Do We Really Want Sundin?

With all of the Mats Sundin rumors being flown around the past, well...months, I wanted to give my two cents on how the Blueshirts would look like with him and without him. Now there are countless ways that the deal could go down if the Rangers do in fact get Sundin, but the most logical scenario would be something like this: The Rangers would need to trade one of their top defensemen and/or one of their promising youngsters (Prucha most likely, but there has been talk of other players being moved) to clear up enough cap space to acquire Sundin. To gain the appropriate cap space to sign a high caliber player like Sundin, the Rangers would need to get rid of someone like Roszival to use his $5 million towards paying Sundin a contract in the range of $5-$7 million for one year. However, losing Roszival would mean that the Rangers would only have 5 NHL ready defensemen, meaning that even with the increased offensive punch that Sundin would bring, the new system Tom Renney spent all summer putting together would be tarnished. Renney envisioned Roszival being a key component to the puck-moving group of D men that will hopefully feed great first passes to breakout guys like Zherdev, Sjostrom and Drury. Having Sundin on the Rangers would mean that Drury would have to switch to wing due to the abundance of centers that are already on the roster. Sundin would surely add a lot of offensive to the Rangers, but I would rather have the aging veteran sign with Philly then lose any of our defensemen or any of our young forwards. Having Sundin on the Rangers would be like, I don't know, Jeremy Shockey on the Saints? Weird, huh?

Don't get me wrong, it would be wonderful to see Mats Sundin centering Zherdev and Naslund on the first line; especially with such other good players on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines, the Rangers would be more than stacked. But do we really want a player of his age taking away playing time and a position of guys like Anisimov and many, many others? I don't think so. I believe that the promising young guys that the Rangers have will, in time, be able to generate enough talent that if Sundin does in fact pass on the Rangers, the move would hardly tarnish anyone in a Rangers uniform. Of course there are players that want him to suit up in a Rangers uniform, however I am willing to bet my ridiculously huge Blog Salary that there are also guys on the team that would love to play alongside the likes of Sundin. What it comes down to is this: Mats Sundin will pick a team to play for this season (retiring at this point should not be on this guys agenda), and if it happens to be the Rangers, than so be it. Our team will be great, for a season or two, and then who knows. If Sundin decides to play for Montreal, Philly, Vancouver or whoever else, then I say congrats to that team with a big smile on my face knowing that the potential young guys who just might be just as good as Mats some day. I know that is a long shot, but I want to see Michael Roszival and every other player on the Rangers roster in the first game in Prague. I think the team we have now is good enough to place atop the Conference this year (I will pray every night for those 23 guys to somehow gel together quickly and efficiently), and the team that Sundin does land on, unless its Philly, I don't really see making the playoffs (but that is another story).

It's virtually impossible to know what exactly would happen as a result of the Rangers landing Sundin, but I am very interested in knowing what the rest of you think, so please comment below and let me and the infamous TDR know where you stand on the Rangers and Sundin next season.

~syr11.