my point was that teams on the edge of the playoffs can't just throw away a zherdev for the sake of a guy like kotalik. like it or not, without zherdev the rangers probably aren't in the playoffs last year.

kotalik isn't an aggressive forechecker. he's basically if marek malik played forward and had a hard shot.

zherdev had 58 points last year on a terrible offensive team. i don't think the rangers have to bring zherdev back, and zherdev may not want to come back, and he certainly might bolt to the KHL - but zherdev to kotalik is an almost certain downgrade.

worth noting that i thought the zherdev deal was a steal for the rangers but it definitely seems the other way now.

LOL No. Kotalik may not be Ovechkin, but comparing a 20-goal scorer to Marek Malik is just ******ed.

Triumph, I agree with you on a lot of those points, but the Rangers simply couldn't afford Zherdev. He was probably gonna get $4m-$5m in arbitration.

Admittedly, I don't know that much about Kotalik. But there's no way he can match Zherdev's potential next year. I was really excited for Zherdev when the Rangers signed Gaborik. I honestly think he would have had a HUGE year for us. Here's why:

-He's only 24
-He has spent his whole career on stagnant offenses, yet put up decent numbers.
-He's a finisher that can play both RW/LW. That is a very valuable asset.
-His production didn't drop off THAT much over the course of the year. He just had a bad February(6 points), April, and Playoffs. The dropoff in April and playoffs can be partially attributed to the fact that Torts never played him, and it was Zherdev's first playoffs ever.
-Zherdev is ****ing deadly when he has some open ice in front of him. With the addition of Gaborik, opposing defenses will be keying in on him. Even if he wouldn't have been on the same line as Gabby, Zherdev would have faced 2nd and 3rd pair defensemen.

08-09 Zherdev after 1/1/09 (43 games): 11 goals - 13 assists - 24 points, ~17 mins per game

playoffs - no points, 7 games, ~13 mins per game


whatever the arbitration $ that is going to be determined will be way too high

i don't think he gets more than 4 million in arbitration. you look at zach parise, nathan horton, david krejci, brian gionta's contract from when he was RFA - nik zherdev is not getting more than 4 million.

but, giving this zherdev situation more thought, it's more interesting; let's say fonzarella tells sather, look, you gave me nothing but a bunch of [censored] lames, gomez, zherdev, i can't work with these guys. but the rangers don't want to walk away with nothing having traded fedor tyutin (who by the way was around 10th in TOI last year), so they qualify zherdev, but only at what he got paid last year; qualifying offers don't have to be more than the previous year's salary if it's over the NHL average. zherdev doesn't like this and files for arbitration, knowing the rangers will be tempted to walk away and that he will be a free man.

here's where it gets complicated. if zherdev signs with the KHL between now and then, the rangers could accept his arbitration award, whatever it is, then try to trade his rights to someone for next year or whenever - regardless of when zherdev comes back to the nhl, he would still have to play for that contract. if zherdev doesn't sign in russia between now and then, the rangers almost have to walk away from whatever his award is, zherdev can still sign in the KHL, and then come back to the NHL next year as a UFA, where he would no doubt draw interest.

still don't understand why you guys, besides etats, don't realize how important zherdev was to last year's rangers - he was a large part of the reason why he got to suck in the playoffs.

I don't think anyone's denying that Z had a great first half, but the guy was an utter and complete dog from February on. I have no access to the stats on my phone, but I can tell you that I wanted to punch him through the TV almost every single night for his lack of effort and general stupidity. I guess that's part of the package when you get a "creative" finisher/playmaker like Z, but in the second half/playoffs, he was really not an asset. He did have some flashes that made you sit up and say wow, but those became much more the exception than the rule as the season went on. I mean etats, in defending him, basically said "yeah the dude had a bad february, april, and playoffs, but so what." Well, that's troubling to me.

He certainly didn't endear himself to Tortorella, whether his seeming lack of effort/hustle was a cause or an effect, I'm not sure.

while i agree that zherdev's relationship with tortorella is likely past repair, and that zherdev is most certainly a maddening player - my point is simply that you guys were talking like 'oh this guy sucks in the playoffs, get rid of him' - and he was atrocious.

but i put these teams as definites in the playoffs barring something horrific:

boston
pittsburgh
philadelphia
washington

and i'd say there's around 8 teams battling it out for the remaining 4 spots: new jersey, the rangers, montreal, ottawa, carolina, buffalo, florida, and tampa. now i think the latter three are unlikely, but still - neither of these other 5 are really much better than one another, and they all need all the help they can get. passing on a guy who puts up a lot of goals but sucks in april just isn't an option.

triumph he totally lost any consistency in 09, and didn't do well under Torts. this fused with the economic logic of his contractual slice of the pie = i dont think its a huge mistake to walk from Z

they just cant put that $ in a forward like him, im not married to kotalik but again i dont think its that bad an exchange.

we're also somewhat giving his loss different weights. i just don't mind declining to pay a 20g, 17 mins p/game forward whatever the arbitration were to award. he's not as pivotal imo, at least not when you subtract kotalik's goal total p/ ice time from the equation.

also if NY gets awarded a ruling on Z for less than $2.5 mil they should take it, and at least retain his rights for tradebait. sather is definitely trading to put some power on whatever wing is going to wind up missing a forward.

also rumors of moving drury to LW and trade for a C, Marleau rumored

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/news/nyr090707.html

Zherdev, 24, is believed to be seeing a contract worth around $4.5 million. The Post claims the Rangers would likely walk away from any salary over $3.25 million, making him an unrestricted free agent.

