get rolling.
But there's reason to believe they will. This season started after 5 days of camp with no pre-season. The style the Rangers play -- gritty, in-your-face, shot-blocking, defensive -- takes a longer time to get rolling. That's why we've seen so many scores like 5 and 6 already. As the season starts to settle in, expect overall scores to drop some - and with that, expect the Rangers' defense and middle-liners to get back into their groove. And, by the way, that will include Taylor Pyatt, whom you should start preparing to like, if you don't already. Remember that.
Frankly, it can't come soon enough, otherwise, under Torts, those top three guys are gonna get real tired.
Showing posts with label Rick Nash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Nash. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Monday, July 23, 2012
Rick Nash!
Welcome to New York, Rick Nash! We trust that unlike Shea Weber, you'll enjoy living in the city.
Though the official trade call hasn't been made to the league yet, all sources seem to point to the trade being Dubinsky, Anisimov, Erixon, and a 1st-rounder to Columbus, in exchange for Rick Nash, some yet-unnamed AHL defenseman, and a conditional 3rd-rounder. Let's be clear: this trade is a steal for the Rangers, on all fronts.
NHL-ready value: Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov vs. Rick Nash. Clearly, this is where the Rangers win big; there's not a lot of cause to explain this. Player-for-player, you'd rather have a Nash than a Dubi and an Anisimov. Sad to see those guys go, as neither is bad at all, but come on.
Prospects: Of course, this is where Columbus makes up a little ground. But as it turns out, it's not much. We swap a 1st-rounder for a 3rd-rounder, which is of course giving the edge to the Blue Jackets, but we're discussing completely unknown players; neither of those picks is gonna be a top-5 overall. And we swap Tim Erixon for a defensive AHL-er named Steve Delisle, who probably isn't as good as Tim Erixon. Erixon probably has a decent upside, but it's all unproven. You'll never hear me complain about giving up someone who has the potential to be great for someone who is already very good.
Incidentally, the condition on the 3rd-rounder is that we give it back if we make it to the Cup Finals. If Nash pushes us to the Cup Finals, do you think anyone's gonna be complaining about a lost pick?
Price: Cry cry cry, Rick Nash costs a cap hit of $7.8 million, blah blah blah. Check out what happens when you use a little math before you complain about math, though. Dubinsky's cap hit is $4.2 million. Anisimov's is $1.875 million. Erixon's is $1.75 million. Mr. Calculator just called and told me that adds up to $7.825 million. So, assuming Erixon plays in the league next season either way, the Rangers actually save money under the cap next year.
(And Nash is only 34 when this contract ends - we're not exactly talking Brad Richards-length, here. At 28, Nash is in his prime, not on his way out of it.)
So I'm just not interested in hearing Ranger fans complain because they think every contract given to anyone over the age of 25 is Scott Gomez.
All in all, the Rangers' third and fourth lines got worse this off-season, and their first and second lines got better. I'm sad to see all those great character middle-of-the-pack guys go (Dubinsky, Mitchell, Prust, Fedotenko, Anisimov). But let's look at who's left, even assuming the Rangers make no further moves (sorry that I've flipped some wingers, it made organization easy):
Gaborik - Richards - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - Callahan
Pyatt - Boyle - Kreider
Rupp - Halpern - Asham
All of last season, we talked about how the Rangers were a team full of 2nd- and 3rd-liners, and about how the coach didn't trust his bottom 6 enough. We all assumed the solution was that he had to learn to coach differently. Maybe instead, the solution was to give him a team that suits him better. When I look at this lineup, I'm inclined to give ice time the way Torts does, too. Maybe this is the team Torts needs, to take them to the next level.
And now, imagine if the Rangers can still land Shane Doan (there's plenty of cap space, by the way). This could be a lot worse, is all I'm saying.
The only problem now is that there's gonna be a work stoppage, and we won't actually get any hockey.
