Columbus Signs Vinny Prospal To One Year Deal

When New York re-signed Ruslan Fedotenko and added Mike Rupp during free agency it was obvious that Vinny Prospal was not coming back to the organization next season.  After two years in which Prospal recorded 29 goals and 52 assists in 104 games, is moving on to the Columbus Blue Jackets with a one-year, $1.75 million contract.  The move was announced by Columbus GM Scott Howson through his twitter feed.

This is a great gamble for the Blue Jackets who were looking for a top six type forward to replace the recently injured Kristian Huselius.  The only question about the move is the condition of Prospal’s knee that caused him to miss 53 games last season.  A healthy Prospal will do great things for the Blue Jackets both on and off the ice.  If he plays with Jeff Carter and Rick Nash on the top line his playmaking ability will be extremely helpful to players who both know how to finish with regularity.  He is yet another addition that will help with the Columbus power play that struggled so mightily last season.

Beyond just his skill he will bring great enthusiasm to the club and his experience will be invaluable for a team that is built mainly of players who have not experienced much winning in the league.  New York wishes Vinny good luck and thanks him for all he brought the team these past two seasons.

Which Veteran Should Get Another Year: Ruslan Fedotenko Or Vinny Prospal?

The focus for the New York Rangers this offseason on bringing back their key restricted free agents and added top offensive talent to the foundation this team built last season.  Beyond the contracts for Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Michael Sauer, Brian Boyle and the chase for Brad Richards the Rangers have a very interesting decision to make in regards to two of their unrestricted free agents.  It is likely that the Rangers will only have a spot for either Ruslan Fedotenko or Vinny Prospal, so which one should the Rangers give another year?

The Case for Fedotenko:

Ruslan Fedotenko came to the Rangers last season on a professional tryout looking to catch back on with his former coach John Tortorella.  The move was one of those under the radar moves by Glen Sather that seem to work out better than his flashy ones.  Under the radar is very apt way to describe the season that Fedotenko had for the Blueshirts as well.  He did not light up the scoreboard 10 goals, 15 assists season in 66 games, but that does not mean he was not a critical component to the Rangers this past season.  After starting the season with Sean Avery and Derek Stepan, Fedotenko was put with Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust to form arguably the most consistent lines the Rangers had during the 2010-11 season.  The line was tremendous on both ends of the ice between their ability to slow down the opposition and work the Rangers grinding system in the offensive zone.

The key for Fedotenko was his play away from the puck.  Going largely unrecognized for much of the season for his tremendous work on the forecheck, the contributions of Fedotenko were felt significantly during his absence from a shoulder injury and subsequent appendectomy.   The inability of the team to establish the forecheck game in his absence is what made most take notice of just how impactful he had been for the club.

After returning from the injury he was as impactful away from the puck, but his offense fell off with only one goal and five assists in the final 17 regular season games.  In the playoffs however he showed flashes of offense and was the Rangers most impactful forward during their series against the Capitals.

Case for Prospal:

Prospal has his 2010-11 season marred by a bad knee that caused him to be able to play in 29 games.   On the ice however, Prospal produced at an excellent clip scoring nine goals and having 14 assists in those 29 games.  Over an 82 game season that is an extremely respectable 65 point pace.  There were certainly games where you could see that the knee was an issue for Prospal in the way he was skating, but the veteran knows how to produce and used his experience to make himself effective.

Despite the overall down year from Gaborik, there was still chemistry between Prospal and Gaborik, even if not at the same level as 2009-10 season.  The combination of his veteran presence, leadership, enthusiasm and skill is something that cannot be discounted for a largely young Rangers team that if Chris Drury is bought out would currently have only one forward under contract that is over 30 years of age.  The other huge plus that Prospal has going for him is his versatility.  He has the ability to play on the wing or in the middle which gives John Tortorella and his constant line juggling even more options to play with.

The Decision:

Much of the decision between the two of them comes down to the health of Prospal’s knee and not the final outcome of the Brad Richards chase.  The assumption for many is that if Richards does come that means Wojtek Wolski would get a chance to play with Richards and Marian Gaborik on the top line.  That is an intriguing combination of players and for some would rule out the need for Prospal.  For me the inconsistency of Wolski and the combination of experience and skill Prospal brings makes Prospal valuable not only as insurance for Wolski but in his ability to aid a potential third line with Derek Stepan.  The other thing to factor into this equation is that Sean Avery played very well during the 2010-11 regular season and playoffs when paired with Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust.  If Avery can fill that role Fedotenko had with those two, then the Rangers can take the gamble on the offensive production Prospal could potentially provide on a one year deal.

Are Rangers Asking Too Much of Vinny Prospal?

