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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Rangers sign 2011 first round pick JT Miller

The Rangers announced this morning that they have agreed to terms with their 2011 first round pick JT Miller. The Rangers drafted Miller with the 15th overall pick in the entry draft last month. Miller is expected to play for the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL this season however he is eligible to play in the AHL at some point because he wasn't drafted out of the junior leagues in Canada. This is interesting news because he weren't supposed to hear anything from this kid for at least another season. He was originally going to play in the college ranks this year at North Dakota. But recently changed his mind and committed to Plymouth.

This kid is really setting himself up to be in the NHL in a year or two. The Rangers are absolutely loaded in their farm system. The next 3-5 years are going to be really exciting to watch these kids grow and mature with the team. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to see the CT Whale contend for a Calder Cup in the next season or two.

Callahan, Eminger signed, NYR cap situation

Ryan Callahan, the last of the Rangers restricted free agents finally signed yesterday by agreeing to a 3 year contract worth $12.825 mil and a cap hit of 4.275 mil.

Steve Eminger also agreed last week to a 1 yr, 800k deal, not bad for a 6-7th defenseman.

Barring trades or buyouts this is going to be your 2011-12 New York Ranger team. If Wolski isn't bought out which no longer seems is going to happen, I still think there could be a trade on the way between now and the preseason as the Rangers are carrying 14 forwards on the roster. As was the case for most of last season, the Rangers would like to be a couple million under the cap for potential injury call-ups from Hartford. As of right now according to capgeek.com they are just 700k under the cap with everyone now signed.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Rangers cap situation re-evaluated, Eminger close?

As reported by capgeek.com and the NY Post's Larry Brooks, the Rangers are carrying an extra $527,000 in cap space as a bonus overage from last season. While I'm not sure whom the bonus belonged to or why this happened, it does put a bit of a damper on the Rangers cap situation once again. To me, the chances of Wolski's contract being bought out increase more and more with each passing day. The Rangers are barely going to be under the cap once the rosters are set when Dubinsky, Callahan and 2 additional defensemen are signed.

Speaking about one of those defensemen, once again according to Larry Brooks, the Rangers are in talks and are apparently close to re-signing Steve Eminger to a contract. One must figure that as a 6th or 7th defenseman, he'll be making less than a million next year. On a side note, there is going to be one heck of a battle coming up in training camp for that last roster spot on defense.

Dubinsky's arbitration hearing is coming up in two days and I'm going to hold my breath on that subject...

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Boyle signs, NYR current roster/cap analysis

Brian Boyle resigned with the Rangers yesterday afternoon to a 3 yr, 5.1 mil dollar contract. If you follow me on twitter you know that I'm happy that he's here because him, Prust and Rupp will make up a solid fourth line next season however, I strongly dislike his contract. On the Rangers, he will be nothing more than a fourth line player making decent money averaging 10 minutes a night. Personally, I don't like giving out contracts to players like Boyle that are more than 2 years at 1.5 mil cap hit. I know alot of the Ranger bloggers on twitter weren't happy that Rupp got a third year and Boyle shouldn't be any different.

With the Boyle signing it leaves the Rangers with just over 11 mil in cap space, with Dubinsky, Callahan and a 6th and 7th defenseman to be signed. I no longer foresee Erik Christensen nor Wojtek Wolski coming back next year. Wolski is likely at this point to be bought out and Christensen is either going to be stuck in Hartford for the last year of his contract or perhaps traded somewhere to a team that needs a veteran pivot. Wolski's buyout will free up the money ($3,333,333 to be exact) necessary to sign those last two defensemen, as Callahan and Dubinsky's contracts are going to take up an extremely large chunk of the 11.1 mil the Rangers still have to play with. When its all said and done the Rangers are going to be right up against the cap again likely 1.5 mil or less to spare.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Rangers re-sign Artie, Sauer

The Rangers announced yesterday that they had signed two important pieces to next years roster. Anisimov, who now has Dubinsky's contract from two offseasons ago, signed a 2 year, 3.75 mil dollar deal. Michael Sauer, who meshed well with call-up (and now mainstay) Ryan McDonagh towards the latter half of the season, signed a 2 year, 2.5 mil dollar contract.

