ALEXEI Kovalev was a no-brainer. How could giving up Rico Fata, Mikael Samuelsson and nobody the Rangers were ever going to miss, for a 30-year-old star one season off 44 goals not make them a more dynamic team?
Anson Carter? Only a fool wouldn’t have considered Carter, a grinder with good hands like this team hasn’t enjoyed since Adam Graves in his prime, a big step up from the shy, streaky, Radek Dvorak.
You add Eric Lindros, essentially for Kim Johnson; give up nothing but money to add Bobby Holik; and, the exception being dealing a mid-No. 1 for a Pavel Bure, who now may never play again, Glen Sather has won every trade. Look around the league, it is hard to find anything Sather gave up that the Rangers miss, other than, of course, the playoffs all three seasons he has operated them. It is obvious they could use more speed, toughness in front of their net, and if the Mike Dunham we saw down the stretch last season was a mirage, a goaltender most of all. But if you compare what the Rangers had when Sather took over and now, this is a far superior roster that, after last night’s third consecutive loss, 4-2 to the Flyers, remains out of playoff position.
And while a GM, of course, has to look beyond the immediate injury crisis on defense and see a larger picture of opportunity, by now Sather should see that adding Jaromir Jagr, one more big ticket with a history or motivational problems, would only hang one more distorted mirror in the funhouse where the Rangers remain a trapped laughing-stock.
Having inherited only one real prospect, Jamie Lundmark, given no carte blanche to strip down and undertake a 5-7 year lottery rebuilding, Sather had no choice but to use the asset he had, money, to improve the team while regenerating young blood.
But as active as he has been, the Rangers’ whole still falls way short of the sum of the parts. Kovalev and Carter’s 10 goals are entirely reflective of their efforts. And now Jagr, who has not been a team-changing force in almost five seasons, who may cost the Rangers Lundmark in addition to Carter, appears about to became more of the same old, same old that makes Sather’s Edmonton success look older than ever.
We don’t know how Jagr would be rejuvenated joining a team that plays its home games close to Atlantic City and Connecticut, what would be restorative to him about coming to a team playing with all the confidence warranted by its 10th place standing.
We also don’t know what’s going to happen between the NHL and its labor, only have a pretty good idea that if there is not a hard cap at somewhere between the $31 million the league wants and the $36-$39 million where it may settle, there almost certainly will be a luxury tax. And that Holik, Greg deVries, Darius Kasparaitis, Brian Leetch, Tom Poti and Dunham, the only Rangers signed without option for either next year or whatever year the league resumes, account for $29.45 million.
Do the math on how much more team the Rangers, who are playing their players $77 million this year, could put on the ice after adding Jagr’s $11 million. Also, ponder how much better they could be right now if Lindros was given 20-22 minutes a game and a finisher.
It is ridiculous that the Rangers’ best player is averaging 16:05, only 12 seconds more than Mark Messier.
Much more than Jagr, the Rangers need credibility that the man behind their bench can maximize the offense they already have.
—-
PAY DIRT
If Rangers are able to swing deal that would land them Jaromir Jagr for Anson Carter, Jamie Lundmark and Dan LaCouture, their 2003-2004 payroll will balloon to highest in NHL. Here’s a look at team payrolls as well as how much each point this season has cost the respective club heading into last night (all dollar figures in millions):
Team/Payroll/Pts./Cost of point
1. Nashville/ $23.2/54/$.43
2. Minnesota /$26.8/48/$.56
3. Atlanta/ $27.2/48/$.57
4. San Jose /$34.8/59/$.59
5. Florida /$26.4/43/$.61
6. Vancouver/ $38.7/61/$.63
T7. Edmonton/ $30.8/47/$.66
T7. Calgary /$35.2/53/$.66
T7. Tampa Bay /$33.5/51/$.66
T7. Ottawa /$39.6/60/$.66
11. Montreal/ $42.7/56/$.76
T12. Boston/ $45.8/58/$.79
T12. Buffalo /$33.0/42/$.79
14. Phoenix/ $37.8/47/$.80
15. Devils /$48.1/57/$.84
16. Carolina /$37.8/43/$.88
T17. Islanders /$43.8/49/$.89
T17. Columbus/ $32.1/36 /$.89
T17. Pittsburgh /$26.6/30/$.89
20. Los Angeles /$46.1/51/$.90
21. Chicago/ $31.6/34/$.93
22. Colorado/ $60.9/63/$.97
23. Toronto /$61.8/63/$.98
24. St. Louis /$61.2/57/$1.07
25. Philadelphia /$65.1/59/$1.10
26. Detroit /$77.8/62/$1.25
27. Anaheim /$54.4/41/$1.33
28. Dallas /$67.6/50/$1.35
29. Washington /$51.1/35/$1.46
30. Rangers/ $83.6/47/$1.78
Payroll totals: The Hockey News