The soon to be 36-year-old Vinny Prospal, a man who has missed the entire season recovering from a major knee will make his return to the New York Rangers lineup tonight looking to pick up where he was last season.  Prospal was tremendous for New York last season as he finished second on the team with 58 points.   Based on practice the expectation is that he can since Prospal will be thrown right back in there with Marian Gaborik in hopes of rekindling the magic the two shared last season.  Of all the players that have tried to fill the role of Gaborik’s playmaker since he arrived in New York, Prospal has been bay far the most successful.  His absence has been evident in the struggles Marian has had this season.  The number of combinations coach John Tortorella has tried to get Gaborik going to this point is verging on the absurd at this point, so there should be no surprise that when his security blanket is finally ready to play that the coach pulls it out and tries to wrap Gaborik in it.

There is no telling if going to the past will help the Rangers today or in the future, but it was a move that was destined to happen for anyone that really follows how Tortorella operates.  The question for me was never if Vinny would be put with Gaborik, if he got back, but for how long he could remain there and how effective he would be. 

Certain things about Vinny Prospal will go without question.  There is no doubt that Prospal will bring energy, intensity and enthusiasm to the team.  Prospal is a player who while he looks like he would be a flashy type player does the blue collar things that this particular Rangers team is known for.  He is not afraid to work in the corners, is hard on the puck and his vision, passing and wrist short are all very good weapons when he is at the top of his game.

The problem is everything about what he can do this year, not last year or in his career, is unknown.  It is a lot to ask of a guy who has not played in ten months to fix the team’s inconsistent star, who has not meshed with any combination this season for more than a game at a time. 

“I hope he jump-starts me because I’m the one that’s coming back,” Prospal joked after practice. “Obviously we need (Gaborik) to start scoring important goals for us just like he did all of last year. He knows himself that he’s been a little slow in that regard so hopefully (my return) will help. I am going to try everything that is possible to help him, as well.”

Vinny is right on all counts and it should be Gaborik that is getting Prospal going, but unfortunately Marian has been unable to get himself on track this year so the pressure is on Vinny.  It is a lot to ask of a guy who just a few weeks ago openly wondered if he would ever play again to slot in as a top line player on a team that is seeking to make and advance within the playoffs.  It is a lot to ask of a knee that was constantly failing to respond to rehabilitation to jump back in and play the approximately 20 minutes a night that Gaborik plays and expect it to withstand.  Add to that, Prospal will be asked to do all of those things while wearing a knee brace for the first time in his career.  Tonight and going forward we will find out if it is too much to ask.

Prospal To Get "A" Back From Staal Upon Return?

Last Night Adam Rotter of SNYRangersblog tweeted that while he was on the New York Rangers website he noticed that Vinny Prospal had an “A” next to his name, while Marc Staal did not.  Adam in his story this morning said he was unsure if the “A” was ever listed next to Staal on the website, but assumes that it likely was over the course of the last few months.

When Marc Staal was named as a temporary captain on October 18^th in Vinny Prospal’s place the belief behind it was that Prospal would be back in shorter order than it has turned out to be the case.  In the interim Marc Staal has turned into a leader of the young defensive core who has advanced his game beyond just a tremendous shutdown defender to be a legitimate Norris Trophy candidate this season.

Vinny Prospal is an excellent leader, an established veteran with lots of experience and brings tremendous enthusiasm to the club, but this team has been about the transformation from the ways of veterans to building around the young core.  While “just a letter,” this is the kind of thing that makes a huge statement to the club about having that youth remain in the leadership positions they have taken on all year.

Either way should be an interesting scenario.

Vinny Prospal Finished?

At tonight’s Rangers’ fan forum event at MSG for season ticket holders per Scotty Hockey Vinny Prospal told the crowd that he is unsure if he will ever play again. 

Obviously he did not say that he is done for sure or anything along those lines, but the idea that he might not come back should not be shocking given the struggles Vinny has had in rehabbing his injured knee.  The loss of Prospal for the season if it does eventually happen would be a hard blow for the Rangers, but one has to figure they have been counting on a return from last season’s second leading scorer less and less as the season has progressed.  I took the trade for Wojtek Wolski last week as a sign that Vinny was unlikely to make it back this year and they were looking for a new player to spark Marian Gaborik.  Obviously regardless of Prospal in the equation you take the trade of Rozsival for Wolski, but I would surmise that it played a factor in the move.

Let’s hope that Vinny gets back, but know that this team is where it is right now without him having hit the ice this year, so they can continue without him if the need arises.