Up next to receive an offer is likely Boyle. I can't imagine his contract dispute going all the way to an arbitration hearing scheduled a couple weeks from now. I would like to see Boyle get a 2 year contract in the 2.25 mil range. Speaking of arbitration, Dubinsky and Callahan's arbitration hearings are scheduled for 7/21 and 7/28 respectively. I don't think the Rangers are very willing to let Callahan get a hearing as I don't think the Rangers have much of a case against him leading to an unfavorable ruling and the Rangers shelling out more than they were willing. Dubinsky on the other hand will probably have contract negotiations with the Rangers leading up to the day before if not the day of arbitration.

Regardless of the outcomes, they'll be back in Ranger blue for next season. I'm already going through severe hockey withdrawal and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to hold out just watching youtube videos.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The NHL is going to face CBA problems quite soon

With the NFL and the NBA currently in a lockout mode with no end in sight for either league, this offseason is the perfect time for the NHL and the NHLPA to get together and perhaps begin very preliminary talks to extend or come up with a new CBA for the 2012-13 season. While the different leagues have different reasons for their respective lockouts  I'm not sure that the NHL could afford to lose ANOTHER hockey season without taking another fatal hit among the casual sports fan. Could you imagine the sports scene in North America after the World Series ends in late October being dominated by hockey only?

There's been a lot of talks revolving around current contracts specifically in terms of front loaded contracts similar to the one Brad Richards just signed with the Rangers a few days ago. What really started this talk was the proposed 17 year, 102 mil dollar contract the Devils presented to Kovalchuk before last season that really raised eyebrows over the way contracts are currently presented to high priced free agents such as Brad Richards and Ilya Kovalchuk. If you remember Kovy's contract was disapproved by the league for two reasons. First thing was years, his contract had him playing until he was 44 years old. He's not Gordie Howe. It's un-realistic to think he'll be playing until that age. Secondly was how the money was divvied up year to year. Here is the year by year breakdown of Kovalchuk's illegal contract courtesy of deadspin.com:

2010-11: $6 million
2011-12: $6 million
2012-13: $11.5 million
2013-14: $11.5 million
2014-15: $11.5 million
2015-16: $11.5 million
2016-17: $11.5 million
2017-18: $10.5 million
2018-19: $8.5 million
2019-20: $6.5 million
2020-21: $3.5 Million
2021-22: $750,000
2022-23: $550,000
2023-24: $550,000
2024-25: $550,000
2025-26: $550,000
2026-27: $550,000

The NHL had a big problem with the last 6 years of the contract, namely because he was making under a million per. From what I believe (I read the contract portion of the CBA on Monday night, its extremely confusing) it states that a player cannot have his contract deteriorate in base salary by more than 50% from the first or second year (whichever is lower) to the remaining years of the contract. Example: Brad Richards makes 12 million this year with a 10 million dollar signing bonus. Base salary of 2 million dollars. Since in Year 2 of his contract has him making another 12 million with a 8 million dollar signing bonus which equates to 4 million in base salary. With BR making 1 million the final three years of the contract his base salary does not lose more than 50% in value over the life of the contract.
(All figures in above paragraph once again provided by capgeek.com)

All in all the NHL will be put at a crossroads soon. With teams trying to acquire big name free agents with low cap hits, teams will begin to struggle to reach the $48.3 mil cap floor year in and year out, players will begin to receive money that they will never live up to from teams that would never pay them big money but are required to so they can be cap compliant. 16 of 30 teams including the Rangers were below the cap floor at some point. It's only going to be a matter of time before the owners no longer want to pay these contracts and we could be faced with a similar situation that wiped out the 2004-05 season.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Richards signs with NYR, other offseason plans...

