Same Tired Song

To read the Larry Brooks interview with Glen Sather yesterday; I could not help but to wonder the Rangers even bother with this now annual announcement about how things will be different next season. Only the most blindly loyal of New York Ranger fans will believe that the Ranger franchise will change their ways.


“We just weren’t quite good enough over the course of the season. But if we had won that final game, would we have been tough enough to compete in the playoffs the way the Flyers have? Could we be where they are now?

“I think so.”

At first glance it was worthy of a chuckle but what is scary is the possibility that Sather and the Ranger management really believed this then they are truly out of touch with reality. Sorry Glen but even if you had earned a spot in the playoffs to think that the Rangers would be in the Stanley Cup Finals is sad to think.

“We have to get better,” Sather acknowledged. “And the way we’re going to get better is by staying within our organization and giving our prospects the time to grow and the opportunity to play in New York.

Sorry Glen but nobody believes this anymore because you have been saying this same old tired song for over a decade. Every year we heard how the Rangers need to get better; how they need to build from within and how young players will get the opportunity to make the Rangers.

It has not happened in the now 11 years on Sather's watch and it is not going to change. Last year it was in a letter to season ticket holders, this year it is in an interview with Larry Brooks and next year it will be smoke signals from the top of Madison Square Garden. 

“This has been a long process, and it’s ongoing, but as we go into this summer, our plan is to keep our own players. I can tell you one thing — we are certainly not going to overpay for free agents. If we can improve with a signing that makes sense, we’ll look into it, but we want to give our guys the first shot.”

Here is the thing that shows where Glen Sather is lacking in credibility as if keeping their players then how come the Rangers do not already have Marc Staal under contract? Dan Girardi?  How about Erik Christensen or even Jody Shelley?

The smartly run teams make the effort to get their core players under contract first before they make any other moves so they know exactly what their needs would be come July 1. You can tell us that Donald Brashear is not coming back but that is not groundbreaking news as everyone knew that.

Tell us that Wade Redden is gone or at the very least that you are going to do something about the problem his contract has created. That is the kind of news that would hopefully show that things would be different for the Rangers. 

Sather said that he would like to sign Wisconsin senior defenseman Ryan McDonagh and junior center Derek Stepan. The GM told The Post both players would attend the Blueshirts’ prospects camp the first week of July.

Glen you can not sign players that you have not made any effort to talk to about leaving school for. Instead saying you want to and then not making a serious effort to sign just makes the kids look bad.

 

You also know Glen that Stepan is not ready for the NHL, maybe McDonagh is (congrats Larry for getting his name right this week) but the truth is that Ethan Werek is more ready for the NHL then both Badgers. Yet no effort has been made to get Werek (last season's 2nd round pick) under contract.

This part is even better as it is a true case of "smoke and mirrors:

“We’d like to get them in and have them earn jobs,” Sather said of the two young Americans. “We’re excited to see whether [Evgeny] Grachev and [Dale] Weise and some of our other kids can earn jobs.

Anyone who watched Hartford last season will tell you that Grachev is not even close to being ready for the NHL. Grachev struggled big time in trying to adjust to the AHL game going without a goal over his last 27 games.

Dale Weise is the only one who one has to believe remains a serious prospect for the Rangers. What should be interesting is that Sather did not mention any of the other prospects by name like Dane Byers or Bobby Sanguinetti or even Brody Dupont.

Remember the splash that the Rangers made in announcing the signing of Ilkka Heikkinen last season? You remember how the Rangers touted him as a legit prospect? Last week Heikkinen signed to play in the KHL for next season after telling people as far back as March that there was no way he was going to come back.

But Glen Sather saves his best material for last:

“But we’re looking forward. And we’re excited about it. We’re building an organization where we’re going to have serious competition for jobs at training camp. There are 23 spots and they’re going to the best 23. 

“A player’s contract isn’t going to get him a spot on the team if he doesn’t earn it, and that goes for everyone.

“Everyone is fighting for a job. They all know that. If they don’t, they should.”

OK all of you who believe this one can also earn free rides on the 42nd St Bridge. 11 years Glen Sather has said this and not once has it rang true. All one has to do is look at the roster and see Wade Redden on it.

