A year ago, when the Rangers acquired Nik Zherdev from Columbus, the knock on the young russian was that he had tons of talent but lacked the heart and work ethic to truly reach his potential in the NHL. Earlier today, Glen Sather decided that the Rangers would not be the organization stuck waiting for him to improve those weak spots for another season.
The Rangers have decided to walk away from the arbitrator’s $3.9 million dollar award making Zherdev an unrestricted free agent and ending his tenure on Broadway after one disappointing season full of stretches of uninspired play, sulking and a complete disappearing act during the postseason by the enigmatic winger.
While Zherdev seemed to be off to a great start with the club last season, saying and doing all the right things under coach Tom Renney, he still found it hard to bring a consistent effort and results to the ice every night. After Renney was replaced by John Tortorella at mid-season, Zherdev found himself in the coach’s doghouse on many occassions and seemed disinterested in subscribing to the team’s new attacking style of play. By playoff time, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Zherdev was not going to be part of the team’s future plans if Tortorella had any input on personnel changes during the offseason.
GM Glen Sather qualified Zherdev before the deadline last month but the winger and his agent decided he was worth more than the team’s $3.25 million dollar tender (even after his uneven first season) and elected to go to arbitration with an outrageous $4.75 million dollar proposal (most likely designed to make the Rangers walk away from the decision no matter the outcome). It seems today as if Zherdev got his wish of leaving NY and possibly returning to Russia for an even bigger payday in the upstart KHL.
In my opinion, the Rangers made the right move in letting Zherdev walk. To bring back a player who obviously was not on board with the coach’s philosophy just because there was a chance of a breakout season offensively would have been a huge mistake. While this move could come back to haunt the team should Zherdev sign with another eastern conference club, more than likely the cap space savings by letting him go will allow the team to re-sign a key player like Brandon Dubinsky and maybe even pick up a badly needed physical presence on the blue line and will make the team a much stronger group for the upcoming season. My prediction is Ales Kotalik will thrive playing with former teammate Chris Drury and will soften the blow from the loss of Zherdev and Rangers fans will appreciate his work ethic much more than the departed playmaker he will be replacing.
For the official release click here. Check out Larry Brooks’ interesting take on the whole situation here.
Tags: Ales Kotalik, arbitration, Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets, decision, Free Agent, Glen Sather, John Tortorella, KHL, New York Rangers, NHL, Nikolai Zherdev, Tom Renney
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Yesterday, the Nikolai Zherdev situation took it’s turn into the homestretch as the arbitrator awarded the enigmatic russian sniper an award of $3.9 million for next season. Glen Sather and the Rangers now have 48 hours to decide whether to accept this ruling (which was pretty much splitting the difference between the two proposals from both sides) and have Zherdev on the wing for another campaign (or as trade bait) or walk away from the ruling and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent, free to sign with any team or return to Russia with the KHL. The belief since Zherdev first elected to take the team to arbitration was that no matter the ruling, the Rangers would walk away because they have already made moves to replace him on the roster by signing Ales Kotalik to a 3 year deal last month. Sather has also shown himself at times to be stubborn and vindictive to players who have tried to hold him over a barrel in negotiations and was none too pleased at Zherdev and his agent opting to go the arbitration route.
While it is most likely that the team will let Zherdev walk, I’m sure Sather has contacted just about every other GM in the league to gauge interest should they retain him and look to move him via trade. The 3.9 million dollar award is not a prohibitive number for most teams considering the going rate for a 50 point scorer in the NHL at the moment. There could be some interest if the rangers are not looking to get a big haul in return and would settle for prospects or picks.
The thought that Zherdev could return to the team and play on Broadway next season becomes even less of an option once you realize that the Rangers still have to sign Brandon Dubinsky, who could be the team’s top line center, and that by accepting Zherdev at the 3.9 million price tag would have to make some tough decisions to get under the salary cap.