Though the official trade call hasn't been made to the league yet, all sources seem to point to the trade being Dubinsky, Anisimov, Erixon, and a 1st-rounder to Columbus, in exchange for Rick Nash, some yet-unnamed AHL defenseman, and a conditional 3rd-rounder. Let's be clear: this trade is a steal for the Rangers, on all fronts.
NHL-ready value: Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov vs. Rick Nash. Clearly, this is where the Rangers win big; there's not a lot of cause to explain this. Player-for-player, you'd rather have a Nash than a Dubi and an Anisimov. Sad to see those guys go, as neither is bad at all, but come on.
Prospects: Of course, this is where Columbus makes up a little ground. But as it turns out, it's not much. We swap a 1st-rounder for a 3rd-rounder, which is of course giving the edge to the Blue Jackets, but we're discussing completely unknown players; neither of those picks is gonna be a top-5 overall. And we swap Tim Erixon for a defensive AHL-er named Steve Delisle, who probably isn't as good as Tim Erixon. Erixon probably has a decent upside, but it's all unproven. You'll never hear me complain about giving up someone who has the potential to be great for someone who is already very good.
Incidentally, the condition on the 3rd-rounder is that we give it back if we make it to the Cup Finals. If Nash pushes us to the Cup Finals, do you think anyone's gonna be complaining about a lost pick?
Price: Cry cry cry, Rick Nash costs a cap hit of $7.8 million, blah blah blah. Check out what happens when you use a little math before you complain about math, though. Dubinsky's cap hit is $4.2 million. Anisimov's is $1.875 million. Erixon's is $1.75 million. Mr. Calculator just called and told me that adds up to $7.825 million. So, assuming Erixon plays in the league next season either way, the Rangers actually save money under the cap next year.
(And Nash is only 34 when this contract ends - we're not exactly talking Brad Richards-length, here. At 28, Nash is in his prime, not on his way out of it.)
So I'm just not interested in hearing Ranger fans complain because they think every contract given to anyone over the age of 25 is Scott Gomez.
All in all, the Rangers' third and fourth lines got worse this off-season, and their first and second lines got better. I'm sad to see all those great character middle-of-the-pack guys go (Dubinsky, Mitchell, Prust, Fedotenko, Anisimov). But let's look at who's left, even assuming the Rangers make no further moves (sorry that I've flipped some wingers, it made organization easy):
Gaborik - Richards - Nash
Hagelin - Stepan - Callahan
Pyatt - Boyle - Kreider
Rupp - Halpern - Asham
All of last season, we talked about how the Rangers were a team full of 2nd- and 3rd-liners, and about how the coach didn't trust his bottom 6 enough. We all assumed the solution was that he had to learn to coach differently. Maybe instead, the solution was to give him a team that suits him better. When I look at this lineup, I'm inclined to give ice time the way Torts does, too. Maybe this is the team Torts needs, to take them to the next level.
And now, imagine if the Rangers can still land Shane Doan (there's plenty of cap space, by the way). This could be a lot worse, is all I'm saying.
The only problem now is that there's gonna be a work stoppage, and we won't actually get any hockey.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Nash rumors
(because, hey, everyone else is doing it)
So, the accepted wisdom thus far has been, as it was back around Trade Deadline Day, that Scott Howson's asking price for Rick Nash is far too high for Glen Sather to be able to pay it, requiring at least one of McDonagh, Stepan, and Kreider, all of whom Slats considers untouchable. And so everyone's been waiting for one of the two to change his mind on that, while both are kinda desperate to make a deal (the Rangers need that kind of big scoring presence up front; the Jackets need lots of pieces and are terrible and Nash wants out).
But then today a Blue Jackets beat writer tweeted that the Blue Jackets were willing to accept a package that does not include those three guys. Which doesn't jive at all with what we've been hearing, and which prompted Darren Dreger to respond that Howson "should let the NYR know that."
So, in conclusion, there are conflicting reports about which GMs want what for whom in the off-season. Weird, right?
Oh, and Ranger fans: I'm putting this on the table now. Rick Nash is very good at hockey. You need to give up value to get value. You can't pull off Gomez/Pyatt/Busto for Higgins/McDonagh/Valentenko every time. Just keep that in mind, is all.
