There’s one guy and one guy only the Rangers intend to target when the free-agent market opens on July 1, and everyone has known it for months.
Brad Richards isn’t just the elite talent the Rangers lack, isn’t just the upper-echelon first-line center the team lacks, isn’t only the power play quarterback the Rangers do not have, he is a true believer in John Tortorella, the coach with whom the pivot won a Stanley Cup (and the Conn Smythe Trophy) with Tampa Bay in 2004.
The problem is, it’s risky business for the Rangers to wait until July 1 for the Dallas center to become available to the highest bidder when a feeding frenzy marks the opening hours of free agency, and prices soar beyond reason due to the extremely limited supply of difference-makers on the market.
The Maple Leafs, who likely fancy themselves an elite player from being players in the Eastern playoff picture and who have oodles of cap space, will be in on Richards. The Kings, whose GM, Dean Lombardi, has had top talents slip through his fingers almost annually, are unlikely to be outbid for Richards. There may be a dark-horse franchise looking to make a splash that will drive the price up on the center who turned 31 early this month.
Dallas, still ownerless, meanwhile, has no shot even if the Stars wish to continue to delude themselves the way they deluded themselves at the trade deadline. At some point though, it’s up to GM Joe Nieuwendyk to accept reality and see what he might be able to get for Richards’ rights before No. 91 walks out the door for nothing in return.
This is the time for Rangers GM Glen Sather to strike, to make an offer to Nieuwendyk, whose eyes were way bigger than his stomach at the deadline when the Rangers came calling . . . and calling . . . and calling.
It’s important for the Rangers to acquire Richards, as estimable a pro as there is in the league and a player who makes his teammates better, but it is equally important for the team not to make a mistake on the contract.
It’s equally important the Rangers know all there is to know about Richards’ health in the aftermath of the concussion he sustained on Feb. 13 that sidelined him for nearly a month before the center returned for the final 16 games of the season.
The Rangers have a comfortable amount of cap space for 2011-12, but the long term is the issue, given the expiration of the CBA after this season and the league’s intention to slash the cap by a significant number through a variety of mechanisms.
This is the time for the Rangers to get Richards to New York, to get him acquainted with the organization. This is the time for the club’s medical staff to conduct its due diligence. This is the time for conversations about the contract, when there is time for give-and-take and careful consideration as opposed to a few hours of sometimes panicky offers, counter-offers and ultimatums.
Maybe Richards will want no more than five years, a term that should be perfectly acceptable. Maybe Richards will be willing to play for $6 million or so if he sees taking that deal would allow the Rangers to retain maneuverability on the market. Let’s face it, coming off a five-year contract worth $39 million, Richards doesn’t have to suck down every nickel that will be thrown at him.
The Flyers got out in front in 2007, sending a first-rounder to Nashville on June 18 of that year for the rights to impending free agents Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell, both of whom were signed to long-term deals in unhurried negotiations during a window of exclusivity.
The Rangers have two second-round picks in the Entry Draft that will be held in Minnesota on June 24-25, their own at 45th overall plus the 57th overall they own through last year’s trade of Bobby Sanguinetti to Carolina.
We’d suggest Sather offer Nieuwendyk the 57th-overall selection for the rights to Richards, for the right to get a head start on 2011-12, for the right to avoid the rush-hour frenzy of July 1. For the right reason.
*
Derek Boogaard‘s death at the age of 28 is tragic regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.
But the implication from Georges Laraque the Rangers somehow turned their back on Boogaard in his time of need is outrageous.
And suggestions the team told Boogaard to go home with a week to go in the season so he could work on his conditioning for next year are silly.
Slap Shots has learned management essentially staged an intervention with Boogaard at the club’s practice rink in late March that resulted in the 28-year-old’s re-entry into the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program.
The Rangers did what they could. The physicians and counselors in the program did what they could.
There is no need to point fingers.
*
Given the cozy and 10-year, $2 billion relationship between the NHL and Comcast/NBC, if ESPN wins the bidding for the TV rights to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Gary Bettman is likely to dig in even harder against the league’s continued participation in the Games.
And by the way, that 10-year contract is a significant reason the league appears indifferent to the imminent loss of the ninth-largest television market in the country Atlanta represents.
*
Finally, Gramps Shots: Welcome to the world’s newest and most precious Brooksie, five-day old Scott Morrison Brooks.
We know what GM Joanna Brooks and coach Jordan Brooks did.
They did great.