Time For Rangers To Make a Trade? What Should They Buy?

Update: The New York Rangers did make a trade today when they acquired Wojtek Wolski from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for Michal Rozsival.  The move while having an element of gamble to is does certainly add to the Rangers overall talent level and makes them a bigger threat in the East then they were even before the Frolov injury.

The big question out there today is whether the season ending injury to Alex Frolov changes any of the New York Rangers calculations when it comes to making a trade.  Expect to have the rumor-mill churning with all sorts of names heading to the Rangers for everything under the sun, but let us take a step back and assess the situation.  The reality is that it both does and does not change the way the Rangers have to look at the roster.  The fact is replacing Frolov’s actual production is not that difficult seeing as how he only had a line of 7-9-16 in 43 games played and overall has been a massive disappointment.  In that sense there is no real need to make a move to replace him as he has fluctuated on and off the fourth line.  On the other hand there is a need to replace what the Rangers thought Frolov was going to be this season in terms of a secondary scorer.  The question then becomes do the Rangers try and hold the fort until the reinforcements of Ryan Callahan, Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal filter back into the lineup over the next month or so or do they look to make a move to bring another player to add to the team?

The answer in the short term is likely that they try to ride out the injuries as they have to this point.  Only problem with that line of thinking is that at some point there has to be a cumulative impact of all these injuries, especially when added to the lack of performance from Marian Gaborik.  If you had Gabby firing away like he is capable to go with Dubinsky, Stepan, and Boyle to provide you with four consistent goal scorers at the moment a move would not only not be necessary now it might not be necessary at all to be a contender this season. 

The obvious drawback to looking to make a move right now is the other organizations will smell blood in the water and demand a higher premium for whatever you are looking to acquire.  Salary is not really an issue with the loss of Frolov since club now possesses approximately 4 million and cap space and come trade deadline time could pick up a salary as large as 8.8 million according to Capgeek.  This might make the big name, big contract guy a temptation for Sather, but I do not feel that is the kind of guy the team needs.  As I said above what the team needs is a person to fill the role that Frolov was supposed to fill. 

This creates a different conversation of whether the simple answer is just that Mats Zuccarello is that player.  Emotionally I want to believe he is that answer and he has shown he can play at this level while thriving in big moments, but my worry is about position.  I know that Zuke has and can play the left side, but in watching the difference in how he played for the Rangers on the right and left wings there was a stark difference in his effectiveness.  Reality is when Callahan comes back the Rangers have three right wingers who are top six capable and only one left winger unless Prospal proves to be healthy, which I am not counting on. 

I believe this team needs a LW and I have a number of them in mind with varying costs (mainly Gilroy and/or picks) in terms of trade requirements but not with significant salaries that better fit the Rangers need for a second line winger who can score on the power play.  I have discussed a few of them and depending on what happens in the short term I will talk about some more and why I think they solve the holes for the team. 

In the meantime the Rangers are going to try and hold the fort and do not be surprised if the move to bring up Newbury is a potential hedge against relying on Avery as Newbury can play center, which would free Drury to move back up to the second line while they wait for those reinforcements to arrive.

So tell me what you think. Will the Rangers make a trade? Should the Rangers make a trade?  If they should, what should they target?

After Losing Callahan Christensen and Frolov Spark Huge Comeback Win

The Rangers were coming off their biggest win of the season and getting Chris Drury back, so you just knew something bad had to happen and 4:08 into the first period Ryan Callahan would go down to block a Kris Letang shot on the penalty kill and would catch the shot in the hand, which unfortunately for the Rangers would result in a broken hand for Callahan.  In other years losing Callahan like that would have doomed the team to lay down and take the loss and for a while it looked like that might happen, but then the Rangers swung the tide in the third period and turned it into a laugher. This team keeps showing they are a different group this year and pretty soon people are going to have to believe it.  The question will certainly be asked over the next six weeks if the team can keep it up without one their leaders and the early results are good and so have the results without the other key guys so far his season

After losing Callahan early in the first the Rangers played a relatively even period with the Penguins until the last four minutes when they were absolutely dominated by the Pens not able to get the puck out of their own zone and finally Pittsburgh would cash in at 19:47 of the period when Malkin scored.  On the goal Dan Girardi made a horrible defensive decision being too preoccupied with Crosby who Marc Staal had covered and left the outside lane for Malkin to drive wide and he would beat Lundqvist.

Not much happened in the second period as the Rangers generated absolutely no offense  and they managed to keep the Penguins to the outside and not give them any really good chances.  The Rangers would come early in the third and show more life in their game but get unlucky as Brooks Orpik’s skate would save Johnson from two potential goals for Marian Gaborik.  

