After Larry Brooks' article this past Sunday that stated that Sundin has the desire to play in New York, I figured that I'd interrupt my Prospect Profiles series and sound off on the issue.
This is especially a hot topic on HF Boards where I post regularly. Below is what I wrote, word for word, about the issue—including the positives and negatives of Sundin signing in New York, along with what would need to be done in order to fit Mats under the salary cap.
In addition to this, I offer some insight on what could happen, both this season, and in the near future as a result of Sundin signing. Enjoy!
The way I see it,signing Sundin will greatly affect the team, having both positive and negative impacts.
I'll start out by saying Rozsival will likely be the guy to get dealt in order to free up cap space. Some in this thread have said that move would decimate the Rangers' defense. I respectfully disagree.
Trading Rozsival will free up $5 million in cap space. The return for Rozy would probably be a middle- to low-pairing defenseman and a draft pick.
The way I see it, a team like the Los Angeles Kings would make a great trading partner for the Rangers. Consider this:
To LA: Rozsival ($5 million/year), Pittsburgh's fifth-round draft pick (originally obtained in the Hollweg trade)
To NYR:Tom Preissing ($2.7 million/year for three more seasons) L.A.'s second-round pick in 2009
The Rangers get a servicable middle-pairing guy who can man the second power-play unit—signed to a cap-friendly deal for the near future—and probably the equivalent of a late first-round pick in a very deep draft. If Sundin signs and the deal I outlined goes through, the team would look like this:
Drury-Gomez-Zherdev
Naslund-Sundin-Sjostrom
Dawes-Dubinsky-Prucha
Voros/Fritsche-Betts/Fritsche-Callahan/Orr
Staal-Redden
Preissing-Girardi
Mara-Kalinin
That's a damn good team, if you ask me.
Now, onto the negatives. The defense I just outlined looks very suspect, outside of the first pairing. The bottom four defenseman, however, are all capable of playing middle-pairing minutes in my mind, so it would be interesting to see how that would turn out.
With the departure of Rozsival, the Rangers' defenseman with the most experience playing the Rangers system would be Paul Mara—albeit NHL experience outside of Girardi and Staal will not be a problem.
By trading Rozsival, New York would mortgage a very solid defensive corps and hope that what they have will work out. As we've seen last season, it took a while for the team to develop some chemistry, and I fear that the defense would encounter some of the same growing pains this season that the offense had last season.
Also, signing Sundin to a contract will greatly hinder the Rangers' ability to make a big move at the trading deadline if necessary. As the poster before me mentioned, injuries happen, and finding a placement will not be too easy unless the Rangers promote some players from Hartford.
In conclusion, I would be very happy if Sundin signed here—but for no more than a year. I absolutely love what he brings to the table, and having a guy like Naslund on his wing can potentially get him back up to the 90-point echelon again.
I really believe in my heart that a team with Sundin this season can bring the Cup back to the Garden. If he is signed to a one-year deal, Sundin's salary comes off the books, and by the '09 season, Sanguinetti will be ready for the big club, in addition to Sauer and maybe even Del Zotto on defense.
On offense, re-signing Zherdev would be key—if he performs well. Once that happens, the Red Army era of the New York Rangers can begin, with Anisimov and hopefully Cherepanov ready for the big club.
11 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Joe, you under-estimate Girardi. Trading Rozival to clear space for Sundin would not be the bad move made by NY. Signing Rozival for $5M/yr was the bad move. Rozival played decently with his fellow Czechs in JJ and Straka, but Rozzy is not a $5M man. The Rangers could fill the "hole" left by his departure with a $1M Dman which are always available. Girardi is turning into NYR's most well-round Dman....he is poises with the puck, has a terrific shot and if strong and wins a lot of puck battles. Staal is fantastic and of course gets more talk as he was a high pick. But I think Girardi has progressed quicker to this point. Staal-Redden-Girardi give the NYR in my opinion 3 rocks on D.....after that you just need guys that don't make a lot of errors.
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David London 10 months ago
It looks pretty good. Don't count on Dean Lombardi giving you a 2nd rounder to do you a favor though. You're getting a comparable defenseman who makes 2 million dollars less. Since it is the Rangers getting the favor I would expect a 2nd coming back this way and nothing but Preissing headed to New York.