I personally think this has worked out exactly as Sather hoped it would. He already signed Kotalik to replace Zherdev and now will have the money to sign Dubinsky to a long term deal like he did with fellow building block Ryan Callahan last month. Losing Zherdev for nothing after trading Fedor Tyutin (who would look nice as a fourth or fifth D-Man on this season’s roster) to Columbus for him last season could be hard for some fans to swallow ,but after watching his uninspired play under John Tortorella during the second half season and the playoffs last year, it could truly be addition by subtraction in this case.
In other reports from around the web, Larry Brooks of the NY Post thinks the Rangers might be looking to bring in Todd Bertuzzi before camp opens. This was a scenario we talked about a few weeks ago here. SNY Rangers blog has more on the never ending Dany Heatley saga here.
When the Rangers decision on Zherdev comes down, we will have it for you here.
Tags: Ales Kotalik, arbitration, Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets, Fedor Tyutin, Glen Sather, John Tortorella, KHL, New York Rangers, NHL, Nikolai Zherdev, Ryan Callahan, Todd Bertuzzi
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Enjoying the dry 113 degree heat here in Phoenix for the week but just wanted to check in on what’s happening (or more accurately not happening) back in New York….
Slow week for the Rangers as the only thing on the horizon is the Nik Zherdev arbitration on Friday. I am a little surprised there has been no news on Brandon Dubinsky as of yet but that will probably get done after the Zherdev ruling comes down and the Rangers figure out their cap situation should they walk away from the ruling as expected.
Congrats to former Ranger Tony Amonte on being elected to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and to Rangers prospects Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Ryan Bourque on being selected to play for the U.S. Under 20 squad in the upcoming four game series against Russia’s U-20 team in Lake Placid.
In Free Agent news, Tampa Bay has bought out the contract of winger Vinny Prospal and some reports are that the Rangers may be interested in the veteran winger , who is coming off a disappointing season (19 goals , 45 points, -20 rating in 82 games) and played for John Tortorella in TB, if the price is right.
If anything is announced or any news breaks, we’ll have it for you here.
Tags: arbitration, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, hockey, John Tortorella, New York Rangers, NHL, Nikolai Zherdev, Phoenix, Russia, Ryan Bourque, Tampa Bay Lightning, Team USA, Tony Amonte, Vinny Prospal
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As we reported on this site yesterday, Nik Zherdev’s decision to take the Rangers to arbitration may spell the end of his time in a blueshirt. Reports surfacing that Zherdev and his agent will ask for a salary of 4.5 million dollars for next season have caused many following the team to speculate today that if he is awarded that number that the Rangers will almost surely walk away from the decision, making him an unrestricted free agent and freeing up 3.25 million in cap space for the upcoming season. Personally, I have felt from the beginning that the Rangers should have offered this money to Nik Antropov (who signed a 4 year 16 million dollar deal with the Thrashers last week) in an attempt to re-sign the big winger rather than qualify Zherdev, who disappeared last season in the playoffs and at times looked disinterested while playing under head coach John Tortorella. If Zherdev loses his case, having him for one year in which he must prove his worth with a pending unrestricted free agency in his sights, may pay divideneds and finally motivate the enigmatic winger. If he wins and the team decides to part ways, there are a few different avenues the team might take in looking to replace Zherdev’s offensive production. The least expensive and possibly most exciting to Rangers fans might be to give Evgeny Grachev a shot to continue his offensive growth at the NHL level. If the team feels Grachev is not yet ready for prime time or is looking for a more proven commodity, they could look to veteran wingers Petr Sykora (who had 25 goals in 76 games last season with the Penguins and put up 16 goals and 31 points in 40 games in his other stint with the team in 2005-06) or Miroslav Satan (who had 17 goals last season with the Penguins) who could probably be had for one year deals at a very cap friendly price. The team could even go way outside the box and convince former All-Star Mark Parrish (who finished last season in Dallas and has scored 20+ goals six times in his career) to sign with the team on a two way deal for the minimum hoping to maybe pull a diamond from the scrap heap. Another possible move should Zherdev leave is to revisit the Dany Heatley trade situation (highly unlikely still because of the Rangers reluctance to part with any of their prized prospects and Senators GM Bryan Murray’s absurd asking price, which even with his lack of leverage, seems to grow steeper each day) but some money would have to be moved in order to fit his contract in cap wise.