Finally after Matt Cooke took a bad penalty on Derek Stepan the Rangers would generate a goal.  The Rangers would take the puck from the defensive zone and Gaborik would play it to Christensen in neutral ice and he would skate in and take a shot from the circle that deflected off Michalek’s stick and over the shoulder of Johnson.  Frankly Johnson just whiffed on the shot, but it was now 1-1 10:10 into the final period.  The Rangers would keep the pressure on as 15 seconds late much-maligned Alex Frolov would take a rebound from the slot and backhand it in to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

With the score still 2-1 the Penguins momentarily would appear to tie the game when Evgeni Malkin would shoot and it would deflect off Crosby into the net, but the goal was disallowed for goaltender interference on Pascal Dupuis for not allowing Lundqvist the opportunity to make the save.  To say I was surprised a Penguins goal was taken off the board in Pittsburgh would be an understatement, but to the Rangers credit instead of sitting back on it they attacked.

The Rangers continue the onslaught as Brandon Dubinsky would a neutral zone draw back to Del Zotto who would play it to Rozsival and then it would move on to Anisimov who would take it in neutral ice much like last game and skate it into the offensive zone and rip it by Johnson again high to the glove on another one that Johnson probably should have stopped.  Just like last time the Rangers would keep the immediate pressure up and after a Pittsburgh turnover in neutral ice Marc Staal would feed it to Alex Frolov who would skate in and lay the puck over to Brian Boyle for the fourth goal at 16:29, just 1:34 after Anisimov’s goal.

• Chris Drury played an excellent first game back.  He needs to take more faceoffs though
• Alex Frolov played his best period as a Ranger in the third after stinking up the joint for the first two
• Brian Boyle and his career high 12 goals just continue to get better and better
• Artem Anisimov is back
• Marian Gaborik needs to do more than he did tonight especially with Callahan out
• Marc Staal did an excellent job on Crosby all night taking away his time and space

Daily Recap: Rangers Trounce Caps; Dubi fights Ovie; Frolov Being Traded?; Zuccarello/Whale Shining

After a game like last night the world for the New York Rangers can seem pretty bleak, but a game like tonight goes a long way to erasing that memory.  Early in the season there was a lot of discussion of the rollercoaster action that was this team and there is no greater swing in the rollercoaster of emotions than what has been the last 28 hours with this team.  Tonight the Rangers would paste the frustrated Washington Capitals behind a total team effort that saw the Rangers dominate the Caps in every phase of the game.  The full game story is in the link in terms of all the details of key plays in the game including each of the seven goals the team would net in the onslaught.  The game was led by the Rangers homegrown talent which is always great to see and featured a Gordie Howe hat-trick for Brandon Dubinsky who has been the Rangers best player this season.  There is also a note about the disgraceful actions of some fans during the game.

As many of you know the Gordie How hat-trick is a goal, an assist and a fight and for the fight Brandon Dubinsky would take on a very frustrated Alex Ovechkin during the second period with the Rangers already up 4-0.  In the video you will see what led to the fight, and the fight itself which Dubinsky clearly won and Ovechkin deserved a couple of instigator penalties for in terms of starting the fight and then starting it while wearing a visor.

The other NHL story for the Rangers today was about a rumor that the Rangers are trying to trade Alex Frolov.  I am not a big fan of the source, but I think most Rangers fans are hoping that it is true and that Frolov is moved.  See exactly what the rumor says and my take on why it would be coming out now and if that reason only further diminishes the value the Rangers could get.

Finally most of the rest of the day was spent on the Connecticut Whale and Mats Zuccarello in particular.  This morning coming off the awful offensive performance I revisited the calls for Zuccarello to be called up  For the Whale itself I looked at Saturday’s game against the first place Manchester Monarchs and how Zuccarello, McDonagh and Grachev led the way in a Whale Feast.  The recap details all the action, the significance of the plays for each guy involved and has the highlights of the game from the Whale organization.  It is truly amazing to see how big a turnaround this team has made in the last three weeks and while I bashed the staff down there when they struggled I must give them their stick salute for the work going on right now. looking at what I had said before, what if anything had changed based both on the Rangers and his own situation.

