Just Brainstorming Here…

I’m back from Las Vegas (mid-September and still 100 degrees!) and I received a 2-for-1 in the week I was gone. Not only was Dany Heatley traded, but Phil Kessel was as well, leaving September only for training camp, and no drama. I’m just brainstorming, but let’s say for argument’s sake, the 6 defensemen who make the Rangers roster for opening night are: Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Mike del Zotto, and Matt Gilroy. Not a huge stretch, right? Sure, you could possibly sub Bobby Sanguinetti in for del Zotto, but that has no effect on my point today. The newspaper today said that Rozsival and Redden would be top pairing, like they were together for most of last season. My question is: Why? Now, it’s well-documented that I am against having Redden and Rozsival on the team simply because this is a Salary Cap Era. If there was no Cap, then having a waste of space like Wade Redden on the team would simply be par for the course. They’d demote him to 3rd-line pairing or send him to Hartford, and spend big money on someone better than him. Of course, since his $6.5M/year is looming large for the next 5 years, he has no choice but to play. And of course, it ultimately cost Tom Renney his job, as Renney’s over-reliance on him led to his downfall. Same for Rozsival. While I may personally like Rozsival and think he is a decent defenseman, he in no way warrants $5M/year, Salary Cap Era or not. So why pair them together? They were horrendous separately and together last year. Plus, by doing that, you are putting 2 pairs of “kids” on the blueline. Girardi and Staal should be a tandem. They were last year often, they play well together, one is a Continue reading Just Brainstorming Here…