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Joe Correia 10 months ago
I understand what you're saying. However, the Kings are the team that need to get to the cap floor of 40 million, and they only have 30 million or so on the books so far. As a matter of fact, it would be the Rangers doing the Kings a favor by giving LA some salary to eat for this year.
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David London 10 months ago
The salary floor argument comes up a lot but the Kings are not in danger of not getting there. Doughty will get between 2-3 million after bonuses, Stoll will be pushing 4, O'Sullivan will depend on the length of his contract but should come in the 3 million range, then a guy like Brad Richardson will get a million.
Considering he wanted to save money by trading Visnovsky's cap hit of 5.6 million in order to get extensions to the young core...a trade like this would leave alot of people scratching their heads in L.A..
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Joe Correia 10 months ago
Forgot O'Sullivan hasn't been signed yet. He will get close to Rozsival's salary easily, in which case you are correct.
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David London 10 months ago
If Rozsival had maybe one year left....it would be much more appealing to Lombardi.
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Stephen Linsenmeier 10 months ago
I think every one is jumping the gun assuming that Mats will not come too vancouver. He has too think about his family and the fact that he has 1 mabye 2 good years left. Does he want to play for the hall of famers last gasp NY? Or does he want to play for a contender. Does he want to play for a paltry 4million, or does he want to "cash in"? nothing wrong with that, he's earned it! Yes Luongo had an off year for him, I'm sure he'd agree. Now that his child is born and his wife is healthy lookout this is the year. Yes we have a tough travel schedule, but Mats can handle it, and we have a fairly successful history in the last 10 yrs. You want to talk defence, we have one of the best cores in the league with names like Ohlund ,Salo,and Mitchell. Now I'm no statistition I'm just A die hard ex-goaltender and hockey fan. Yet what our team may lack in 'PURE TALENT" we more than make up for in heart desire commitment and our never say die attitude. Some of us are worried a bit thanks to the Messier fiasco, but Mats is too classy for that. He'll retire long before having to be carried by his team where everyone caters to his ego, Yes Mr. Messier I mean you. Ok I've said my piece, I'll leave the discussion to those more learned than I.
Steve Ladysmith, B.C.
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TJ Ferguson 10 months ago
i don't really like the idea of sundin signing with the rangers,
dubinsky needs to get the second line minutes to get experience
if dubi plays third line it should be because drury and gomez are playing 1st and 2nd centers
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r may 10 months ago
How does getting rid of 5 million and taking on another 2.6 million give you enough room to sign Sundin when you are already over the cap????
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r may 10 months ago
How does getting rid of 5 million dollars and taking on 2.6 million dollars create cap space for Sundin when the Rangers are already 7ook over the cap????
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matthew wallace 10 months ago
Ok maybe some one can answer a couple of questions.
1. First off everyone has been talking about trading Rossi. to make space for to make room for Mats. even if the Rangers picked up nothing for him that is still only 7 mil, which is still 3 mil less a year then he was offered from Van. so why would he do it?
2. Why is everyone making Mat's Sundin out to be the second coming of Gretzky or something ok I have read articles about how Sundin could bring New York a cup....ahh like he did in Toronto? I wanted to do a little research on the subject so I want to throw out a few numbers ok Sundin and Toronto made it to the conference finals once in the last 6 years, and have not made the playoffs the last 3. Sundin has NEVER won a single NHL trophy, yes he was a multiple all star but no Harts, no Scoring titles, nothing. The Rangers just let a guy with 2 cups, nominated for 6 Harts with 1 win, 5 time NHL leading scorer and brought a team that was really bad back to at least making the playoffs, Remember that guy with the C on his chest named Jagr, that the Rangers wanted to move in another direction from. So why are so many fans, writers, and many other people building up Sundin to super human status, yes he is a very good player, but he is not 25 any more, why not save some money worry about making some room under the cap for next year and taking a run at a guy like Gaborik, or Hossa when and if they hit the open market next summer instead of haveing to move a center to wing and trading a guy who really was our best d man last year?
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