So, the accepted wisdom thus far has been, as it was back around Trade Deadline Day, that Scott Howson's asking price for Rick Nash is far too high for Glen Sather to be able to pay it, requiring at least one of McDonagh, Stepan, and Kreider, all of whom Slats considers untouchable. And so everyone's been waiting for one of the two to change his mind on that, while both are kinda desperate to make a deal (the Rangers need that kind of big scoring presence up front; the Jackets need lots of pieces and are terrible and Nash wants out).
But then today a Blue Jackets beat writer tweeted that the Blue Jackets were willing to accept a package that does not include those three guys. Which doesn't jive at all with what we've been hearing, and which prompted Darren Dreger to respond that Howson "should let the NYR know that."
So, in conclusion, there are conflicting reports about which GMs want what for whom in the off-season. Weird, right?
Oh, and Ranger fans: I'm putting this on the table now. Rick Nash is very good at hockey. You need to give up value to get value. You can't pull off Gomez/Pyatt/Busto for Higgins/McDonagh/Valentenko every time. Just keep that in mind, is all.
Free Agency
So, I had planned a big post talking about free agency and everyone's status and all that. I wrote about half of it, too. Then the Del Close Marathon happened, and now here we are, post-July 1.
The executive summary of the post-that-wasn't is "everyone's talking about Parise and Nash, let's clarify why those are totally different situations by talking about free agency." Parise is a free agent, which means he can sign with any team, now that July 1 has happened. Nash is under contract to the Blue Jackets, which means he'd have to be traded, which can happen any time (but probably, now that July 1 has happened, won't happen until after the big-name free agents get settled).
So, as for the Rangers, we can all just sit tight and wait for trades, in terms of the big names. The following players from last season remained under contract through at least 2012-13, and therefore are not going anywhere unless traded: Gaborik, Richards, Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, Boyle, Rupp, Kreider, Stepan, Hagelin, Staal, Girardi, McDonagh, Sauer, and Lundqvist. (Not counting Mike Sauer, that's 10 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goalie.) Zach Parise is not coming to New York (seriously, everyone), and the Rangers have no interest in Ryan Suter, which runs us out of all of the useful free agents.
The bad news, of course, is about losing all our mediocre depth, most prominently Brandon Prust, whose free agency took him to Montreal on a 4-year, $2.5 million/year deal. Understand: Glen Sather is right in asserting that Prust is not worth that deal. For perspective, Brian Boyle is currently costing $1.7m under the cap, and Dan Girardi $3.325m. Prust is not worth $2.5m. At the same time, team chemistry is something you need to consider with your 3rd- and 4th-line guys, just like with your backup netminder. While I ultimately agree with Sather's decision to walk, it does make the Rangers a worse team.
Of the remaining Ranger free agents: Stu Bickel re-upped with a 2-year deal at $750,000 per, and Marty Biron returns on a 2-year deal at $1.3m per. Both are great deals for all involved. Meanwhile, John Mitchell went to Colorado with a 2-year, $1.1m/year deal. If he was willing to take that contract, I think the Rangers should have offered it to him, but I like him more than most people do. Jeff Woywitka is returning to his first NHL team, the St. Louis Blues, for a 1-year, $950,000 deal. (Fine, whatever.) Also, John Scott, who played a gargantuan 33:19 for the Rangers, earning 1 shot and 5 penalty minutes for a -1 (totally worth that 5th-round pick, eh?) has gone off and signed with the Sabres for 1 year at $600,000. I don't miss him; I miss the 5th-round pick he used to be.
If he hasn't played in the league for long enough yet, a free agent is restricted - this means that if his old team makes him a good-enough offer (called a qualifying offer), then he's not allowed to sign with any other team (even if he doesn't accept the offer). The Rangers had 3 restricted free agents going into this off-season: Zuccarello, Del Zotto, and Stralman. They sent qualifying offers to all 3, though none have been accepted yet, and Zuccarello is off to the KHL anyway. The only free agents that leaves (from the big club roster) are Fedotenko and Eminger, who are not restricted and have not yet signed with the Rangers or anyone else.
