Food For Thought

After what has been a very interesting and entertaining playoffs involving Ranger prospects we get a chance to catch our breath before the Memorial Cup begins. It gives us a chance to take a look at the hockey world and sadly it seems the thought patterns of those with idea about changes to the Rangers.

The 2009 Entry Draft

People who either do not follow the Rangers or just do not pay attention to Ranger needs think they can guess what the Rangers do. In most cases they fail badly and have the Rangers drafting players who would not improve the team.

Just about every Ranger fan would agree that the primary need is going to be a scoring winger with size. A winger who has some grit to his game and a willingness to get his hands dirty in order to get the job done.

They do not need any more 5'11 forwards or offensive minded defensemen who's best skill is that they can skate. It has been very interesting to see all these places who say the Rangers will be selecting Louis Leblanc of Omaha in the USHL or John Moore of Chicago in the USHL.

Both are talented players but do not fit what the Rangers under Tortorella are going to be trying to accomplish. The Rangers unless the Ducks advance to the Western Conference finals will pick 19th and that is going to be a bad spot for the Rangers.

Forget Zach Kassian as while we will be the first to tell you he would be the perfect pick, Kassian will be long gone by the time the Rangers pick at 19. Our second choice Carter Ashton we pretty much now know that he too will be gone as his stock is rising as we speak.

That will leave Chris Kreider who is going to attend Boston College in 2010 or a Drew Shore reportedly headed to Denver University next year as the top choices. The bad news is that neither are worthy of going at 19 but later in the first round.

Drew Shore would be a very interesting choice given that his CHL rights belong to the Chilliwack Bruins who Glen Sather just so happens to own a piece of. Shore has repeatedly said he was going to attend Denver and is not interested in the WHL.

That might change when Shore starts to fall out of the first round when teams do not want to wait 4 years for him. The smart Ranger fan is seeing where we are going here which is that the Rangers need to seriously consider looking to drop down in the first round and pick up at least an extra 2nd round pick.

Save Your Money

We wanted to repeat something we said before; all those sites that say that they can give you the best draft coverage for a price pass on them. There are a ton of places where you can get just about the same information for nothing.

TSN will have free coverage, the NHL website will offer you free coverage, we will offer you free coverage and so will many others. If you are going to spend money then we do suggest that McKeens or Red Line Report are places that will give you your money's worth.

Playing GM

It is almost an annual game as people will spend the entire season complaining about the moves made by the Rangers but as soon as the season is over will suggest moves that are equally as bad or worse than what Glen Sather has done.

It is beyond comical that people think that other NHL GMs are going to do Glen Sather any favors and rescue him from his own mistakes. Even Sather's own buddy Brian Burke crowed about getting a 2nd round pick for Antropov when he was not worth it.

So if I am an NHL GM then why in the world would I want to take Scott Gomez off your hands after the season he just had? Why would I want that contract either? You expect me to risk my own career so you can get rid of a problem.

Sorry not a chance, if you want me to take Gomez then I want something of real value from you. I want a player who I know for sure is going to help me but I also want you to take away my own garbage in return.

Stop thinking that your players are worth more than mine, they are not. Any trade needs to be one where we both walk away thinking we got a good deal not you thinking you fleeced me.

The "Instant Fix"

OK you cleared cap space by Naslund retiring, you got more opened up by getting rid of Redden and Gomez so what do you do? Why you go right back out and make the same mistakes that you have been making since 1995.

You think that tossing money and then more money is going to fix your problems. Well answer this one then: How many times has it worked since 1995? How many Cups or Cup Finals have you gotten to play for?

Exactly why it is way past time to stop this annual pissing away of money that the Rangers do and man it up to fix this franchise once and for all. There is an ugly truth that Ranger fans do not want to admit to and that is for all their talk about willing to rebuild they are not willing to do that.

After 7 years without the playoffs; Ranger fan are scared to death to miss the playoffs once again. They hide behind "once the playoffs start anything can happen", that it is a great learning experience for the young players or "this team can win"

Truth is that the Rangers did not deserve to make the playoffs to begin with, that just like the early season record the 3-1 lead was built on the back of Henrik Lundqvist. This was a bad team and it showed.

So now Ranger fans want to try a new "Instant Fix", they want to see Gaborik or Havalat signed, maybe a trade for Ilya Kovalchuk as well. The one area that those making these kinds of "solutions" is that just like Sather they are throwing money at a problem and hoping it will finally work.

The same folks making these suggestions are also the same ones who cheered loudly when Drury and Gomez were signed. Here is what money does not buy; chemistry as in team chemistry.

It is time to just say no, time to suck it up and do what other teams do which is develop their own core players to become contenders THEN use free agents and/or trades like Detroit does to add the finishing pieces.

Develop the core first and build towards being a Cup Contender not just a playoff contender.

Until the Rangers stop trying the "instant fix" then do not expect a serious cup contender from the Rangers.

Band-Aids only work for so long.