Yesterday John Tortorella created a buzz concerning second
year defenseman Michael Del Zotto when Jim
Cerny’s twitter, Tortorella said he has not ruled out possibly sending Del
Zotto down to the Connecticut Whale (AHL) for a stint in the minors. Obviously with any move that the Rangers make
with MDZ right now there are positives and negatives to them. I want to take a look at what the good and
bad of making the AHL move would be for Del Zotto along with if anyone from
Connecticut could come up or if someone outside is the solution for the Rangers
right now.
The reality is to be effective in the NHL the biggest factor
even more than the obvious level of skill required is confidence. Without confidence the level of skill will be
rendered meaningless because you are left with a player who is thinking too
much and second guessing everything they do which basically leaves them
paralyzed as a player. Del Zotto can say
all the right things in interviews that he wants, but watch him play and it is
clear he has no confidence to his game right now and is trying to force it to
come back.
On the positive side if he is going to be a scratch
consistently even for a short time frame whether healthy or the new mystery
issue every few days then going down would allow him to play and play a lot. Not only would he be able to get significant
minutes, but he could do it with significantly less pressure from the coaches
and scrutiny from fans and the media being in Connecticut as opposed to the
biggest stage in the world. What is
going on right now is there is a sense of fear in every move that Del Zotto
makes much like Gilroy had when he came back up last season that if he screws a
play up, especially defensively, he could be out of the lineup the next time
out. Sending him down to Hartford would
allow the pressure to release to some extent and let him get back to playing
hockey in a freer flowing and natural way.
He could get back to doing things like rushing the puck and manning the
power play while also working with a veteran like Wade Redden on how to make
the simple plays instead of constantly aiming for the touchdown on every
play.
Say what you want about Redden’s play and time in New York,
but what Wade has forgotten about the game of hockey and being exactly what the
Rangers hope Del Zotto will become is more than most will ever know. It also does not hurt that Redden can
understand exactly where Del Zotto is right now in taking the brunt of the fans
and the media in terms of his abilities and what the team should do with him as
Redden went through in this pressure cooker and while his play on the ice never
lived up to the contract his class on and off the ice remained in-tact. There is no better example of that fact than
the job Redden has done bringing along all the young defenders already down in
Hartford as many of them are transitioning to becoming professionals for the
first time. If Redden can do what he has
done in the transformation of the Whale defensive core from the beginning of
the year until now I think he could certainly aid Del Zotto is his path back to
where he was and where he can get to.
All of those things for me make sending him to Connecticut a more
constructive message than just sitting him in the press box to watch and write
essays.
The biggest concern in sending Del Zotto down to the AHL is
one of the shock to his confidence level and not knowing how he would respond
to it. Would he take it in the
Zuccarello fashion of this year and work on his game forcing the Rangers to
bring him back or would he have more of the Gilroy reaction of last season
where it basically shot his game the rest of the season. If Del Zotto takes the Zuccarello approach to
it he would be back in New York in relatively short order and everyone would be
better for it.
In terms of the Rangers if they send Del Zotto down I do not
see anyone on the Whale roster who is ready to come up right now and play
though Kundratek, McDonagh and Valenteko are getting closer day by day and
might be ready for at least spot duty by the end of the season. The Rangers could elect to go with six
defenders and then either bring Del Zotto back or call someone else up if they
had an injury and needed another body on defense.
For me there is also another option that the Rangers could
pursue which is someone outside the organization like Marc-Andre Bergeron. Bergeron certainly has his faults on defense,
but as a free agent he costs nothing but money, and not a lot of it at
that. What he can bring to this club is
a consistent power play quarterback, a veteran defender and another left handed
defenseman to mix in with all the right handers the Rangers currently have, especially
if Del Zotto went down to the AHL. If
and when the Rangers want to bring Del Zotto back up it would only create more
options for the club similar to the situation they have up front and other guys
can be traded to bring assets back to the club to make room as well.
As always hit me with your thoughts.
