Marian Gaborik Is a Risk as a Ranger?

By far the riskiest free agent signing belongs to the New York Rangers who recently signed an injury plagued goal scorer who only dressed for 17 games this past season. The good news however for New York fans is that this player in question 27 year-old Marian Gaborik is supposedly one hundred percent healthy from his groin and leg issues. “He is very healthy,” Sather said of the 27 year-old who was taken third overall in the 2000 draft by the Minnesota Wild. “Mario Lemieux had the surgery that he had. We don’t expect that there are going to be any problems. “He is an exciting guy to watch play. He can skate and does a lot of great things. He’s a great player and he’s young. I certainly think he’s in the top 10 in this league.” This dynamic skater who is the all time leading scorer in Wild history with 219 career goals and 437 points has signed a five year deal with the Rangers that will pay him 7.5 million dollars a season. Looking ahead to the up coming season Sather is looking for offense after finishing last season with only 210 goals which ranked them in the bottom third of the league. Since the season ended the Rangers have lost quite a bit of offence including 20 goal scorers Markus Naslund, Nik Antropov (28 goals) and point producer Scott Gomez (58 points). Over his career Garorik has never played all 82 games in a season but that hasn’t scared off Sather who along with coach John Tortorella is talking about employing a more attack-oriented system. “Gaborik played under that (Minnesota’s emphasis on defence) system and he’s got almost a point a game,” Sather said about Gaborik who had his best season two years ago with 83 points in 77 games. “He’s been very productive, so it’s going to be very interesting to watch to see how he does with Tortorella’s system.” Also giving a boost to the offense will be 20- goal scorer Chris Higgins who comes over from the Montreal Canadiens. Gaborik and Higgins will both be slotted somewhere within the first two lines and the Rangers still haven’t ruled out the possibility of landing disgruntled Ottawa Senators scorer Dany Heatly.