That's what appears to be.
The Rangers announced the signing of Markus Naslund, on a two-year deal. I don't like Naslund, but it's a one year deal.
They also added defenseman Dmitri Kalinin. He's not bad, but was pretty banged up last season. He replaces Tyutin.
I'll have more details later on, but for all intents and purposes, the Rangers have moved on in a big way.
If the reports are true, the Rangers have traded Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman (WHOO HOO!!) to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche.
This is a steal of monumental proportions, if this is all the Rangers gave up. I like Tyutin a lot, but Zherdev is 23 years-old and fits into what I hope the future of this team is . . . young Russian scorers. (Cherepanov, Anisimov, Grachev).
Fritsche seems to be a throw in center, 22 years old, versatile two way player. Think Dom Moore, I guess.
There must be more moves coming, though, because this leaves a huge hole on defense. Unless they are considering Mara or Sanguinetti (I seriously doubt it). Maybe Orpik?
More later.
That's the chant coming out of Detroit, who in the shocker of all shocker deals, signed Marian Hossa to a ONE-YEAR, $7.4 million dollar deal. (That represents the amount Niklas Lidstrom is paid, as the Wings wouldn't give anyone a penny more than he gets.)
That makes Marian a pretty high paid player, a guy who really wants to go to a winner, and probably one of the best free agents on NEXT year's market . . . again.
Does this open up a spot in Pittsburgh for Jagr, or does it clear the way for him to return to Broadway? Stay tuned.
Holes, holes, holes, holes. Except for the fourth line, of course.
So I slept on it and took some time to digest Day 1 of the Rangers' UFA moves, and probably to no one's surprise, I don't get it. I don't get the vision here.
While no one would argue that the Rangers needed to add some offense on the blueline, I'm not sure a declining Wade Redden was the answer, and certainly not at that price. I don't fault Sather for setting the price, but I do fault him for paying it. And I don't mean paying it to Redden and Rozsival in individual capacities . . . I am speaking of the big picture.
We are on the second day of free agency, and the Rangers (who were one of the worst offensive teams in the league, 25th overall) have not yet addressed the loss of four of their top six goal scorers (Jagr, Shanny, Straka, and Avery).
They don't have some young stud prospect that is ready to jump in and make up for the 15 to 25 goals of any of the above individuals, and because of the size of the contracts handed out to Rozy and Redden (not to mention Gomez and Drury from last year), they barely have enough money for one big time player, never mind filling out the roster with some top-two-line talent they desperately need.
As for the defensemen themselves, I worry. Maybe not so much for this coming season, but down the road, I worry. Redden has just been able to sustain his stats on one of the most prolific offenses in the league, but here he is supposed to be carrying the power play? Rozsival has benefitted greatly from getting top pair minutes as well as playing with Jaromir Jagr. Now, will he be a value at $5 million dollars a year while getting less ice time, for surely Marc Staal and Redden are now numero unos?
And who is the sixth defenseman? Tyutin and Girardi will stay together as the third pair, I imagine, and with Staal and Redden at the top, Rozy will play with Christian Backman? Well, um, yuck.
I've always been an advocate of breaking this team down and going with kids, or even at this point building around Gomez and Drury. If that were the clear plan, I'd be happy, especially with the 2009 draft class having SUPER game breaking talent at the top. But instead, the Rangers are once again rumored to be in on every big time free agent. We're still waiting to see where Hossa, Sundin, Jagr, and Naslund land, but no matter where it is, it will be for a fortune. That's not breaking it down.
BUT, there's still time. Let's see what happens from here. I'm not optimistic.
Six years, and $39 million dollars. Eh. I don't dislike Redden, but I do worry that his game has been slipping fairly significantly over the last couple of years. I still hate bringing back Rozsival for four more, though.
The big fish are still out there. Jagr, Sundin, Naslund, Hossa, Avery.
I'm going to sleep. Analysis in the morning.