Brad Richards finally ended the drama yesterday morning by agreeing to a front loaded, CAP FRIENDLY, 9 year 60 mil dollar contract with the Rangers. His cap hit is only $6.66 mil a year, a far cry of the $8 mil plus cap hit others were expecting. The Rangers did not have the highest offer on the table which was believed to have come from Toronto, however it was a much shorter term, something that Richards did not find attractive. It was rumored Friday night into yesterday morning that if the money was close then he was going to become a Ranger. Well that became evident on Saturday morning by agreeing to terms on his new contract.

I have to admit that I was floored when I heard the contract was for nine years, especially after the rumors that Glen Sather was unwilling to go over a seven year term. However I guess Glen wanted to do whatever it took to get Richards in the fold and at a reasonable cap number. On the ice, adding Richards is giant leap forward to turning this team into a legitimate cup contender. Now rather this team being 3 years away from potentially being ready though good draft picks and filling out roster spots in free agency, Brad Richards fills a huge gap as a true number one center, something the Rangers haven't had since Messier. He also fills a hole on the power play as the QB on the blue line, as Michael Del Zotto had problems with before becoming a healthy scratch and eventually hurt and done for the season.

I don't think the Rangers are quite done this offseason. While some are clamoring to sign a veteran defenseman (think McCabe but much less money) I disagree. The Rangers are backed up on the blueline. Staal, Girardi, McDonagh are written in stone while Sauer, a restricted FA expected to resign. Tim Erixon, recently acquired from Calgary will push for a roster spot, 2010 first round pick Dylan McIlrath will likely spend one more year in juniors before jumping to the pros but could get a 10 game tryout in the NHL if he has a good training camp. Mikhail Pashnin, a seventh round pick in 2009 will likely get a pro contract and see time in the AHL next season. Pashnin came over from Russia last season and was hitting everything in sight at the prospects camp this past week. Lastly Michael Del Zotto, who the Rangers are extremely high on, will give another chance to prove his wares. I have a feeling that Sather could move one of these defensive pieces for a top 6 scoring winger to go along with BR and Gabby especially if MZA and Wolski aren't able to gel with the top line.

This Ranger team has the potential to do a ton of damage this coming season possibly even winning a playoff round or two if things break right. The puzzle pieces are beginning to come together fans it won't be long before the Rangers begin to do some incredible things on the ice.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Day 1...

Gotta get this in before things get crazy once again tomorrow. After about 6 or so teams presented themselves to Brad Richards in Toronto today whether in person or over the phone as the Rangers did today. It is rumored that the Rangers remain the front runner despite knowingly being out bid by other teams namely the late comers in Calgary. Brad Richards apparently interviewed tonight by Canadian media said its down to four teams that he wouldn't name probably the Rangers, Flames, Leafs and Kings. Philly and Tampa were in as well on his services but pulled out. Steve Yzerman pulled his Lightning team out of the running late Friday night saying that the demands for Richard's services were a little too rich for their liking especially since they still have to re sign Stamkos. Brad Richards also said he won't keep us waiting for too long on Saturday so I suspect around noon, (probably while I'm on the road heading to NYC) we'll get an answer.

The Rangers did not sit on the sidelines completely today starting by signing former Penguin and Devils forward Mike Rupp to a 3 year, 4.5 mil dollar deal. I'm not crazy about the 3 year part even though he's 31, I would like to keep guys to 1-2 year contracts for 4th line players. The Rangers also re-upped Ruslan Fedotenko to a 1 year, 1.4 mil dollar contract. Another good sign by the Rangers nothing to write home about really.

