Listen, given the confluence of circumstances featuring the unhealthy dynamic between Marian Gaborik and coach John Tortorella plus the slumping sniper’s $7.5 million charge next season under a cap that will decrease, general manager Glen Sather did quite well indeed Wednesday in sending No. 10 to Columbus in exchange for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett and John Moore.
That move, a day after the deal with San Jose for Ryane Clowe dramatically resets the Rangers’ season, adding a rocky road mentality to the club that had been absent for much of the rocky road the club had traveled before the extreme makeover produced a bonanza in Wednesday night’s 6-1 rout of the Penguins at the Garden.
“If we were where we should be this wouldn’t have happened,” said Brad Richards. “It’s a message to everybody this is not good enough.”
Cap issue or not, it should never have gotten to this with Gaborik, who twice hit the 40-goal pinnacle in his three full seasons on Broadway but never could quite convince Tortorella of his value as a winning hockey player.
It seems as if there are a lot of players who don’t seem to have the necessities required by this coach; who don’t take the body at every turn, who won’t fling themselves in front of pucks.
You hear a name and your first reaction isn’t necessarily, “He could help the Rangers,” but rather, “He could never play for Tortorella.”
At some point, that becomes the tail wagging the dog.
A coach who compromises his principles is a coach most often out of work. But it is a maestro’s responsibility to recognize an orchestra doesn’t consist of a percussion section alone. It takes strings, woodwinds and bass as well to make beautiful music.
The Rangers have hit a dramatic reset button over the last two days in dealing Gaborik and by sacrificing three draft picks to obtain Clowe. They are a deeper team, having used the deadline to add depth and to address deficiencies in grit and grind that arose over the summer with, most notably, the free agent defection of Brandon Prust to Montreal.
Quite rationally, the Rangers didn’t want to pay Prust the $10 million over four years he received from the Canadiens. The problem is, they have been paying ever since. They have paid with uninspired play that has them on the playoff bubble with 12 games to go, and eight of those on the road.
And they paid on Tuesday by sending a second-rounder and Florida’s previously acquired third-rounder (plus a conditional pick yet to be determined) to the Sharks for Clowe after already having dealt their 2013 No. 1 for Rick Nash.
Clowe — a bigger, more talented Prust — is an impending free agent, but it is believed his agent discussed the parameters of an extension with the Rangers before agreeing to waive his client’s no-trade to come to New York. Sather should be careful about that, even if the winger adds as much value down the stretch as he did in last night’s two-goal, one assist Broadway debut.
For long-term investments in 31-year-old power forwards — and certainly in the $4-5 million per neighborhood that Clowe, who will turn that age in September, is likely to receive — are dicey propositions.
The Rangers most surely got more than a bucket full of pucks for Gaborik, even if he’s one of the rare players around the NHL who can score by the bucketful. They got three relatively young ones — with Brassard a talented center, Moore an exceptional skater on the blue line, and Dorsett a tough pugilist — who could be here for a while.
The Blueshirts entered this season dramatically remade, more top-heavy, more talent-driven. Perhaps it is because Tortorella was deprived of a training camp during which to instill his values, but the coach was not able to get that group to respond.
Now, the Rangers have changed the group and the dynamic. It is on Tortorella to make it work and to direct this orchestra so it makes music to the Garden’s ears.