When I opened the NY Post this morning and read about NYR GM Glen Sather not signing 'getting to know you' fan favorite Jody Shelley, I got a little perturbed, frankly. When Brandon Prust, another free agent, will hit the free market this coming July 1 (Thursday) and command just about anywhere else more money than what Slats is willing to pay, we will see another potential asset flushed down the toilet. UPDATE: as of 6:17pm, Steve Zipay is tweeting that the NYR Rangers are offering Prust a qualifying offer, and not to Christensen.
And now Sather is going to battle with Bobby Orr -- the now manager of many hockey players including our very home-grown Marc Staal. Brooks did a piece on this last week. As a restricted agent, other teams have the option to submit an offer to Staal, giving the home team the first right to match. But it seems to me that as our most valuable asset on the blueline should absolutely deserve half of what you believed in contracts awarded to Chris Drury or Wade Redden.
The future of Staal on the Rangers' blueline is unquestionable from a performance aspect and he wants to be suiting up in Blue every game --- unless he's not making enough. Gone are the days of Slats and the 'buddy system' between General Managers when they historically let their restricted players deal with the home team first, and come in to make an alternate deals when things become hopeless -- Brian Burke has made this abundantly clear in his days at Anaheim. this 'business is business' trend in general managers continues to this day. But it seems to me a Marc Staal request for a 3-year contract for 3.5 - 4 million a year is reasonable; it is essentially a non-cap-issue now that the maximum cap has been raised significantly, and instead of Slats using disparaging phrases like 'there is a chasm between where both parties are at' doesn't help the situation, you might reassure them that you'd like to get this done, speak to the press favorably on how important Marc Staal is to the Rangers organization and negotiate like humans beings that talk to each other (and not through the press you dingbat). Try it. It might be the better way to go?
Slats is living in a dream world. One where he answers to no one. One where no one is looking in. We may not have a consistent roster, but one thing is for certain. Glen Sather is constant.
It is one thing for the fans to be told to wait for the new season to open and let the experts do their negotiating and picking. It is another thing as a fan to sit here paying for your hedge bet and watching you create mediocrity year after fucking year. There is less than half the roster signed for this upcoming season and with free agency approaching this Thursday (noon EST), it will be surprising if there are any significant trades. The NY Rangers are better to not make rash decisions (i.e. Gomez, Drury, Redden) and awarding bad contracts to mediocre or over-valued players, but Marc Staal is part of our Blueshirt future and once you start fucking with the psychology of a player's head -- they don't want to play for you anymore, even if you actually do come to terms with them (i.e Brandon Dubinsky).
The leverage of playing for New York City is huge, unless you are a Hermit introvert that sits with the fat-cats and never listens to the people and you happen to run a hockey organization at MSG. Plus your management upstairs is putting all their eggs in the LeBron James basket on the same day (NBA free agency - noon). It pissed me off to see Mark Messier inviting LeBron to come to New York and joining in on that mess. Speaking of Mess, why isn't he recruiting Kovalchuk to cross the river? Why isn't he calling me the season-ticket holder with four-God-damn-seats thanking me for losing money every year?
You're all pissing me off, MSG. Sign Marc Staal. Sign Jody Shelley. Sign Prust. Get this shit over with, sign what is important to the team and hope for a fruitful free agency day.
..and talk to the press once in a while Fatty Slats. I demand more for my money.
tdr
Monday, June 28, 2010
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