The Blueshirts snapped their losing streak and rookie Chad Johnson got his first career victory as the Rangers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 earlier tonight on the strength of Marian Gaborik’s first hat trick as a Ranger.
John Tortorella speaks to the media following the win.
Forsberg playing for Team Sweden
According to the NY Post, Rangers GM Glen Sather has told Larry Brooks that the team is interested in uber-talented yet oft-injured center Peter Forsberg and will be among the handful of clubs scouting Forsberg as he begins play today in the Karjala Cup tournament in Sweden and Finland. The 36 year old Forsberg was arguably the greatest player in the world for six or seven seasons from the mid 1990’s through early 2000’s, but has not played in the NHL since joining the Avalanche for the final nine games of 2007-08. He hasn’t made it through a full season since the lockout. He played only three games last year in Sweden before being forced to get more repair work on his foot. Joining the Rangers in having interest in the center are the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Montreal Canadies and the Colorado Avalanche as well as various KHL teams.
“Yes, we have interest in Forsberg,” GM Glen Sather said. “From the reports we’ve been getting, the foot is much better than it was a year ago. We’ll scout him at the tournament and see what, if anything develops. But I’ve always liked Peter and I’ve always been interested in finding a way to bring him to New York, if possible.” As for the chances of him playing in the NHL and possibly in New York, Sather said “I’d have to say a lot of that would probably depend on money.” The Rangers only have approximately $685,000 in cap space right now so Sather would have to be creative to afford Forsberg but at least he is doing his due dilligence on a player that when healthy is a difference maker for any team.
If Forsberg is healthy, he could be the perfect player to center Marian Gaborik on Broadway but the odds of him taking less money to play in New York are slim. The only thing the Rangers have going for them is the other teams mentioned have tough cap situations as well. This may be a longshot but it’s something to keep an eye on for the future.
UPDATE (6:35 PM)- RDS is reporting that Forsberg has signed a contract with Russian club AK Bars Kazan of the KHL. I guess he took the money and ran with it on this deal.
UPDATE (8 PM)- TSN is reporting that the RDS report is false and no decision will be made on Forsberg’s future until after the Tournament.
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.
While the Rangers were quiet on the second day of free agency, a few notable moves took place. The first being the departure of Rangers winger Nik Antropov, who was acquired at last season’s trade deadline, when he signed a 4 year 16 million dollar deal with the Atlanta Thrashers. The Rangers had some interest in getting Antropov to return to the team early on but after Sather spoke to his agent and was told Antropov was seeking more than 5 million annually, the team instead turned it’s attention to the other options available both already on the roster (qualifying Nikolai Zherdev for next season) and in free agency (Gaborik). Some question whether the Rangers would have been able to fit Antropov into their plans at the 4 million per year he eventually signed for if they had not given Donald Brashear such a ridiculous 2 year contract but I believe that both sides had already felt it was better to move on to newer pastures.
The Rangers also signed a trio of depth forwards that are almost certainly destined to begin the season with the team’s affiliate, the Hartford Wolfpack. Tyler Arnason, a defensive forward and NHL veteran having spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalance was signed to a two way contract and could get a chance to make the fourth line of the big club during training camp. Chris Chappell, an undrafted free agent who scored 38 goals and added 38 assists for Owen Sound of the OHL last season and Corey Locke, who lead the AHL’s Houston Aeros in scoring last season were signed to minor league deals. The Rangers also re-signed P.A. Parentau who plated for the Wolfpack last season.
For the official releases on these signings, click here: Arnason, Locke, Chappell, Parentau.