The Blame Game

Good Evening New York Ranger fans and welcome to "It is all his fault", the game where you get to blame somebody for something whether they did it or not.  I am your host Sam Rosen and lets get ready to play so can we have the first contestants?

Now seriously how lame did that first paragraph sound? About as weak as some of the stuff people have been saying all over the internet about Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan's contracts perhaps?

It is like there are 4 sides here as you have one side angry at Glen Sather for not getting both players signed, you have the side where Dubinsky is a greedy you know what, you have the side that says that Ryan Callahan must be kept at all costs and then the side angry because they really do not know why they are angry.

Guess we missed out on the memos that elevated Ryan Callahan to sainthood because nobody is mad at the next captain but rather if they let him leave then Manhattan will be sucked into the core of the earth.

Brandon Dubinsky is not getting much of the love despite being the returning leading scorer which still is so head scratching. Guess somebody has to play the villain here if Sather is not but wait Sather is the villain so Dubinsky is off the hook until they realize he is such a bad guy (sarcasm intended)

The sins of Dubinsky's first contract holdout appear to still haunt him today so Dubi gets to be the partial bad guy here. He is the greedy player who is holding a gun to Sather's head demanding a ton of money.

But for those who are not angry at Dubinsky there are those upset that Glen Sather has not gotten both players under contracts. It is a sad comic opera that is a lot like a Marx Bros movie or a week of Rex Ryan foot films.

In it's own as if you ask any veteran Sather observer and you will find out that the 2011 version of Glen Sather General Manager is nothing like the previous models. That is the question you should be asking is where is the real Glen Sather?

Now the previous versions of Glen Sather would be freaking out at the way 2011 Sather has been handing out raises to Sauer, Anisimov and Boyle. Now the Glen Sather of the 1990s would have lowballed his players and if they objected then would have sent them packing.

Not going to complain about 2011 Glen Sather as he is doing what Ranger fans were hoping for when he was first hired oh so long ago. Now Glen Sather is always going to have people who will never ever forgive him for his actions but it is hard not to realize that compared to what the State of the New York Rangers was in 1999 this is a total and complete rebuild of every single area of the franchise.

But those who are so worried about Dubinsky and Callahan's contract really do not care about the changes as they are seeing these arbitration hearings as Rangerarmageddon. I kid you not folks as there are those who are so used to something bad happening with the Rangers that because it has not happened yet then it will with these hearings.

Sorry but the gloom and doom naysayers who are thinking that arbitration will seriously hurt the Rangers are in the wrong here. Give Dubinsky and Callahan some credit as it is extremely doubtful that either player is going to be asking in the 5-6 million dollar range.

It was the players who chose arbitration which has to be seen as the first sign that they too want to remain Rangers. They gave up the chance at possibly receiving offer sheets from any other team so can we count that as a plus?

If you want to look for anything that might prevent the players from coming to any agreement with the Rangers then it has to be in the area of contract length. Callahan is one year away from becoming an Unrestricted Free Agent and Dubinsky is 2 so neither player is going to want a 5 year deal.

And it is a safe bet that their agents also have some kind of idea as what to expect next year with the NHL/NHLPA CBA expiring. If they are smart they are wanting as much money as possible up front.

Odds are very good that both team and players will find that common ground before each player has his hearing as both sides realize that life will be better with multi year deals than 1-2 year deals and the possibility of a labor stoppage next year.

But we really got to ask is it that Ranger fans are so used to the worse possible thing happening that they are looking for problems where there really are none? Is it that hard to say you know Glen Sather actually did a good job during the off-season and we have a reason to be excited?

Got to admit if you had asked if the 2011 Glen Sather would be acting like Scrooge on Christmas morning that I would ask you to share what ever you was on. But cmon look at it what is really wrong here?

Rangers needed a first line center and got Brad Richards. They actually did not outbid themselves for a UFA.

Rangers needed to control their spending and with 4 RFAs (Stu Bickel and Chad Johnson still have to be counted since both were given qualifying offers) to go the Rangers are in really good shape.

The young team is a year older, they brought back Fedotenko and added Mike Rupp for toughness. There is reason to actually be looking forward to September 9th (day that NYR prospects report for Traverse City).

Why does there have to be a need to find something to think could go wrong? If that is what is going to make you happy then boy the Rangers better not dare make a run for the Stanley Cup.

Look for a very long time there was little to cheer about, an empty farm system, 7 long years without playoffs, bad free agent signings, bad coaches, and being forced to watch Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire.

Cmon did you ever think you would see the day when the Dolans were not the worst owners in New York City? That there was a coach who generated more embarrassment than any Ranger coach ever could?

Sure not everything is perfect but besides Sather being gone (and we think that is going to happen a lot sooner than anyone realizes) and the Dolan's selling out then what more will it take for an end to the "blame game"?

It is an honest question that really deserves an answer

(Dubinsky courtesy of the New York Rangers)