After the opening day of free agency (July 1st, 2009), we see Marian Gaborik on the roster for $7.5 mil/year for 5 years, and special teams specialist Higgins looking at a projected $2.5-3 mil/year deal.Also inserted into the lineup on opening day of free agency was the feared veteran and cheap-shot, dirty hockey specialist Donald Brashear. Brashear had earned $1.1 mil in each of the last two years with Washington, and will now earn $1.4 mil for each of two years in New York. With the departure (4 years, $1 mil/each with Toronto) of heavyweight beast Colton Orr, the Rangers absolutely needed a new bruiser in the line-up and you can't fill the role any better than Brashear.
Let's take a look at the two new free-agency day pickups, Marian Gaborik and Donald Brashear, what their line-up presence entails, and where the Rangers cap situation now sits (and also why Sather is EVIL!).
Marian Gaborik
The last memory Rangers fans have of Marian Gaborik was in the '07-08 season...
Identified in the league as a top-5 offensive talent and injury-prone liability, Gaborik is coming off his most injury-ridden season yet having missed 65 games (nearly 80% of the season) due to hip and groin injuries. He appeared in 5 games at the beginning of the season and 11 at the very end, finishing with 13-10-23 in these 17 games. Coming to New York, however, Gaborik (and all the Garden Faithful) have expectations for a clean bill of health.
"I feel great. I played the last 11 games of the year and took time off after to try to get to 100 percent. Now I'm fully training and getting ready for the season and I'm very excited. I feel great and I don't see any problems down the road. I am just getting ready for the year, and I'm going to come to training camp in top shape."So far Gaborik has played all of his 8-season, 502-game season in Minnesota under Jacques Lemaire, who Rangers fans know as the first cup-winning coach of the New Jersey Devils and pioneer of the neutral zone trap. Scoring 219-218-437 in 502 games under a notoriously-known defensive system, the fantasy of Marian Gaborik playing under John Tortorella's high-octane speed system is exciting to say the least - as long as the Slovakian remains at "100 percent."
Donald Brashear
Shocking.. completely and utterly shocking. Being a Rangers fan now makes you a dick. A quick video history lesson on Donald Brashear..
the Brashear vs Shanahan fight in '06-07, if this didn't make Brashear a total villain to Madison Square Garden, nothing would (or so we thought)...
then came the most recent interaction in Game 6 of the playoffs...
Donald Brashear put the number one penalty killer, who'd been throwing his body in front of pucks and players alike. Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote that Betts and Fredrik Sjostrom might of been the best penalty killer duo in the history of the Rangers. Likewise TSN Analyst/Man Between the Glass, Pierre McGuire said in '08-09 that Blair Betts was the most underrated player in the league. Well guys, half of the PK tandem is has now gone to Calgary at a modest $0.725 mil/year for 2 years and Betts is on his way, too. Glen Sather, who didn't even extend an offer, said of Blair Betts "He is from Western Canada... Tom always liked him." Tom Renney, now assistant coach of the Oilers, insisted on acquiring Blair Betts back in the '04-05 season and he may do so again; or Betts may simply follow his coach. After all, why would you want to play for a team that just gave a raise to the guy that viciously attacked you 2 months prior? You might remember that incident a bit further detailed, and Brashear's villainy declared, in the earlier Brashear labeled posts.
From Sather's point of view he was merely replacing the protective force of Colton Orr. Colton Orr has 10 years on Donald Brashear, but Brashear has an entire career worth of extra games, 744, on Orr. Brashear has been an excellent skater his entire life and played on tough, physical shutdown lines. In fact, all of the teams Donald Brashear has been on have been identified by top-tier physical opposition during his respective tenures. The man brings toughness, and that is one of the most crucial elements of the game the Rangers have lacked. Colton Orr fights great, but Donald Brashear is a great fighter - to borrow a line from Rocky III. I can not think of a better replacement for the Toronto-bound Orr, but I'm sure Blair Betts and a few other members of the '08-09 roster can.
As far as intelligent signings are concerned, I will have to applaud Glen Sather once again this off-season. You will recall from Rangers Draft History and '09 Options, further reiterated in Rangers pick Kreider and Bourque, Trade for Boyle that above all else the Rangers must address their scoring and size issues. We identified the Gomez-Higgins trade as strategically-perfect, by the three facts of: clearing up clearing up much-needed cap space, adding a shooter and team-leading power play scorer on the '07-08 #1 power play Canadiens, and allowing bigger opportunities for our home-grown talent.
Marian Gaborik is definitely worth taking a shot at with the Gomez contract money to address the goal-scoring concern. Here is why:
Scott Gomez scored 32-96-128 in his two seasons (158 games) in New York, a 0.21 goal/game, 0.82 point/game rate.
Marian Gaborik scored 219-218-437 in his eight seasons (582 games) in Minnesota, a 0.43 goal/game, 0.85 point/game rate.
Although a whopping 215% higher goal-scoring rate, we must consider a couple other factors:
1) Gomez scored a 0.21 goal/game, 0.82 point/game average in his 548 2-time Stanley-Cup winning days in New Jersey as well, going 116-334-450. The Rangers received exactly what they paid for.
2) Gomez scored a career-best 33-51-84 (his next highest being 70 points, achieved 3 times), in the '05-06 season while earnest a modest $2.2 mil. He wanted a $6.5 miil/deal the following year, and even demanded arbitration which awarded him $5 mil, 1 year deal (the Devils had offered him $3.5 initially). The following summer New York catered to Gomez's greed and awarded him over with an even bigger contract - even after his production had returned to his normal pace (13-47-60).
3) Gaborik played in 582 of 656 total games in his eight seasons, missing 22% of his attendance. However in the time he has played, his 27.5 goal/78% of a season average is still 172% higher then Gomez's 16 goal/96% of a season in New York.
The point is - Sather has nearly doubled the projected goal output of our largest dollar investment while retaining the same point output (while even considering the average-injury time). For a team that was 2nd to last in goal-scoring, this is a major step in the right direction.
Glen Sather extended minimum qualifying offers to only Dubinsky ($0.698 mil), Callahan ($0.66 mil), Zherdev ($3.25 mil), Korpikoski ($1.017) and Boyle ($$0.751).
As Restricted Free Agents, these players can either accept the qualifying offer (which is unlikely for the top 3), or let their agent see if other teams could give them offers - thereby jacking up the price to the Rangers. Sather is currently, as of this post, playing the waiting game with his aspiring stars, and has wisely sat on his remaining $12.97 mil to accommodate our surging foundation talent.
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