Cristoval "Boo" Nieves, 2012 draft eligible, showed tremendous skill in scoring a crucial goal in the 5-4 U.S. overtime win over Russia. The 6-foot-3, 2012 draft eligible center managed to split two Russian defenders, dragged the puck through and then found room short side to tuck it in around the goaltender on his backhand. Amazing skill for a 17-year-old his size.
Nieves has been compared by some to Chris Kreider as a somewhat raw product with tremendous size and skills. Be interesting to see how well he plays in his draft year and if he can get into the first round the way Kreider did. Plays like this will certainly help his cause.
h/t to Neate Sager of Buzzing the Net
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Is Brad Richards Tortorella's First Choice For Rangers Captain?
There has been much speculation about
who the New York Rangers will choose as the 27th captain in the history of the
franchise. Andrew Gross at the Bergen
Record discussed how Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal and Brad Richards are the
main candidates for the job. The
difference in the assessment Gross makes to the assumption that most have is
that he believes Richards may have the inside track to wearing the ‘C’ instead
of Callahan.
Gross believes that Callahan’s
deal being shorter than both the ones Staal and Richards signed hurts him in
the running for the captaincy. There is
also some reading between the lines based on what coach John Tortorella said
about the position right before free agency began.
Tortorella was asked June 30 — two days before the team signed Richards — about his selection process for the new captain. "I think those decisions will come about come camp," Tortorella said. "We'll have our talks, we'll see. Maybe our team changes even more this summer, along the way."That last sentence could be interpreted as a vote in Richards' favor.
This could be a case where Gross is reading too much
into things, or he could be right on the money with where Tortorella is
thinking about going with the decision.
It is not a stretch to think that Tortorella would give the leadership of
this club to a player who wore an ‘A’ for him in Tampa Bay and helped win him a
Stanley Cup with a Conn Smythe performance.
That doesn’t mean it would be the right move for Richards or the team.
Giving Richards the captaincy could send the wrong
message to the young core that has been so talked about by Tortorella and the
coaching staff as being foundational to the organization in the future. This would be a scenario where a player who
has come up through the organization and done everything that has been asked of
him is ready to assume the leadership of the team and is passed over for
someone yet to wear the ‘C’ in his career or the Rangers sweater.
The level of scrutiny that comes with the captaincy
would be yet another level of pressure for Richards to live up to and would clearly
put the burden of the how the team fares on his shoulders, as if it wasn’t already. I still believe Callahan will get it, not
simply because it is what the fans want, but because he epitomizes what
Tortorella says he wants this team to be, but discounting Richards in the race
for the captaincy would be a mistake.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Rangers Sign D Brendan Bell
This afternoon the New York Rangers announced that they signed defenseman Brendan Bell to a contract. Bell, 28, has not played in the NHL since the 2008-09 season with the Ottawa Senators and spent last season in the Swiss Elite League. Bell comes in at 6’ 1” 205lb and has the physical size and strength to his advantage, but his skating is very weak and he is a depth type move for the AHL with Mikhail Pashnin staying in Russia and not a legitimate threat to the NHL roster.
The numbers on defense are getting pretty crowded, so there is always the possibility of a trade down the road, but likely won't happen unless Sather gets exactly what he wants in return.
Pashin Turned Down Rangers Over Two-Way Contract
According to Dmitry
Chesnokov the reason that Mikhail Pashnin turned down the Rangers and
signed a two-year deal to stay at CSKA Moscow was over not wanting a two-way
contract. This does mean in some
respects that it was about money because the real difference between a two-way
and a one-way deal is not a guaranteed spot in the NHL, rather the money they
get. On a one-way deal he would get the
same salary regardless of whether he made the NHL club or spent the year in the
AHL. On a two-way he would have to make
the Rangers in order to get paid the NHL salary or take significantly less in
the AHL. While some see this as Pashnin
demanding a guaranteed spot, to me this says more about him not believing he
could earn a spot on the NHL club on merit to get the money.
Pashnin went further to knock the AHL in arguing that he
could not grow his game there. Ryan
McDonagh, Dan Girardi and Michael Sauer are prime examples of young defenders
who grew in the AHL and are now regulars in the NHL, so that excuse just doesn’t
fly.
Which Current Contract Is The Best Value For The Rangers?
