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| Bruce Bennett/Getty Images |
There
have been a number of pleasant surprises for the New York Rangers during this
season, but few if any have been as good as the play of rookie defenseman
Michael Sauer. Coming into the season Sauer was seen by many as an afterthought
even to make the roster. His play
throughout the year has not only changed that thinking, but made him a critical
part of the Rangers defensive core now and into the future. The 23-year-old defender has played himself into
the top four on defense and has been arguably the best defender on the club the
second half of the season.
There
has been a lot of discussion this year about the necessary contracts for Ryan
Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky along with some for Brian Boyle and Artem
Anisimov but very little attention has been paid to the fact that Michael Sauer
is also on that RFA list. He will never
be the flashy player on that list, the big name or the big producer but his
steadiness this season has made him as important as any of those guys to the position
the Rangers are in. Normally I look at
players have their best season in a contract year with skepticism and only want
to give them a one year contract to prove it again, but with Sauer I don’t have
those doubts because of that level of consistency he has played with every game
this year.
Every night he steps on the ice you know you are getting a player
with tremendous defensive awareness, positioning and attention to the
basics. Add to that a man who loves to
hit, clears the crease and fights to defend himself and his teammates and you
get someone you have to keep around this summer.
What has come along more than most would have expected is his
offensive contributions. As with
everything Sauer does his offensive improvement and impact is beyond the
boxscore and stems from his intelligence.
He does a tremendous job of reading the play and knowing when to pinch
to keep possession alive, when to slide down for a potential scoring chance and
when to back out and play defense. Those
traits were on display Monday night against Boston as Sauer read the play
beautifully and slid down to a position where he was able to take advantage of
the hustle by the forwards behind the net and beat Tim Thomas for his second
game winning goal of the season. The
goal was his third to go with 11 assists in 74 games this season while playing
to a tremendous +18 rating.
Where would the Rangers be without Michael Sauer this season? I for one do not want to find out as this
summer the team should lock up the 23-year-old defender for at least two
seasons at a price of 1-1.2 million per year.