Practice News: More New Lines; MDZ to Sit?; Prospal Skates; Boogaard Headaches

The New York Rangers had practice today so it should go without saying that there was yet another combination of lines on display in another effort to get Marian Gaborik going.  The third line is the only that remained the same and the groupings looked like this:

Brandon Dubinsky-Derek Stepan-Marian Gaborik
Alex Frolov-Artem Anisimov-Chris Drury
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Sean Avery-Erik Christensen-Todd White

Personally I would swap Anisimov and Stepan since Artie has played better with Dubinsky and Stepan showed very good chemistry with Drury and Frolov in their lone period together as a line.  Interesting to see that Christensen after playing a pretty involved game against, for him, the Flyers would be dropped back to the fourth line but I would guess that is more about moving Drury back up than anything.

No announcements were made concerning the lineup for Thursday but in not squashing it out of hand Torts may have made some news seeing as how he did not definitively say that Michael Del Zotto would be in.  Per Andrew Gross Torts was asked specifically about Del Zotto and refused to commit.  I do not see them benching him again so quickly even if Saturday’s performance might otherwise warrant the move.  I could Eminger getting a game off with the dip in his play if the coaches want to get Gilroy back in.

Prospal:

Vinny Prospal who has been out all year with knee issues participated in practice today wearing one of those lovely orange non-contact jerseys.  He was able to do all the drills including the hard conditioning ones at the end of the day, but is still not expected back for about another month.

Boogaard:

Derek Boogaard who has been out of action for the last five games with what was originally called a re-aggravation of his right shoulder issue now is said to be having concussion like symptoms such as headaches and has been shut down until those subside.

Biron Starting; Callahan out longer?; No Call-Ups For Time Being; Prospal mid-January?

In tonight’s pregame chat with the media a series of different news worthy items have come out concerning tonight’s starting goalie, the re-evaluation of Ryan Callahan’s injury; a timetable on Vinny Prospal and when or if a call-up from Connecticut will happen.

First the easy one is that Biron will start tonight against the Phoenix Coyotes which is something I thought might happen because Biron needs to get back in there after being pasted two weeks ago and eventually pulled against the Islanders.  This move gives Lundqvist an extra day off before playing the Flyers on Saturday and then a nice break until they play Tampa next Wednesday.

Callahan and Call-ups:

As for the Ryan Callahan situation the initial reports of missing six weeks are now being tempered somewhat by saying 6-8 weeks on the injury.  The good news is that there is no surgery required for his busted left hand.  Obviously every extra day/game that Callahan is out will be critical to the Rangers, but in the meantime they will have to find a way to persevere in his absence. 

Along those lines while I did not expect a call-up from Connecticut before tonight’s game I did expect one next week when the schedule starts going again but according to Andrew Gross coach John Tortorella does not think anyone from the AHL club is ready right now and they will consider call-ups when the schedule gets more compacted in January.  Obviously this is good news for Todd White who is likely to be in the lineup every night at least until Derek Boogaard comes back.  Personally I do not understand the move because a player like Dale Weise is ready to step in on a fourth line role at the NHL level and has more upside than White does.

Prospal:

Also according to Andrew Gross, in this tweet, the timetable on Prospal which had been speculated about as potentially for New Year’s is now looking more like mid-January which only further confuses me in terms of the call-up situation.

Daily Recap: Rangers Win Ugly; MDZ Scratched; Carkner Blood Incident; Drury Prospal On Mend, Good Thing?

After having the last three days off following a disappointing effort and result against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday the Rangers returned to the ice today against the same foe.  The game was not much prettier than the last go round, but the result was certainly better as the Rangers got a much needed two points by virtue of the win. Sauer Atones For Early Mistake With Game Winner To Lead Rangers to Ugly Win discusses the game in its entirety from the key plays to the best players and even the bonehead ones that nearly cost the Rangers the W.  Good gritty win for the team in a game that really the fitting result would have been a loss for each based on quality.

From during the game there is Video: Boogaard vs Carkner fight in which both guys landed some punches but Carkner landed the best one and possibly broke Boogey’s nose.  More importantly than the fight itself was the disgraceful act committed by Matt Carkner after the fight when at the very least he simulated flicking blood at the New York Rangers bench. Video: Carkner Flicks Blood At Rangers Bench? Suspension Coming? has a clip of what Carkner did and while it is unclear if there was actual flicking of blood or if it ever reached the bench it does not make the act itself any less reprehensible.  I fully expect a suspension of at least the two games handed out earlier this year for the simulated sex act by James Wisniewski against the Rangers and Sean Avery.

In terms of news before the game the big news concerned the Rangers lineup both for tonight and for the future in terms of returning players from injury Rangers Lineup News: Michael Del Zotto Healthy Scratch; Gilroy In; Prospal and Drury Updates detailed the Rangers deciding to finally allow struggling second year defender Michael Del Zotto to sit and watch for the game to see if that approach would help him fix some of his struggles.  In his place Matt Gilroy got back into the lineup.  Also there were updates on what exactly Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal are able to do right now and when they might be able to return to the lineup.  Check it out to see my thoughts on the Del Zotto move and those updates.