If the Rangers decide to walk away from Zherdev's arbitration awarded salary, the team will have around $3.25 million in extra cap space.

The Post reports the Rangers are still in the market for a top-six forward and a mobile defenseman, and have contacted the Dallas Stars about Brad Richards and the San Jose Sharks about Patrick Marleau.

The Rangers are also among the teams interested in unrestricted free agent defenseman Sergei Zubov.

the rangers have 51.3 if they walk from zherdev, that gives them 5.5. problem is they already have 51 million on next year's cap, and that's with really low estimates on staal and girardi's contracts, and only 4 defensemen on the roster.

i don't see how they get richards. maybe roszival + grachev? marleau's a good fit as his contract expires next year. maybe something like marleau + ehrhoff + prospect for grachev + sanguinetti

gilroy, staal, girardi, redden, rozival are on pace to still be on roster 18 months from now

unless maybe gilroy was bought for trade value

i'm aware of gilroy, i'm just saying i haven't put him on the team yet in these calculations. there's 4 D - staal, roszival, girardi, and redden, and the rest is guesswork. gilroy's a 1.75M cap hit, so he's not exactly a money saver either.

yeah but his contract is only a 1-way contract

so unless hes waived or traded hes on-roster

that's not what a 1-way contract means - the name is confusing. a one-way contract means the player gets paid the same amount in the minors as he does in the NHL. most rookies are on two-way contracts, which means they get something between 500k and 900k in the nhl, but in the minors they get something like 80k. now obviously his contract is a detriment to slats sending him down, but if he can't hack it, i don't think the rangers will hesitate to ship him to hartford.

Listen, I'd be lying if I said I haven't screamed myself hoarse in frustration at Zherdev. A large part of that frustration comes from Zherdev's inability to reach his full offensive potential. Yet, he "only" scored a team-leading 58 points. On a team desperate for offense, I can't see how Zherdev doesn't help us win.

The last year Zherdev was in Columbus, he didn't play on Nash's line much because they both played a natural LW and didn't mesh well. Gaborik is much more of a natural RW, and he can take the defensive pressure off Zherdev. Put those 2 together, and I can see Zherdev finally reaching his offensive ceiling. He would also give us an insurance policy in case Gaborik gets injured.

Is he gonna be worth whatever amount arbitration offers him? I don't know. But signing Kotalik to $3m before we found out was probably a mistake.

On a side note, why the **** is it taking so long to sign Cally/Dubi?

are the rangers really content with paying that much for a hartford packer?

i figured with that salary he'd be expected and scouted to be 6th/7th def

also I'm not saying Kotalik is worth $3 mil, but Zherdev's arbitration will be more than $3 and he'll be a UFA when the Rangers decline a 1y, ~$3.75 mil deal for Zherdev

Rangers signing Kotalik before Zherdev's arbitration is irrelevant... there's no signing him for less than $3.5 mil

Hopefully someone can tell me why Sather traded Korpikoski to Phoenix for Enver Lisin, I have to admit I have never heard of Enver Lisin.

enver lisin has never exactly impressed me but had he had a full season last year he might've scored 20 goals, and he was only 22. korpikoski's upside is really only as a 3rd line player; lisin can be a top 6 winger. i think he's zherdev insurance, and i suspect perhaps that blair betts may return.

Callahan re-signed to 2 years, $2.3 million per.

C's:
Drury- $7.05
Anisimov- $0.822

RW's:
Gaborik - $7.5
Callahan-$2.3
Kotalik-$3

LW's:
Higgins- $2.25
Avery- $2
Brashear-$1.4

D's-
Coke head- $6.5
Roszival- $5
Girardi- $1.55
Staal- $0.827

Gs:
Lundqvist- $6.875
Vally- $ 0.725

That's $47.8m. Cap is $56.8m. That leaves us $9mil.

not sure on the figures, but these 3 may instrumental

also D Corey Potter and RW P-A Parenteau may leap from Hartford to NY, both were re-signed this summer

Schedule released:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/schedulebyseason.htm?team=nyr

Highlights:
-Season opener against Cindy and the Penguins Fri Oct 2
-Home opener the next night against the Senators. Sather shanks Murray before the game.
-7 of the last 9 games on the road FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUU
-Home and home against Philly to end the season. That should be fun.

Friday night season opener, vn

Sat night home opener, vnvnvnvnvn

7/9 road to end the season is pretty -ev tho