Rumor: Rangers Trying To Deal Frolov

In news that will come as a shock to no one who follows the New York Rangers the team is said to be attempting to trade summer signing Alex Frolov.  This was bound to happen soon anyway, but Frolov may have served to speed up the process with his heart to heart in the Russian news complaining about his ice time over the past week.  In a move that can only be justified as an attempt to showcase Frolov for other prospective clubs since his whining in the press Frolov has been moved up from the fourth to the third line and being inserted into power play minutes neither of which he has earned with his play.  The speculation of this comes from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun and the full comment is the following:

The Rangers are trying to move LW Alex Frolov to just about anybody. They don't want much in return for Frolov, who was signed as a UFA in the off-season to a one-year, $3-million deal. GM Glen Sather is having a hard time finding any takers and Frolov didn't help matters by complaining to a Russian journalist about his ice time last week. It's believed the Senators looked at Frolov, but they don't need any more soft forwards

To say that the Rangers are not looking for much in return for Frolov should be considered an understatement cause a bag of pucks would be of more use right now to the club.  As long as they do not take on any players with additional years on their contract I do not think anyone really cares who they get for him, though I would personally rather have a draft pick.  I presume a lot of teams will be hesitant and while the Russian article might have hurt Frolov with the Rangers it certainly did not help his trade value as any future team now has to be wary of this kind of behavior.  There are enough teams struggling to score that I presume eventually one of them will take the gamble on Frolov, but it could take longer than Rangers fans are prepared to wait.

Frolov Hammers Final Nail in his Rangers Coffin: Stop Whining, Start Packing.

To say that the excitement over the Alex Frolov signing has died for Rangers fans would be the understatement of the year.  What was excitement turned quickly to disgust as they watched him try wraparound after wraparound along with missing the net at a staggering pace from right in front of it.  If the fans needed any more reason to turn that disgust to hatred then Alex Frolov just gave it to them with his interview with Russia’s Sport Express reporter Vasily Osipov last week. 

In the interview which has been fully translated by Beyond the Blueshirts he told the reporter that he was not happy with his ice time and being relegate to the fourth line.  He spoke of how he had a private conversation with coach John Tortorella to complain about the move and was apparently told that it was not a personal move by the coach but part of Torts wheel of lines. No, they did not use that terminology.  The money quote was the following:

It’s absolutely unacceptable to me that that I spend 7-8 minutes a game on the ice, especially on an energy line. It’s just not my game, which I told the coach candidly. But there are no personal problems between me and him. I’m not a quarrelsome person. Even in our recent conversation there was no swearing or raised voices. Nobody blamed anyone, we simply discussed the situation. The coach promised that soon everything will change, I just need to be a little patient and work harder in practice.

Here we have a guy who was forced by lack of alternate interest around the league to settle for a one year deal with the Rangers in the hopes that playing with Marian Gaborik could get his career back on track and he has failed to perform whining about how he is being used.  How about instead of whining about the line you are you act like Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov did when they were relegated down by the spinning line changes and raise your level of play.  Instead of running your mouth, run your legs and swing your stick to where the puck goes in the net.  Do that and I can guarantee your minutes, your line and the way you are used will all improve to your satisfaction.  If anything the way that Frolov is playing now he should be thanking the coach for putting him in the lineup at all as he is having less impact than Derek Boogaard.

This type of move is not new for Frolov as he did the same thing last season to try and explain his continued deterioration in his numbers putting it on being used in a lower capacity by the club.  At some point a player has to look in the mirror and hold himself accountable for his own play or else your complaints just become a joke to everyone else.

Personally I do blame Tortorella for this in one respect and it is personified in this translated quote:

Torts gives wingers completely different tasks, making them work more on defense. In comparison with the tactics of Los Angeles, where I spent the previous seven seasons, it was very unusual. However I’ve already adapted now to the new system [and] begun to understand the head coach’s requirements. And he seems satisfied with my performance on the ice. Or so he says at least. He promised that in the near future he’ll give me more playing time. We’ll see what happens.

I understand that Torts wants to put on his happy face when he talks to Sam Rosen on MSG before games but that he is consistently talking about how close Frolov is and how hard he is working even when the results are not there sends a mixed message when he leaves him on the fourth line.  If he was really that close he would be putting him in a position more apt to get chances, wouldn’t he?  You cannot blow smoke up the hole of someone who already has an oversized view of themselves and not expect them to be confused when you fail to slobber over them in terms of ice time and opportunities.

This scenario as I commented on last week is growing more and more like that of Ales Kotalik and like Kotalik it would behoove the Rangers to see if they can move Frolov for anything they can get in return.


Let me know what you think.

Daily Recap: Frolov on Way Out?; Avery Teaming With Gaborik; Critical Tests in December; Isles Preview

For a while the focus on the schedule has been all about how grueling the sheer number of games in November was going to be and the Rangers came through that at 9-7.  As brutal as all the games were I think December and a huge six game stretch will tell us as much about the Rangers and how real the team is this year as much as surviving the exhaustion of the schedule last month.  There is a natural inclination to take a deep breath after getting through all of that, but any loss of focus this month and all the work will have been for nothing.  You can see full thoughts on why December is so important, what it will take to consider the team legit and more here.

