2008 Free Agency Review

at he played for the San Jose Sharks and played his college hockey at Holy Cross. He looks like the same type of player as Aaron Voros, minus the willingness to fight. My bet is that he starts the season in Hartford.

 

- Re-signing Michal Rozsival to a four year, 20 million dollar contract: To be clear, I was never Rozsival's biggest fan to begin with. Although I do believe Rozy is a very serviceable middle pairing D-man, his offseason hip surgery and horrendous second half of the 2007-08 season raised a couple of concerns for me.

 

I hope he plays like the Rozsival in the first half of last season for the majority of his contract, for his own sake. Although I believe $5 million/year is overpayment for Rozsival, he was a good alternative to other high priced D-men on the market at that price, which brings me to....

 

 

- Signing Wade Redden to a six year, 39 million dollar contract: OUCH. That was my first thought when I got wind of the terms of the contract.

 

Redden is a legitimate No. 1 defenseman that the Rangers have desperately needed since Leetch retired. However, I do not believe that Redden was the answer at this point of his career.

 

At 31, he is in his prime years as a player, but the depreciation value on defensemen in the new NHL has been steadily declining recently. This makes me worry that the Rangers could potentially be stuck with his albatross of a contract for a good two to three years.

 

I do have faith that Wade will bounce back in New York and be a defensive leader that the Rangers need. Add this to the fact that he would be a GREAT mentor to Marc Staal, Redden could very well end up being worth every penny.

 

 

- Re-signing Steve Valiquette to a new contract: I like Steve, and think he is a very serviceable backup. He also appears to be a well liked figure in the locker room, and is a great team player. Great signing.

 

- Acquiring Dan Fritsche and Nikolai Zherdev for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman: You have to go back four years to the 2004 trade deadline to see a better deal for the New York Rangers if all goes according to plan.

 

Simply put: Sather fleeced Columbus in this trade. Zherdev is a potential superstar in this league, and Fritsche is an upgraded version of Callahan. Although I am very sad to see Tyuts go, sending Backman and his salary with him, AND getting Zherdev and Fritsche in return dulls the pain.

 

I have read some scouting reports and commentary on Zherdev that hails him as having the potential to one day be as skilled as the likes of fellow Russians Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, albeit not as complete of a player.

 

This makes most Ranger fans, including myself, very excited for his debut on Broadway. Seeing him overcome knocks on his work ethic and defensive game at the Garden will make me even happier.

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