There has been no other news on the Rangers possible pursuit of Saku Koivu and Sergei Zubov or of any movement on rumored possible trades involving Dallas’ Brad Richards or San Jose’s Patrick Marleau. If any word on these moves or others come down, we’ll have all the details for you right here.
For more on the Zherdev situation check out Larry Brooks in the NY Post here or here.
UPDATE (4:35 PM)- Although he was never a Ranger, Joe Sakic signed an offer sheet with the Rangers that if it wasn’t ultimately matched by Colorado would have changed the history of the franchise. Reports out of Colorado say that Sakic will announce his retirement from the NHL at a press conference on Thursday. We will have more on this news after his announcement. Congratulations on a classy Hall of Fame career Mr. Sakic.
Tags: arbitration, Atlanta Thrashers, Brad Richards, Colorado Avalanche, Evgeny Grachev, Hall Of Fame, hockey, Joe Sakic, Mark Parrish, Miroslav Satan, New York Rangers, NHL, Nik Antropov, Nikolai Zherdev, Patrick Marleau, Petr Sykora, Pittsburgh Penguins, retirement, Saku Koivu, Sergei Zubov
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While rumors continue to swirl about whether the Rangers are interested in pursuing Saku Koivu, Alexei Kovalev or Sergei Zubov, nothing seems to be imminent on that front. The most interesting news out of Rangers camp is that forwards Nikolai Zherdev and Ryan Callahan have both elected to take the team to salary arbitration for the upcoming season. I believe the Rangers would like to get Callahan under contract long term and will probably be able to do so and avoid a hearing with a deal that is both cap friendly and will make Callahan feel appreciated. The bigger story is Zherdev’s status. There have been reports of Zherdev having interest in returning to Russia to play in the KHL and of possible concerns within the Rangers organization over whether Zherdev can perform and co-exist with head coach John Tortorella in his new up tempo system. There are even indications that the team may walk away from the winger (making him and unrestricted free agent) should he be awarded a contract that does not fit into the team’s salary plans for next season. There is still a chance that the team comes to terms with the enigmatic yet talented winger before arbitration but it seems unlikely and this situation may turn ugly before a resolution is ultimately reached.
Nikolai Zherdev
In other more positive news, Zherdev and prospect Artem Anisimov were invited to participate in the upcoming 2010 Russian Olympic Orientation camp. The invitation is a another sign that Anisimov (who registered 37 goals and 44 assists with Hartford of the AHL last season) may be well on his way to making an impact with the big club this upcoming season. Former Rangers Dmitri Kalinin and Alexei Kovalev were invited as well.
If any news breaks, we will be here to report it today and tomorrow will be the first of our Prospect Spotlight series which will feature NYR youngsters that the team is counting on to make an impact in the organization’s future.
For an explanation of the salary arbitration process and which facts teams and players are allowed and forbidden to use to make their cases, check out Blue Notes here. For more on possible Rangers target UFA Alexei Kovalev and his somewhat contentious departure from the Canadiens, check out TSN here.
UPDATE (2:30 PM) TSN.ca is reporting Christopher Higgins has come to terms with the New York Rangers on a new contract. Higgins, acquired from Montreal for Scott Gomez, was a restricted free agent. ESPN is reporting it is a one year deal worth $2.25 million.
UPDATE (4:25 PM) Apparently, Alexei Kovalev will not be making a return to Broadway as he has signed a 2 year 10 million dollar deal with the Ottawa Senators. For more details click here.
Tags: Alexei Kovalev, arbitration, Artem Anisimov, Christopher Higgins, Contracts, Dmitri Kalinin, hockey, KHL, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, NHL, Nikolai Zherdev, Russia, Ryan Callahan, Saku Koivu, Scott Gomez, Sergei Zubov
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