Finally, the Rangers made a couple of additions since the start of free agency on Sunday: a pair of useless "tough guys" to supposedly "replace Prust," which they will not do because Prust's biggest values were on the penalty kill and in the locker room, not in his willingness to lose fights to men twice his size whenever his team asked him to. Micheal Haley comes to us from the always-classy New York Islanders, 2 years, $600,000 per. And, of course, because he has his fingers on the pulse of the fanbase, Slats signed, consummate douchebag Arron Asham to 2 years, $1 million per.
Ultimately, these cheap tough-guy signings are dumb. The Rangers need to get bigger by bringing in bigger, more powerful forwards - guys who play like Jagr, Ovechkin, and Nash - not by bringing in pugilists with hockey sticks that Torts will play 3 minutes a game. Also, Asham is a fuck-for-fuck who shouldn't play at all, and who is already 34. Remember the great Donald Brashear experiment? So do I.
Other than a few AHL moves (reupping Kris Newbury while letting Chad Johnson go to Phoenix and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault go to Columbus...), that's the free agency summary so far. Now we sit tight while Zach Parise and Ryan Suter figure out what to do. In the meanwhile, maybe we hear news about Stralman, Fedotenko, Eminger, or Del Zotto. Once Parise and Suter are settled, we open our ears for trades again, ideally for either Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan.
PS: We can get into salary cap stuff another time, but basically: the Rangers have plenty of room to work with this season - something like $18 million free under the cap with already 18 players under contract. The concern, however, is not backing themselves into a corner for future seasons. In either next off-season or the one after, the following contracts expire: Sauer, McDonagh, Hagelin, Stepan, Anisimov, Biron, Lundqvist, Bickel, Girardi, Kreider, Rupp, Boyle, Callahan, Gaborik.
The executive summary of the post-that-wasn't is "everyone's talking about Parise and Nash, let's clarify why those are totally different situations by talking about free agency." Parise is a free agent, which means he can sign with any team, now that July 1 has happened. Nash is under contract to the Blue Jackets, which means he'd have to be traded, which can happen any time (but probably, now that July 1 has happened, won't happen until after the big-name free agents get settled).
So, as for the Rangers, we can all just sit tight and wait for trades, in terms of the big names. The following players from last season remained under contract through at least 2012-13, and therefore are not going anywhere unless traded: Gaborik, Richards, Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, Boyle, Rupp, Kreider, Stepan, Hagelin, Staal, Girardi, McDonagh, Sauer, and Lundqvist. (Not counting Mike Sauer, that's 10 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goalie.) Zach Parise is not coming to New York (seriously, everyone), and the Rangers have no interest in Ryan Suter, which runs us out of all of the useful free agents.
The bad news, of course, is about losing all our mediocre depth, most prominently Brandon Prust, whose free agency took him to Montreal on a 4-year, $2.5 million/year deal. Understand: Glen Sather is right in asserting that Prust is not worth that deal. For perspective, Brian Boyle is currently costing $1.7m under the cap, and Dan Girardi $3.325m. Prust is not worth $2.5m. At the same time, team chemistry is something you need to consider with your 3rd- and 4th-line guys, just like with your backup netminder. While I ultimately agree with Sather's decision to walk, it does make the Rangers a worse team.
Of the remaining Ranger free agents: Stu Bickel re-upped with a 2-year deal at $750,000 per, and Marty Biron returns on a 2-year deal at $1.3m per. Both are great deals for all involved. Meanwhile, John Mitchell went to Colorado with a 2-year, $1.1m/year deal. If he was willing to take that contract, I think the Rangers should have offered it to him, but I like him more than most people do. Jeff Woywitka is returning to his first NHL team, the St. Louis Blues, for a 1-year, $950,000 deal. (Fine, whatever.) Also, John Scott, who played a gargantuan 33:19 for the Rangers, earning 1 shot and 5 penalty minutes for a -1 (totally worth that 5th-round pick, eh?) has gone off and signed with the Sabres for 1 year at $600,000. I don't miss him; I miss the 5th-round pick he used to be.
