After
missing the playoffs in 2009-10 season and looking at a summer where there was
little to no money under the cap the expectations for New York Rangers fans
were minimal in what the team would do.
The 2010-11 season saw the Rangers have career seasons from half the
roster and incorporate numerous rookies into the NHL. The combination of hope
that gave the fans about their individual futures and the fact the Rangers now
have money has had the mentality of going after whatever big name is available
return to the conversation this summer.
There
is no doubt that the time will come where the Rangers will have to bring in
pieces, through free agency and/or trade, in order to get over the hump and win
a championship. Despite the best efforts
of many to convince otherwise, this is not that time. New York is not one player away from winning
a title next season, especially if bringing in that player slows the
development of other pieces that the Rangers need to grow to be legitimate
contenders.
As
fans there is the natural overvaluing and over-attachment to the players that
are on your team. There is also the
overvaluing and assumption of what a player from outside can do for your
team. Brad Richards, Paul Stastny, Jason
Spezza are all elite talents that can help a team be better, but the cost for
each is high in different ways.
For
Richards the concern is not about the money, but the number of years you are
paying that kind of salary to him. With
Stastny it is a combination of the cost and paying it off a down season to have
another player making an elite salary who while an All-Star is not a star
caliber player. On Spezza you get an
elite talent, but asset cost would like you end up with the Rangers having to cut
deep into the depth they have built to make the deal. If you could get Richards for three or four
seasons, then you make the deal. If
Stastny or Spezza came at salary dump prices, then you are having different
discussions. The problem is none of
those are going to happen.
The
Rangers can make any of these moves and likely be a better team today, but the
point of the rebuilding process was to have sustainable long-term success and
not sacrifice it all for one shot. We
all want another Stanley Cup title in New York, but there is this urge to hit
the panic button and go back to the old ways of chasing the biggest name at all
costs instead of sticking with the system that has given the fans more reason
to hope than in many years.
There
is no reason that another year of development to see what the team really has
in Anisimov, Stepan, Kreider, and Thomas, then make the decision as to where
the holes are to be filled as you continue to have the reinforcements added
from within. It will take a combination
of your own talent and outside pieces to win a championship so there is nothing
that says this summer has to be the moment the Rangers look to buy the big name
when the rest aren’t ready for prime time yet.
Trust the process and don’t look for the shortcut. The quick fix is what got the Rangers into
this mess over a decade and it will take time to be really ready to be out of
it. No reason to jump right back in with
huge contracts in the hopes that they bring a title.
