Trade: Rangers Acquire Oscar Lindberg From Coyotes for Ethan Werek

The New York Rangers and the Phoenix Coyotes have made yet another trade with one another.  This time the deal is a prospect for prospect swap with New York sending 2009 second round pick Ethan Werek to the Coyotes in exchange for 2010 second round forward Oscar Lindberg.

At this point Werek looks like the more offensive of the two prospects.  This season he recorded 24 goals and 28 assists for 52 points in 47 games played with the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL this season.  The problem for Werek has been injuries as he has had various injuries in his two seasons since being drafted which made making the decision on signing him more difficult.  Seeing as how the Rangers had to sign him this summer or lose his rights they decided to move him for another prospect who would not require that decision this summer or a contract against the 50 contract limit next year.

Lindberg, 19, played 41 games for Skelleftea HC, in the Swedish Elite League (SEL) this season, scoring five goals with nine assists.  Lindberg is considered a very good defensive forward who is excellent on faceoffs, but has developing offensive skills.  To speak to his faceoff skills he was tops in the SEL at 69.6% this season.  He can be left over in Sweden to develop next year or be brought over to develop here, but the flexibility is very appealing.

Here is eliteprospects.com's profile of Lindberg:

A very smart two-way center. Takes care of his defensive responsibilities, but also contributes offensively with good speed, technical skills and playmaking ability. Not an overly physical player, but he gets involved. Pretty good shot, but not a natural scorer. A team player who is good at face-offs.

Lindberg also participated in the IIHF World Juniors tournament for Sweden this year and despite playing a third line center role was tied for the team lead with when he had four points in six games played.

Rumor: Rangers Intersted In Goalie Viktor Fasth?

One of the few things considered a need, at least at the NHL level, for the New York Rangers this offseason is goaltending.  Having perennial Vezina contender Henrik Lundqvist installed as the starter and backbone of the team along with excellent backup Martin Biron there is little need to look for a goalie.  However, things are murkier beyond the NHL level.  To add to the confusion, according to a Swedish website, the New York Rangers are among five teams interesting in signing Viktor Fasth. 

Fasth is the 28-year-old Swedish goaltender who many saw play against Team USA in the World Championships.  This past season while playing for AIK in the Swedish Elite League (SEL) Fasth won the Honken Trophy as the best goaltender in the league.  The SEL is widely considered the second best league in the world behind the NHL. 

Fasth would be added to recently signed Jason Missiaen along with Chad Johnson, Cam Talbot, Dov Grumet-Morris and potentially Scott Stacjer.  Chad Johnson is a restricted free agent this summer and while he showed potential in his first year in the organization both at the AHL level and as a potential NHL backup he lost his job this season to both Cam Talbot and free agent Grumet-Morris.  Johnson is definitely a candidate to move on this summer. 

Talbot is under contract for next season so he will definitely still be around with the Whale while Grumet-Morris is another goalie they will have to make a decision on.  He came to the Whale this year on a try-out and by the time the season was over he was the playoff goalie. 

If the Rangers are seriously considering Fasth it would likely be for the AHL next season with an eye to making him the backup for Lundqvist after next season if Biron moves along.

Hat-tip to Blue Line Station for finding this story.

Chris Kreider Doesn't Think He Is NHL Ready Yet

Chris Kreider has been pretty clear that he wants to be an impact player when he comes into the NHL and not just another player on the ice.  At times during the 2011 IIHF World Championships Kreider has looked like he could be that player as soon as this coming season.  The problem is that has been against the lesser competition and against the NHL caliber players he has struggled.  The Rangers are still trying to convince Kreider to sign this summer, but according to Arthur Staple of Newsday Kreider seems set on going back to Boston College.

"I don't feel like I'm ready for the NHL," the Rangers' 2009 first-round draft pick told Newsday by phone from Kosice, Slovakia, where he's playing for the U.S. team in the World Championships. "Another year [at Boston College] can't hurt."

Kreider thinks what's best for him is to stay put. "The view I take is, if I'm there, I need to be ready and feel confident in my game," he said. "Whether it's trying to make the team out of camp or being the next guy called up from the minors, I have to be ready or they'll just go with someone else. I don't feel I'm there yet."

It is certainly possible that Kreider could make the adjustment from college to the pro level as smoothly as Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh did this year, but both Stepan and McDonagh showed more consistency in college than Kreider has to this point.  It is very encouraging to see Kreider want to be that kind of impact player and not, at least to this point, be swayed by the amount of money he could make as a professional.  Another year at Boston College is likely the best thing for him so he can dominate at that level before moving on to the professional ranks.