Alex Frolov: Gift Wrapping-Around His Ticket Out?

During the preseason the Rangers looked like they were getting a steal in the Frolov move as he showed good skill and strength in him game along with some chemistry with Marian Gaborik.  Fast forward two months and today’s discussion is not about Frolov contributing consistent scoring or threat as a secondary forward but now that he is on the fourth line and if he might be a candidate to be benched in the near term when the Rangers get their pieces back.  Over his last nine games Frolov has one point and in two of the last three has failed to even see 10 minutes of ice time.  With the improved play of Sean Avery and Erik Christensen over the past few games the other likely scratches when reinforcements (Chris Drury, Vinny Prospal) arrive back it appears that Frolov is now at the top of that press box credentials list.  Let us look back and what the expectations for Frolov were and how his tenure is eerily similar to a combination of  Rangers of just a year ago and wonder if instead of just being out of the lineup he should be out of the organization.

Video: Frolov Finally Scores On 1000th Wrap-Around Try Of Season

No the video is not a compilation of all the failed attempts as that would take forever to do and be utterly depressing, but let us look at the one that did work and know because it did MANY more tries are on the menu.

Practice News: Stepan Gets His Mile High Chance Against Avs - Will Center Frolov Gaborik

As I speculated would be the case in the pregame thoughts all Rangers beat writers are reporting that in today’s practice drills Derek Stepan is working with Alexander Frolov and Marian Gaborik which means tonight is the night he gets his shot to be the top line guy for a full night, which will be the first time in the regular season.  This is a huge opportunity for the 20 year old rookie from Hastings Minnesota and if he can grasp it by the neck it will be great not just for him and the Rangers this season, but bode extremely well for the future of this franchise.  I am not expecting him to go out and get a hat-trick like he did against the Sabres in his debut or any sort of 3 point night every night, I just want to see Stepan play his game which involves some fore-checking, physical play and use his tremendous vision to create chances for the tremendous talent he is going to be surrounded by.  Tonight might be Stepan’s chance at a mile high in altitude, but if he succeeds the Rangers and their fans will be on cloud nine.

Other news:

D Pairs:

Staal-Eminger

MDZ-Girardi

Gilroy-Sauer

Lundqvist in net

How excited are you to see what happens?  Leave it in the comments.

Daily Recap: Gaborik Hat-trick; Frolov Alive; Brawl at MSG; McIlrath Hurt; Byers Return

Today was a good day on the professional level for the New York Rangers as the big club struck a match against the Oilers in the 8-2 win.  From 12:30 on the news for the Rangers and their fans has been mostly of the very good variety, but let us take a look back at the full day that was for us here at Bleeding All Blue.

Gaborik Primary: Which Candidates Should Get First Chance To Be "Running-Mates"

Being that Gaborik is officially said to be playing tomorrow versus Buffalo at the Garden it is time to take a look at who will and maybe more importantly who should get the job of being his line-mates.  In the buildup to his comeback it has been all but assumed that Frolov would be his left wing and that the only debate to have was about the center with two consistent names in the conversation; Derek Stepan and Erik Christensen.  Since I prefer a little out of the box thinking I will try some on the topic and see what develops.  In doing so I will take some political background and mesh it with this current race to be the running-mates for Gaborik.

Rangers Upcoming Roster/Line Decisions Up Front: Depth is a Good Thing

With the preseason injuries to Captain Chris Drury and Assistant Captain Vinny Prospal the New York Rangers were able to skate on making some tough decisions when it comes to their roster for this season.  We have a good sense of which 14 forwards they will carry for the season, as the assumption is when Drury comes back for Friday the Roster move will be to send Todd White to Hartford, but they could always send Tim Kennedy instead.  I dont see any value for White, but Kennedy could get some use in Hartford if he isn't going to do anything but sit here.  What is less clear is what impact the return of Chris Drury will have on the lineup that we have seen for the first two games both in terms of who will be scratched instead of dressed and deeper what the line combinations will look like.  The minor injury to Erik Christensen could once again buy the Rangers a little extra time in making those tough decisions, but let us examine what this roster could look like with a healthy Drury and Christensen.

For my thoughts on those potential roster moves and line combinations join me after the jump.

Update: Since writing this last night we have seen Chris Drury practice with the top line, so that could potentially make all I say below irrelevant if he plays well there, but I will post it as it was anyway and re-evaluate if necessary once play happens again and all the forwards are healthy.  Also it was Tim Kennedy who was sent to Hartford as I speculated was possible even though I still firmly believe there is no purpose for Todd White here.