With Mats Sundin out of the picture, now where do the Rangers go, other than to San Jose for tonight’s match with the NHL-best 25-4-3 Sharks?
Well, nowhere, if GM Glen Sather continues to ignore the necessity of clearing cap space in order to position his team to be able to acquire the next important player to hit the market.
But if and when Sather stops attempting to be Mr. Nice Guy and is willing to place under-performing athletes on waivers even if that all but ends their NHL careers, the Rangers will seek to improve a defense that’s not just suspect, but also indictable.
“Had we been able to pull it off, Mats would have been a big help in a variety of ways, but I think we have a greater need anyway,” coach Tom Renney said by phone before yesterday’s practice in Los Angeles that preceded the charter to San Jose. “To me, I think we have to take a hard look at improving our depth on the back end.
“Right now, Corey Potter is a reasonable seventh defenseman, but [Wolf Pack defenseman] Brian Fahey is out with a concussion, and is [20-year-old Wolf Pack defenseman] Bobby Sanguinetti ready if we have an injury or two? It would be an opportunity for him in many ways, but I don’t know that’s the position the organization wants to be in.”
Depth is an issue on defense – there’s no question about that. But Wade Redden, Dimitri Kalinin and Michal Rozsival are far greater issues. Their play has been undermining the Rangers all year (if anything can be “undermining” a 22-11-2 team).
Rozsival was somewhat better in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over the Ducks and in Wednesday’s 3-2 overtime victory over the Kings, but Redden’s performance in Los Angeles was appalling and Kalinin’s work in both games was equally horrendous. There’s no logical reason why Potter shouldn’t play tonight in place of either Redden or Kalinin.
If the first 36 games represent an accurate picture of what Redden has to give, then he simply cannot be a Ranger. The same holds true for Kalinin. But even if they remain on the team, they don’t have to play every night, and even if they play every night, Renney has no excuse to give them ice time at the expense of Marc Staal, Dan Girardi and Paul Mara.
Staal – an all-star in the making – Girardi and Mara have not just been the club’s most reliable defensemen from Day 1, they have been the best puck-movers, the most physical and the most passionate. Good for them, not so good for the Rangers.
The addition of Sundin would not have changed that.