2010-11 Rangers Player Review: Marian Gaborik

Following a career year in his first season with the Rangers, Marian Gaborik declined heavily in his second year with New York.  After lighting up Broadway with 42 goals in the 76 games of his initial campaign he would only find the twine 22 times in 62 games during the 2010-11 season.  What made the struggles of Gaborik worse this year is that the secondary players on the Rangers stepped up in ways they did not the year before and a similar performance from him would have seen the team rise to potential contender status.  After getting a pass for much of the first half of the season because of his shoulder injury and 2009-10 season, the fans began to turn on Gaborik during the second half and were all over him down the stretch and during the playoffs.

 

It might not be fair to claim that the injury bug came back for Gaborik this season just because he missed 20 games, but between a separated shoulder (12 games), concussion (6 games), flu (1 game), groin (1 game) the Rangers were without their biggest offensive threat for one-quarter of the season.  Of those injuries the only one that could be conceivably be blamed for his drop in production would be the shoulder.  Players return from shoulder injuries with regularity, but this injury was the first one that Gaborik had to this portion of his body and I do believe that he rushed himself back.  In his play he was tentative to take a hit along the wall and avoided contact at different points in front of the net.  There was also some difference in the quality of his tremendous wrist shot.  So while the shoulder only officially had him out 12 games, the amount of time he spent ineffectively trying to play through that and his concussion was just as significant.  

Let us take a look at the breakdown of Gaborik's numbers by month.

Month	Games Played	G	A	Shots
October	3	0	2	6
November	10	5	4	30
December	11	5	5	34
January	14	6	4	46
February	9	1	6	25
March	11	5	2	35
April	4	0	3	16

Gaborik's overall numbers were inflated by a series of huge games, but that is not unusual for the highest point producers in the league.  The difference is the lack of consistency for Gaborik in putting up numbers, especially goals this season.  As one of the leagues best snipers to have him go through three different stretches of at least seven games with no goals.

The most consistent thing for Gaborik this season was his lack of consistent linemates.  He had games this year where he would click with a new set of partners and then lose it again as there was no sustainable chemistry for Gaborik to find as he had in year one with Prospal and Christensen.  The lack of a true number one center is certainly a valid criticism of the organization, but that is not an excuse for the decline Gaborik had this year because he has produced without a true top line center in the past.  In addition to that fact, if you are a star you find a way to produce for your team and Gaborik simply did not do that enough this year.

The reality is Gaborik made himself easy to defend by not being aggressive and using his skating enough.  When Gaborik skates he puts pressure on the opposing defense and gets many of his “vulture” goals in the slot instead of hanging on the outside.  He got back to skating more towards the end of the season, but still was not finishing.  The fact he was skating again made him more impactful for the team because his threat level increased even without the production going with it.  While that is somewhat comforting on the surface and to look forward to next year, at $7.5 million dollars, Gaborik is paid to score.  Next year he will have to get more than 22 goals or those that started to turn on him this year will grow louder next year.

 
GRADE: D

Rangers Sign 2009 5th Round Pick Roman Horak

The New York Rangers have agreed to terms with 2009 fifth round pick Roman Horak on an entry level contract.  In 64 games with the Chiliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League (WHL) this season he scored 26 goals and had 52 assists, which were career highs.

Horak is a center who is very good on faceoffs, defensively responsible and very dangerous while shorthanded.  His offense continues to develop and those who initially saw him as a fourth or checking line center are now seeing more offensive upside to his game.  He will compete for a spot next season, but is likely to spend the year in the AHL with the Connecticut Whale.

Stepan Continues To Shine For Team USA Despite 4-3 Loss to Canada

Derek Stepan’s tremendous World Championship continued today with a goal and an assist for Team USA against the more talented Team Canada group.  Stepan was one of the few American players that did not seem to be overmatched by the Canadian talent. 

During the third period, as we saw numerous times during the regular season, Stepan stepped up in the big moment and scored the game tying goal with just 8:43 left in the game.  Canada has been dominating play and just gone from down 2-1 to leading 3-2 with the game seemingly over before Stepan made the big play.  The goal came from a beautiful give-and-go with Blake Wheeler off the right wing wall which ended with Stepan being open in the slot to score the power play goal.  His assist came during the second period on Mike Komisarek’s point shot that gave the USA squad a 1-0 lead in the game.  The assist was his fifth of the tournament. 

Stepan continued to be the best player for Team USA in the tournament and now he has a total of one goal and five assists in the four games.  This kind of performance as the number one center for the national team against this kind of competition is a tremendous boost for Stepan on the heels of his very good rookie season.  With his work ethic look for Stepan to come back even stronger next season.