The New York Rangers work as a franchise in not only signing
key components of their young core to long-term contracts, but contracts that
are of great value in the salary cap era has set the team up to contend for
multiple seasons. The contracts given to
Marc Staal and Dan Girardi last summer along with those given to Brandon
Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan this summer are ones that have taken four critical components
to what the Rangers want to be and signed them to deals that are excellent
values. The value of each deal,
especially those of Staal and Girardi only look better this year based on their
respective 2010-11 campaigns and the overpayments made to defensemen around the
league this summer. In addition to those
deals, New York locked down Michael Sauer, Artem Anisimov and Brian Boyle this
summer to multi-year contracts. The
question is which contract on the Rangers roster, excluding entry-level
contracts, is the best value?
Monday, August 8, 2011
Mikhail Pashnin Staying in KHL, Re-Signs With CSKA Moscow
According to Laurie Carr of Beyond
The Blueshirts Mikhail Pashnin has signed a two-year extension with CSKA
Moscow of the KHL. This is somewhat
surprising given the certainty of reports a few weeks ago that Pashnin was coming
to North America to pursue the NHL, but with reports late last week that he was
leaving his options open, the fact he is staying in Russia is not shocking.
While Pashnin had an outside shot to make the Rangers this
season, he was likely ticketed for the Connecticut Whale of the AHL. It is possible that Pashnin used the
possibility of coming to North America as a way to leverage CSKA into giving
him more money to stay, which is certainly well within his rights. Now that Pashnin is staying in Russia for two
years, unless there is an NHL out clause, it is uncertain what Pashnin’s place
in the Rangers organization with other defensive prospects Dylan McIlrath,
Pavel Valentenko and Tomas Kundratek as NHL hopefuls in the coming few years.
Video: New York Rangers 2011-12 Season Promo
As if anyone needed more reason to look forward to the 2011-12 New York Rangers season there is a phenomenal promo package featuring great highlights from last season.
Rangers' Prospect Thomas, Miller, McColgan All Playing Well In WJC Evaluation Camps
Over the weekend all three New York Rangers prospects
participating in evaluation camps had success in their scrimmages. On Saturday Christian Thomas scored a goal
and yesterday during Team USA camp J.T. Miller and Shane McColgan played big
roles in a White team victory. USA
hockey tweeted
that Miller had two goals in the game while McColgan scored the lone shootout
goal of the game.
The expectations for Thomas and Miller were that both would
have good camps and they appear to be doing just that in hopes of securing a
spot on the Team Canada and Team USA respective WJC rosters. McColgan playing well is a bonus and shows
why many feel he can end up being a great value selection for New York in the
fifth round of the 2011 draft.
The depth of the Rangers system is quite impressive when you
think about Thomas, Miller, McColgan in addition to Kreider, McIlrath, Hagelin
and Tim Erixon. To have a system that
deep and having high end potential only furthers the enthusiasm for the
organization in the future. The organization
has made moves this summer to give the team a better chance to win now, while
only continuing to add to the depth that can help the team in the future. The fact that they have balanced the desire
to win now without sacrificing anything significant from the future is the most
impressive aspect of what Glen Sather and company have done this summer.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
NHL Reserving Judgment On Avery Sanctions; Embarrassment To Himself, Rangers Clear
Larry
Brooks of the New
York Post writes that NHL Deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL is reserving
judgment on the situation until it is resolved, but that the league is
monitoring the situation. Brooks adds
that the NHL other than in drug-related cases has rarely imposed a suspension
for acts that occur off the ice, including in 2000 when Ed Belfour assaulted a
police officer and Dany Heatley in 2003 when he plead guilty to four
misdemeanor charges that resulted from the car crash that killed Dan Snyder.
In
terms of his standing with the Rangers, Brooks believes that this will have no
impact because it will be completely based on whether he can be an effective
producer for the club. In some respects
I agree with him because if he can produce they will likely look past this and
while not defending the incident itself, find a place for him on the team. However, if the decision on the roster is
close, this incident only furthers Avery’s chances of being demoted to the
minors.
The
punishment Avery is going to take most from this is not from the NHL, but the embarrassment
that Avery has brought to himself for the incident and how it allows those who
have painted him as a villain to use this as evidence. Prior to this, regardless of what you think
of Avery as a player and how he goes about his job, Avery had never been in
trouble with the law. The other area of
this is that the image of Avery had turned to some extent post rehabilitation,
but that disappears now as well. Now he
has been and in a way that embarrasses him, and the New York Rangers.
The biggest loser in
this are those causes which Avery does want to use his celebrity to champion as
he did in the past year with marriage equality in New York. The diminishing of that stature, even if it
ends up being a non-criminal matter could end up being the harshest punishment
for Avery and all those he wanted to support.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)