If he hasn't played in the league for long enough yet, a free agent is restricted - this means that if his old team makes him a good-enough offer (called a qualifying offer), then he's not allowed to sign with any other team (even if he doesn't accept the offer). The Rangers had 3 restricted free agents going into this off-season: Zuccarello, Del Zotto, and Stralman. They sent qualifying offers to all 3, though none have been accepted yet, and Zuccarello is off to the KHL anyway. The only free agents that leaves (from the big club roster) are Fedotenko and Eminger, who are not restricted and have not yet signed with the Rangers or anyone else.
Finally, the Rangers made a couple of additions since the start of free agency on Sunday: a pair of useless "tough guys" to supposedly "replace Prust," which they will not do because Prust's biggest values were on the penalty kill and in the locker room, not in his willingness to lose fights to men twice his size whenever his team asked him to. Micheal Haley comes to us from the always-classy New York Islanders, 2 years, $600,000 per. And, of course, because he has his fingers on the pulse of the fanbase, Slats signed, consummate douchebag Arron Asham to 2 years, $1 million per.
Ultimately, these cheap tough-guy signings are dumb. The Rangers need to get bigger by bringing in bigger, more powerful forwards - guys who play like Jagr, Ovechkin, and Nash - not by bringing in pugilists with hockey sticks that Torts will play 3 minutes a game. Also, Asham is a fuck-for-fuck who shouldn't play at all, and who is already 34. Remember the great Donald Brashear experiment? So do I.
Other than a few AHL moves (reupping Kris Newbury while letting Chad Johnson go to Phoenix and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault go to Columbus...), that's the free agency summary so far. Now we sit tight while Zach Parise and Ryan Suter figure out what to do. In the meanwhile, maybe we hear news about Stralman, Fedotenko, Eminger, or Del Zotto. Once Parise and Suter are settled, we open our ears for trades again, ideally for either Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan.
PS: We can get into salary cap stuff another time, but basically: the Rangers have plenty of room to work with this season - something like $18 million free under the cap with already 18 players under contract. The concern, however, is not backing themselves into a corner for future seasons. In either next off-season or the one after, the following contracts expire: Sauer, McDonagh, Hagelin, Stepan, Anisimov, Biron, Lundqvist, Bickel, Girardi, Kreider, Rupp, Boyle, Callahan, Gaborik.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
OK, Fine, Let's Talk about Rick Nash
I was gonna do a post about how everyone needs to stop saying Brad Richards needs to "find another gear" or whatever they say, and how just like Marian Gaborik last season, he's learning a new system, and he's actually really, really valuable to this team right now, et cetera. But no one is shutting up about Rick Nash! So let's talk about Rick Nash instead.
As I may have mentioned in this space before, Rick Nash is one of my hockey crushes (others include Dustin Byfuglien and Brooks Orpik). These are the kinds of guys I covet: not necessarily superstars in their own right, but solid guys I'd love to see in Ranger colors. At the same time, right now, I'm finding it easy to side with the Garden Faithful, who erupted with "We don't want you!" when Nash knotted the contest late in the 3rd the other night (related: I fucking love Ranger fans).
But why? Why are Ranger fans, possibly including myself, so opposed to bringing in a hard-working, world-class talent like Nash? A few reasons. Some are dumb. Let's talk about it. At length.
As I may have mentioned in this space before, Rick Nash is one of my hockey crushes (others include Dustin Byfuglien and Brooks Orpik). These are the kinds of guys I covet: not necessarily superstars in their own right, but solid guys I'd love to see in Ranger colors. At the same time, right now, I'm finding it easy to side with the Garden Faithful, who erupted with "We don't want you!" when Nash knotted the contest late in the 3rd the other night (related: I fucking love Ranger fans).
But why? Why are Ranger fans, possibly including myself, so opposed to bringing in a hard-working, world-class talent like Nash? A few reasons. Some are dumb. Let's talk about it. At length.
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