On the disappointing side Chris Kreider was clearly over-matched today against the NHL talent of the Canadian roster and was used very sparingly the last couple of periods of the game.

Free Agent Preview: Brad Richards Right Move For Rangers?

With the Rangers season over the next few months are spent looking back at how the team and individual players did during the 2010-11 season along with forward to next year.  In looking ahead to next season we go through looking at players on the roster to see who will/should be here and those who won’t/shouldn’t  remain with the organization.  However, for many the part they enjoy most about the offseason is looking forward to July 1 and thinking about which player from another team the Rangers will bring in this year.  There is no doubt or debate about who the top target for the Rangers is this offseason as Brad Richards is the top line center the team has been searching for and the clear cut best player available in an otherwise weak unrestricted free agent forward class.   Now is a good time to take a look at the pros and cons of signing Brad Richards and make a decision about whether he is in the best interest of the Rangers for both the short and long term.

Pros:

Brad Richards instantly becomes the New York Rangers top line center and likely their best offensive player the instant he would put his signature on the contract.  He is one of the best playmakers in the game which he has exhibited by only having one season with less than 40 assists in his 10 year NHL career.  The Rangers leader in assists this season was Brandon Dubinsky with only 30.  Richards playmaking skill would be critical for the Rangers at even strength to get Marian Gaborik going, but just as much on the power play.  Gaborik is a sniper in the true sense of the term in that he is at his best when someone else can do the puck carrying for him and find him in the zone for the finish.  When he has to be the one to carry puck into the zone he tends to drift wide instead of attacking the scoring areas.

On the power play Richards would instantly give the Rangers a credible quarterback to run the man advantage.  The only thing this organization has been hunting for longer than a number one center is a power play quarterback.  It was that hunt that led to Wade Redden signing his atrocious deal and to the rushing of Michael Del Zotto to the NHL.  Del Zotto appeared to be primed to be the answer to the power play quarterback situation and still could be down the line, but is not ready for the role right now.  The other difference between Richards and Del Zotto is that Richards is a dual threat from the point in that he can use his vision and passing ability to find people, but also is willing to fire the shot when he has an opening.  Richards has played the point on the power play for much of his career and has never had a season with less than 19 power play points, while registering 7-22-29 on the man advantage this season.  Gaborik was actually the Rangers leader in power play points with 7-9-16 this year.

Cons:

Many of the cons that concern the move for Brad Richards concern the money and length of his contract given the fact that he is now 31-years-old.  The Rangers have been burned by paying big contracts to players getting up there in years for a long time and are potentially out of the hole of all of them by the end of this summer if Chris Drury is bought out.  Does the organization want to go right back into the trap of paying another aging player huge money for a number of seasons and being right back against the salary cap wall. 

I have no doubt that Richards has at least one or two more years at the level of his last two seasons.  The question becomes what kind of player will he be in the remaining years of whatever deal he signs.  It would be hard for me to believe that unless he is willing to take less money or less term that someone will not at least offer him a contract for five plus seasons this summer given his stature and the dearth of alternatives out there.

Injuries have not really been a concern when it comes to Richards as he played 80+ games in each of his first six seasons, but has played 74, 56, 80, 72 in the last four years.  In the 56 game season the issue was with breaking his hand, so there is not much you can do with that, but having the concussion this past season that cost him 10 games has to be somewhat troublesome going forward.  Concussions are one of those things that once you have one significant enough to miss that much time it is much easier to get another that will not knock you out of action.

How to Make It Work:

Given the Rangers need to give contracts to Dubinsky, Callahan, Anisimov, Boyle, Sauer as restricted free agents and likely Ruslan Fedotenko as their lone unrestricted free agent to return some other money will have to disappear from the cap.  The much discussed buyout of Wojtek Wolski is an easy way to clear 3.3 million from the cap as would buying out Chris Drury.  The buyouts of those two would clear much of the required salary for Richards. 

Final Verdict:

What Richards brings to the Rangers in terms of stature, first line talent, aid for Gaborik and the power play is a compelling case for them to go after him.  It was painfully evident in the first round of the playoffs this year that this team needs more offensive stars if they want to be a legitimate contender down the road.  Richards has not only the ability to be one himself, but also make the other guys around him raise their level.  I would make the move for Richards if you can keep the term length on the deal short as three years is a reasonable length to expect him to still be producing at quality levels.  Anything longer than that and it turns into a Scott Gomez/Chris Drury situation where you are paying for past performance and watching an aging player eat through your cap with declining results.  If Sather can get Richards for 3/22 or less then he should pull the trigger on the deal.  Anything longer in years or higher in dollars is not worth the price despite how good Richards can be and how desperately the Rangers need a number one pivot.