IF WE’VE learned any thing from this year’s playoffs, it’s that it is im possible to thrive in the NHL without elite offensive talent. Which means we have also learned — or have been reminded — how far away the Rangers are from contending for a championship.
The Penguins have Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the Caps have Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green, the Hurricanes have Eric Staal, and the Rangers . . . well, and the Rangers have no one remotely comparable. Fact is, the Blueshirts don’t have a forward who would be selected in the top, what, 100 in a league-wide dispersal draft.
Fact also is that it has become nearly impossible to get a top-end, difference-making talent any way other than by bottoming out and hitting the draft lottery jackpot, for it is rare indeed that an elite player gets to free agency in his prime.
Which brings us to 28-year-old Marian Gaborik, eligible to become a free agent on July 1 following a season in which he, a) turned down an $80 million contract extension from the Wild because he had no interest in continuing to play for Jacques Lemaire; and, b) was limited to 17 games because of a hip injury for which he underwent surgery in early January.
Gaborik is one of the NHL’s great talents, having scored 219 goals in 502 games after joining Minnesota as the third-overall selection in the 2000 Entry Draft (after Rick DiPietro and Dany Heatley). But he also has been a chronic visitor to the injured reserve, having played 65 games or fewer in four of his last five seasons. As such, he presents a significant risk, even though he nearly carried the Wild into the playoffs after returning for the final 11 games of the season.
The question is whether he is a risk worth taking for the Rangers, who historically have swung and missed in free agency more often than Alex Rodriguez in the playoffs.
And the answer is . . . well, the answer is a qualified yes, if the Blueshirts could somehow convince Gaborik to accept a one-year, incentive-laden contract for which he qualifies because of the number of days he spent on IR. It isn’t ideal, but the Rangers could apply up to approximately $4.25M in bonuses to the 2010-11 cap, if necessary.
They are choked under the cap, choked beyond belief really, when considering how little they have to show for their expenditures. But it would be a mistake of significant proportions if the Rangers don’t put on a full-court press July 1 to convince Gaborik to try Manhattan by promising to make him the NHL’s highest-paid player if he hits his marks.
There is no guarantee Ilya Kovalchuk ever will become available to the Rangers, none whatsoever. There is no player on the roster other than lone untouchable Henrik Lundqvist for whom the Rangers could acquire an elite offensive force by trade, though if we were in GM Glen Sather’s golf shoes, we’d be calling Ottawa and offering Marc Staal for Heatley, we’d be calling Tampa and offering Staal for Vincent Lecavalier or Steven Stamkos, we’d be calling Colorado and offering Staal for the third-overall selection in the Entry Draft, and you get our drift.
Forget Mike Cammalleri, a nice player who is going to get way too much money as a free agent. Forget acquiring Jonathan Cheechoo, who has had two consecutive bad seasons. Forget Brian Gionta, who belongs on the other side of the river. Forget B players.
Montreal and L.A., both of which have cap space and a serious interest in dealing for the very available Lecavalier, likely will be in on Gaborik if Tampa keeps its captain. Vancouver likely will be a player if the Sedins skip town. And Minnesota will try to convince Gaborik to stay home now that Lemaire has left the building.
But Gaborik’s history of injury may prevent him from hitting the long-distance home run he’s seeking. In that case, the potential reward overwhelms the risk of offering Gaborik a one-year, bonus-heavy contract to get him to Broadway, with the implied promise of riches to follow a healthy season.
*
All right, take your pick for a 1-1A middle: Malkin and Crosby in Pittsburgh; Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg in Colorado; or Sergei Fedorov–Steve Yzerman in Detroit.
Television industry functionaries can attempt to spin it anyway they like, but the decision by Versus to delay the Game 3 postgame show by a half-hour in order to show an episode of “Sports Soup” was a slap across the face to every hockey fan who had been watching. Commitment to hockey, indeed.
So let’s see, two more years with NBC for what will amount to somewhere between $100-150,000 per team per year. And Gary Bettman is trying to emulate the NFL’s television strategy?
When Mike Em rick did a promo for Versus’ World Ex treme Cage Fighting and Fanarchy, we thought he was talking about the DVD about the 1973-74 Flyers.
Finally, the concept of an automatic NHL suspen sion is kind of like the Rang ers power play, existing only in the ory.
larry.brooksnypost.com