Come talk to us when the Rangers stop adding the Brashears or the Kotaliks every year and maybe just maybe then the Rangers will be taken seriously. But for now the it will remain the same old song with the bad lyrics and the poorly constructed chorus.

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June 1st was the deadline to sign picks from the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. We already knew that Mitch Gaulton was not signed but now we have to add 5th round pick Chris Doyle to the list as well. We are sorry to see Doyle not get a deal and wonder how much his off-ice issues hurt his chances.

At the same time for Chris who we really got to like over the past year; we hope he uses this to work that much harder next season as we think there is no reason why he cannot have a career somewhere as a professional hockey player. 

This has to be the wake up call for Chris to realize that he has to give 125% every night and if he does then one day he will realize his dream of becoming a professional player.

(Sather courtesy of the New York Rangers)

This is WHY We really liked him

The hardest part about covering Ranger prospects is that you know that not every single draft pick will wind up with a contract. When you watch someone over a period of time and you see what they go though trying to make a dream come true then you can not help but want to root for someone to make it.

Mitch Gaulton was one of those who we really took a liking to as the young defenseman for the Erie Otters had the most positive attitude of any prospect we ever saw. If anyone had the right to complain about the fate he was handed, it was Gaulton.

We used to joke the often injured Gaulton had such bad luck that if there was a lightning storm in the area that we did not want to stand next to him. We knew that the lightning would somehow find a way to strike him.

Yet Gaulton never complained about his fate, when he was wrong he accepted responsibility and more than anything else he never ever let anything get him down.

From reconstructive elbow surgery to freak accidents in practice; injuries found a way to Gaulton and would knock him down. But he would get right back up and fight for more.

Ask those who got to cover Gaulton like Victor Fernandes of Erie Times-News and they will tell you how much they liked the kid. Gaulton is the only prospect that Dubi Silverstein when he owned the Blueshirt Bulletin would ask about.

We all said the same thing about Gaulton; a smile always on his face with a cheerful attitude. We bring this up because Mitch Gaulton while not signed by the Rangers did something that only those who knew him would not be shocked to hear he did.

Gaulton wrote the Rangers a thank you letter for all that they had done for him over the last 2 years. Our friend Victor Fernandes wrote up the story that is so nice to see we had to post it too. The original can be found here:

Erie Otters defenseman Mitch Gaulton didn’t sign with the New York Rangers before Tuesday’s deadline for 2008 National Hockey League draft picks. But he likely left a lasting impression on club officials.


Gaulton wrote a letter to president/general manager Glen Sather, assistant general manager Jim Schoenfeld and hockey/business operations head Adam Graves “thanking the Rangers for drafting him and thanking them for giving him the opportunity to play,” said Patrick Morris, Gaulton’s representative with Newport Sports Management Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario. Gaulton also praised the Rangers for handling and paying for preparative elbow surgery during his first camp with the club in 2008.


“In my 25 years of being in this business, I’ve never seen something like that,” said Morris, who was unaware of Gaulton’s letter, dated May 14, until he received a copy of it six days later. “It was so well thought out. It was so well written. He’s a very special character person.”


Rangers officials informed Gaulton they would not sign him several months ago, Morris said.


“He hasn’t played a lot in the last four years,” Morris said, referring to the serious elbow injury that cost the 20-year-old defenseman 94-of-136 games from 2007-09. His career high for games played is 54, set this past season.


Gaulton enters his overage season with the Otters this fall. He is eligible for the NHL Entry Draft, set for June 25-26 in Los Angeles. But the odds of Gaulton being chosen are limited, Morris said. “Teams would rather pick an 18-year-old with one of their draft picks,” Morris said. Gaulton also could be to training camp as a free agent. Teams begin making those offers following the draft.


“He’s a great young player that’s still developing,” Morris said. “His future is bright.”

No Patrick, Mitch is more than a hockey player; he is a great young man who we will miss covering but we also know that whatever Gaulton tries he will always be a winner in our book.

(Gaulton courtesy of Mark Bell/Erie Otters)