Posts tagged ‘Trades’

The NHL trade deadline is less then a week away and Larry Brooks of the NY Post says that the Rangers may be on the cusp of a couple of deals.

According to Brooks, the Rangers are making a strong push to aquire PP Quarterback Dan Boyle from the Tampa Bay Lightning.  He also says that Glen Sather and Co., is in talks with St. Louis to acquire Broadway regular Martin Rucinsky in exchange for (brace yourself) Marek Malik.

When it comes to Dan Boyle, I think he’s exactly the type of player that the Rangers need.  The question is: what’s the price?  I’m not willing to part with any big-time prospects (i.e. Dubi, Dawes, Callahan, Sauer, Sanguinetti, etc.) to make the deal.  However, I wouldn’t mind including someone like Greg Moore.  Where this situation becomes interesting is when it comes to Al Montoya.  Clearly never going to see the light of day in a Rangers uniform, it may be time to finally deal the former 1st round pick.  Tampa is certainly a team in need of goaltending help, so it’s not a stretch to see Montoya becoming a key part of the deal.  I know some of you may question whether Dan Boyle is enough of a return for as big a chip as Montoya.  However, Montoya is floundering down in Hartford and his stock is dropping by the day.  It may be time to cut ties while he still has the value that he does.  If Montoya is included in a deal, I’d make a provision that the Rangers have to sign Boyle to a contract extension.  If they’re only getting a rental in Boyle then its no dice.

As for the deal with the Blues, I think it’s the perfect team with which unload Malik.  John Davidson saw #8 every day during his first season with the Rangers (his best season by far as a Blueshirt).  With that memory in mind, the Rangers may be able to get more for Malik than if they were to trade him anywhere else.  Brooks is reporting that the Rangers would be asking for Rucinsky and a defenseman in return.  When it comes to Rucinsky, I just don’t see where he plays on this team.  Assuming that Dawes, Prucha, and Callahan stay put, there’s just no place on this team for the former Ranger.  Unless the Rangers plan on sitting him, it means that the 36-year-old will be taking the spot of one of those three youngsters.  If that’s the case, then it’s a travesty and will be a terrible move.  Rucinsky is not the player he used to be (4 G, 10 A on the season) and the youngsters on the Rangers right now are the most consistent players they have.  As for the defensemen involved in the deal, Barrett Jackman would look good on Broadway.  He’s that big, punishing defenseman that the Rangers sorely miss and would be a big help in the playoffs when those physical D-men are crucial.

So here we go.  T-minus 5 days until the deadline.  I would be shocked if this Rangers team looks the same as it does right now by Tuesday night.

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In other news, Brooks is also reporting that Sean Avery and Glen Sather have made some headway on contract negotiations.  They’re discussing both a one-year bridge and a new multi-year contract.  If I’m Sather, I try and lock him up for a couple of years at a discounted price while I can.  Avery hasn’t had the type of year that gives him a lot of leverage.  To lock him up for 3-4 years in the $2.5-$2.8 million range could turn out to be a steal a couple of years down the road.

So Jaromir Jagr isn’t having the greatest season of his career. Okay, okay, I know! I should really say, Jaromir Jagr is having the worst season of his career and is on pace to score only 18 goals, which is a little more than half the total he scored in 1994-95. For those of you that don’t recall, the ‘94-’95 season was only 48 games long!

So, the question now is what to do? It looks like the Rangers solution may be to trade the captain.

In the past couple of days, rumors have started swirling about the Blueshirts looking to move Jagr. Yesterday, the Ottawa Sun pointed to Detroit as a possible destination and today a rumor on bleacherreport.com has #68 going to Phoenix in a blockbuster of Jagr, Rozsival, and Prucha for Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski.

Now, I’m not one who buys into rumors all that much, but I’m also a big believer in the theory of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and there are at least some definite fumes here.

I, for one, am not in favor of trading the big guy and am certainly against the supposed deal with the Coyotes. Jags went through a similar stretch last year (although not this bad) and eventually pulled out of it, becoming lethal during the stretch run.
Should he be the captain of this team? Well that’s a different story. Should he be back next year? Maybe not. But the fact remains that this team will only go as far as Jagr takes them.