Speaking of Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal this morning I took a look at the following question: Are the Rangers A Better Team Without Drury and Prospal? The question itself has a number of important angles in terms of talent on the club but also the roles each player has carved out and how the returns might change the way some players have been to this point in the season.

Rangers Lineup News: Michael Del Zotto Healthy Scratch; Gilroy In; Lundqvist Start; Prospal and Drury Updates

According to Andrew Gross it has finally happened, Michael Del Zotto has finally been given a game in the press box.  I have written extensively about the Del Zotto struggles and had many different ideas on what to do to with him during these struggle and as recently as last week was calling for this to happen.  Honestly even though I believed it deserved to happen it is still slightly shocking to see Torts actually pull the trigger on the move considering he never even attempted moving him down within the lineup of late.  It will be good for MDZ to watch for at least a game also gives him basically a full week off to have practice, watch tape and see what he can do better since I would expect he gets back in there on Saturday or Sunday.

In place of MDZ will be Matt Gilroy who was playing solid hockey in the absence of Michal Rozsival before immediately being put back in the press box upon Rozi's return.  Expect Gilroy to be paired with Sauer on the third pair while Eminger will move up to the top four and play with either Girardi or Rozsival.

In other news Lundqvist is confirmed as tonight's starter so there goes my idea of getting Biron back in there real quick, though maybe with Columbus struggling some of late Biron still might go Saturday.

Finally in the good news department on injuries Vinny Prospal who has been out the whole year with his right knee injury took part in team skate in full equipment for the first time and Tortorella says that he expects him to be back after Christmas.  This comes a day after Chris Drury took part in a full practice yesterday and is scheduled to have the finger re-examined this Sunday.  Guess I picked a good time to ask if the Rangers were better team without Drury and Propsal on the day they both make more strides to coming back.

Are the Rangers A Better Team Without Drury and Prospal?

As the New York Rangers take the ice tonight in Ottawa for their 30^th game of the season they will do so once again without what were considered to be two key components to their team in Captain Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal.  The two have combined to appear in one game and play 9:11 of the season to this point.  If you had told Rangers fans that in basically 29 games without these two and 13 without Gaborik the team would be 16-12-1 coming into action this evening I think most would have signed up for it with no hesitation.  With those two on the mend many are expecting the Rangers to only get better and many are speculating on the decisions the team will have to make in terms of the roster when they return.  Today I want to focus instead on the flip side which is in light of the record and the identity the team has formed to this point are the Rangers better off without Drury and Prospal?

Rangers Injury News: Drury Shooting For Return In A Week; Prospal Skating Again

There is some new information on two veteran Rangers who have missed virtually the entire season so far, Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal.  Drury has been out since October 15^th with the saga of his broken finger, but not for the first time he is skating with a stick again.  As was mentioned during last night’s telecast against the Islanders the Captain is able to pass, but not shoot right now.

The quote from coach Tortorella can be found in Larry Brooks column this morning, where the following was said:

"Chris can pass but he can't shoot," John Tortorella said Friday of the captain, who has been skating for a few weeks but only recently received permission to grip a stick. "He's getting better ... if he doesn't shoot himself [out of frustration].

This is certainly a step forward for Drury who I have been critical of recently for the amount of time this recovery has taken since yesterday was 7 week since the injury.  The timetable was said to be as little as a week to maybe 10 days before he could be back in the lineup which would coincide nicely with the tough stretch of games the Rangers will have against very good teams.

If that was not enough good news on the Drury front the word out of practice this morning was that for the first time he was out there with the team, though not in line drills.  During the course of practice however Drury did take some shots while the team was doing odd man rushes.  The fact that he is testing the shot should bode well for Drury and his return as long as he is not doing it because he is tired of sitting and thus risking re-re-injury. 

As far as Prospal goes this was the first report that I had come across that had him on skates.  The quote from Brooks same article:

"Vinny, he's been skating a bit, no equipment, just sweats, but the process is moving forward. I spoke to [trainer Jim Ramsay] after practice a couple of days ago and Rammer is really encouraged.

It is great news to hear that Vinny is back on skates even if it is with no equipment because it is a huge step towards his return.  There was no timetable on a Prospal return and given that he still has no equipment let alone no practice you have to figure seeing Vinny before the end of the calendar year is probably a long shot, but this is another step in the right direction.

Quick Update on Drury: Chris did not speak to the media after practice but Tortorella said he thinks it will still be "weeks" as in plural before he is back which certainly sounds longer than what Brooks suggested.  We shall see as the finger saga continues.