Anyway hopefully Richards comes to NY tomorrow for the right price, as I believe he is a major piece the Rangers need to solving the Stanley Cup puzzle. The Rangers aren't too far off guys, Richards can put this team into serious contention by signing on the dotted line tomorrow.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Today's the day... plus quick draft review

Starting with the draft first, I was shocked when the Rangers took JT Miller with the 15th pick. I had came across his name briefly when I was doing my research for my draft preview post. Alot of what I saw had him going bottom of the first round. Even some of the mock drafts I saw didn't even have him in the first round. So I can imagine alot of Ranger fans were initially unhappy with the pick. But when you look up a little more on him, this kid has enormous amounts of potential. He's a good 2 way center, responsible on defense, and very strong on the puck. He won the gold medal for the US WJC U18 team this past year and is committed to playing NCAA hockey next season for North Dakota. Hopefully he can carry over what he accomplished towards the end of his U18 season to the college level and perhaps we'll see him 2-3 years down the road in the AHL. Sometime over the weekend I'll quickly go over the Rangers remaining draft selections including someone who really has been attracting attention at the prospects camp this past week.

It's currently 10:45 am, 75 minutes to go before the fun begins.

One last thing before I wrap this up, I was disappointed to hear that Chris Drury was bought out by the Rangers yesterday. I've been a big fan of his and it was unfortunate that outside of his first season in New York he was never the same guy we saw in Colorado and Buffalo that made him who he was. Now with Drury's contract off the books and the extra 3 million plus towards the cap, Sather better not let the extra cap room go to waste with the impending FA period about to begin.

Wow what a day!!!

Many apologies for the week long hiatus, working 12 hours a day since monday left me with little time to write... here's what I had penned last Thursday after the Flyers blew up their team.

Just a disclaimer to start, although this blog is called Just Blueshirts anything that has remotely to do with anything other teams do especially in the division will get covered on here. Sadly due to my work schedule unless big Rangers/NHL news goes down in the morning or on weekends I won't be able to join the massive clusterfuck of other Rangers bloggers on twitter especially a day like today after the Flyers began knocking down the dominoes of another offseason.

It was just another day in NHL land, the day before the draft, the NHL released the schedule and we marveled at how the Rangers begin the year over in Sweden against Lundqvist's old hockey team, followed by the two games against LA and Anaheim in Stockholm, the 7 game homestand in March and end the year running the gauntlet against teams such as the Penguins, Capitals, Canadiens, Flyers, and the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. The NHL soon after released the official salary cap information for the 2011-12 season set at 64.3 million and a 48.3 million dollar floor. It wasn't long after that, that all hell broke loose....

It was then quickly reported by NUMEROUS sources on twitter that Robyn Regehr from Calgary was asked to waive his NMC and accept a trade to Buffalo. As of this writing on Thursday night/Friday morning he hasn't decided on accepting the trade. As that was going on it was revealed that Flyers center Jeff Carter was traded to Columbus in exchange for the rights to Jakub Voracek, the Blue Jackets 1st round (8th overall) as well as 3rd round (68th overall). As fans we didn't get a chance to digest that trade until the big blockbuster came in. The Flyers then traded captain Mike Richards to LA for top prospect Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, and according to Bob McKenzie at TSN, the Kings second round pick in 2012.

Living in southern New Jersey and being constantly exposed to the Flyers, I'm not surprised by either trade to be honest. Jeff Carter saw his writing on the wall after the Flyers aquired Bryzgalov and was their most movable contract, despite the 11 year deal with a friendly cap number. The only thing that blew me away was that it was really only part one of two and then the next thing you know the Flyers captain is gone too. I've never seen the core of any one team gutted in just seconds like that. Absolutely incredible. After the the dust settled a little bit on the trades it was announced that Ilya Bryzgalov had signed a 9 year, $51 million contract with the Flyers that pays him 10 million in the first year alone! Flyers GM Paul Holmgren has a lot riding on these trades today. Failure to win a cup probably will cost him his job in a few years which brings me to my next point...

Without putting on the Rangers blue tinted glasses, where does this leave Philadelphia now? The Flyers didn't bring back anyone who put up the kind of production that the Flyers had in Richards and Carter. In fact Brayden Schenn, who is ready for the NHL but hasn't taken the next step to really solidify himself in a NHL roster, is capable of putting up bigger numbers than the former Flyers did but that may take a season or two. If and only if Schenn pans out will this deal be worth it. The Flyers, have very little room to maneuver under the cap, with just over 7.5 million dollars left that's without signing their RFA's and UFA's.