Goodbye Dear Friend…. :-(
3. July 2008 by critter.
It’s sure as heck gonna be hard to have to watch Sean Avery play for another team and come back to beat up on the Blue Shirts. He brought tons of life back to the New York Rangers.
I guess the lucky thing is the likely clearance sale of #16 jerseys…..Now I can save most of the $125 bucks I was putting aside to pick up one of those bad boys. But still, tears are falling in Thornwood, NY
Free Agency Begins, A Writer’s Heart Breaks
3. July 2008 by critter.
So July 1st started the first day of free agency in the NHL. With a decent amount of big names floating around and with a Russian super-league offering massive ammounts of $$$ to try and steal players from the NHL, many teams were feeling pressure and were sure to have a little bit of shakeup in their rosters. The rest of the league can kiss my a$$, because the Rangers came into the month with a huge list to take care of on their own team let alone hunting for any other key players to bring to the Blue Shirts:
Talks with Captain, Jaromir Jagr haven’t exactly wrapped anything up yet, and unfortunately because of his star potential and his reigning captaincy (and rediculous paycheck that accompanies it) the Rangers’ strategy is bulit around him. Until they can make a deal with him or decide to move on, the Rangers can’t know if they need to go after a big name player to replace him or just some key supporting roles to build around him. If they make a deal with Jagr, then fellow Czech and long time friend, Straka will likely sign on as well. Otherwise, there has been plenty of talk of him going back to the Czech Republic to be a broadcaster (super weak).
Brendan Shanahan is old and slowed down big time last season due to some injuries, but he still has more leadership points than the rest of the team combined and would be a huge impact still. Even as a 3rd/4th line player, there’s no way you can go wrong with B Shans. Plus he’s the type of guy who would actually take a pay cut and a bit of a lowered role in understanding that he’s a fossil.
Rozsival is young and has been the leader of the defense for a handful of seasons now. Plus last season he stepped up big time and proved he can carry a lot of weight on offense as well.
Avery…ah Avery. A feisty lil fella who will get on anyone’s nerves, will throw punches at any time, and has an easy 50 point potential year in and year out (if only he could stay healthy). Plus, he’s just a dreamboat. The records get flashed all the time, with Avery in the lineup the Rangers are beasts. When he’s been out, they’ve been lousy. It’s easy math, even if he grates on his own teammates he gets emotions flying and the blood flowing and is a huge fan favorite at the Garden.
Valiquette. Solid solid backup goalie. A great record when he was needed to help give Lundqvist a breather, but could slip to teams in need of a goalie with the promise of more playing time.
So in the first day of free agency, the Rangers didn’t answer many questions at all as far as this list of characters. They locked up Rozsival and managed to acquire all-star free agent Wade Redden to round out the defense (and he’s still pretty young too). Solid moves. They also signed Patrick Rissmiller, who comes from the Western Conference so is young and speedy. Not too bad of a pickup and clearly someone who can add depth to the teams 3rd line. The Rangers also locked in a deal with Valiquette to keep the trusty backup goaltender with the team. And finally, they picked up Aaron Voros. Voros played his first half of a season last year when Minnesota Wild called him up. In 50 games he registered approx. 15 points and had beastly penalty minutes. He’ll keep the attitude and intensity up and would make an amazing bash brother with Sean Avery….right?
Free Agency - Day 2: I wipe the crust out of my eyes and before I’m able to finish my cup of coffee I’m staring at headlines that Sean Avery has signed a 4-year deal with…..the Dallas friggin Stars (time to find a new favorite Ranger) for nearly $15 million. Avery wanted long term, the Rangers couldn’t provide it and didn’t like that he grates on his own teammates. Many many Rangers fans are NOT HAPPY!!!! The day wasn’t over yet for the Rangers who sent two defensemen, Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to Columbus for young forwards Nikolai Zhredev and Dan Fritsche (again adding some more stronger players to their deeper lines). WRONG! Tyutin has poured his heart out and has played solid defense and Backman is borderline all-star D who they gave up big prospects to gain at last year’s trade deadline. Granted they have Redden now, but obviously this is a move to just keep cap space to handle Jagr and Straka and hopefully one other bigger named free agent.
C-Rod Calls it Quits With A-Road
3. July 2008 by rich.
Cynthia Rodriguez and Alex Rodriguez are calling it quits. With the controversy that has occurred over the years (strippers and what not), this little Madonna shindig seems to have been the final straw. Rumor even has it that Cynthia has taken off on a vacation to France with rock star Lenny Kravitz. Stay tuned for more details.
The couple was married for 5 years. They had two daughters, one as recently as this past April. It remains to be seen how ugly this divorce will get. Either way, Cynthia stands to get a ton of money.
