Tick, tick, tick...Getting closer to July 1 and the the later, and closer, it gets, the less likely it appears Dany Heatley will be a Ranger. Still, the Senators are looking to move him tonight and the focus is now on the Oilers (hello, Tom Renney), who are said to be sending underachieving but talented Dustin Penner back to Ottawa if, indeed, that deal goes down.
As for the Rangers, before we focus on who might be coming in the door tomorrow, let's quickly review who'll be walking out the door for the last time.
There seems to have been little discussion in bringing back veteran defensemen Paul Mara and Derek Morris.
It appears enforcer Colton Orr will be allowed to hit the market. In fact, the entire fourth-line combination of Orr, center Blair Betts (unrestricted free agent) and left wing Fredrik Sjostrom (restricted free agent, not qualified) aren't likely to be back.
Aaron Voros will no doubt likely wind up in Hartford (AHL) next season unless GM Glen Sather can get something in trade for him.
And, of course, right wing Nik Antropov, acquired at the trade deadline, will indeed be a rental as the Rangers are unwilling to meet (or even consider) his asking price of five seasons at $5.25 million.
andrew - what about rissmiller - some say it was 1 yr deal and some of reporters incl sam weinman back in the day swore it was 3 yrs regardless of what salary cap sites say. actually the attached now shows him for 2 more yrs
also what is latest on asst coaches. tb guy ?
and for ahl guys like parenteau? who is not shown on attached
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=NYR
Posted by: LI Joe | June 30, 2009 at 11:01 PM
LI Joe,
Rissmiller, if memory serves, was a three-year deal.
On assistant coach, all signs point to Sullivan from Tampa Bay. The Rangers will announce that in July when they're free to do so (contractual stuff with the Lightning).
On Parenteau, spoke to a Hartford source today who hopes P.A. is re-signed but no indication one way or another yet.
Posted by: Andrew Gross | June 30, 2009 at 11:16 PM
Saw Avery at Bonnaroo outside Nashville two weeks ago and said i had to ask him one hockey question. So he says shoot. I ask, are they going to resign Colton. He tosses his head back, looks at me and says, "oh yeah, we'd better. He sticks up for all of us. They'll figure it out." So i respond, "Well we better, otherwise you're going to do all the fighting." And Sean responds, "No, my hands can't take that."
Someone is going to pay Orr $1M a year and it won't be us. We better make some moves to not have some softies out there. Without Mara and Orr, we'll be in trouble. Back to smurf hockey, which isn't winning you the east or the division.
Posted by: Sec67RowG | June 30, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Andrew,
The part of this that's puzzling to me is no qualifying offer to Freddy and no attempt to re-sign Betts.
I can understand Betts more than Sjo...but for under $1m, these guys anchored the #1 PK unit in the league last year. And Sjostrom seems to fit the Torts system perfectly...skates hard all the time, plays D, has great speed, forechecks hard...what gives??
Posted by: nyr351 | June 30, 2009 at 11:55 PM
Understand not signing Sjostrom. He and Korpikoski are the same player(speedy , good pker and have no hands) why bring him back and waste two roster spots on them? The pk imo will be fine Drury, Korpikoski, Higgins, Cally and Dubi all are good pkers and will do the job well. Would bring Orr back but Torts doesn't seem to be a fan. They need a tough guy to counteract some of the crap the Flyers will pull espicially with Pronger being there now.
Posted by: graves9 | July 01, 2009 at 01:21 AM
I would most certainly bring Sjostrom back-he played better than almost everyone on the team in the second half of the season. I would keep shoe and let Korpo go if it was me. Now I have no idea what Sather is going to do but he better add scoring and if it's me I'm going for Gaborik and a very good center-not Hossa-and one big Dman and call it a day
Posted by: Keith | July 01, 2009 at 07:05 AM