The Rangers’ problems are of their own making. More to the point, they fall more on the doorstep of general manager Glen Sather and coach John Tortorella than they do at the skates of the players who simply do not possess the necessities to compete at a high level.
Sather is responsible for a roster filled with players under contracts that are unmovable. Tortorella is fingered here not because of his uneven work behind the bench, but because of his hand in personnel decisions that seemed to be guided exclusively by his preference for speed and skill players at the expense of size and strength.
The Blueshirts can’t make a meaningful trade because they can’t afford to move the few assets other teams actually want. To wit: The Post has learned Sather recently offered young Hartford defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti to the Coyotes in exchange for young, talented and underachieving center Peter Mueller.
But Phoenix general manager Don Maloney, who had a hand in drafting Sanguinetti 21st overall in 2006 when serving as Sather’s assistant, didn’t bite. Maloney, we’re told, instead countered with a request for either Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan.
Of course he did. Of course the Rangers could not agree to the request. Of course no one wants anyone (or will return value) for anyone Sather is looking to deal.
The CBA grants big-market, high-revenue teams one advantage. It permits teams to cure cap ills by sending high-priced players to the AHL. It is the only way out. Yet, for reasons known only within the Garden’s executive offices, the Rangers have yet to avail themselves of this remedy.
The Rangers will never win anything with Michal Rozsival either on the roster or in the lineup. The veteran defenseman, who was given a four-year, $20 million free agent deal immediately following a horrid 2007-08, is now in the midst of his third straight terrible season.
Rozsival was dreadful from start to finish in Wednesday’s embarrassing 2-1 overtime defeat in Chicago. And yet when the Rangers made a move yesterday, it was to dispatch freshman Matt Gilroy to the AHL Wolf Pack.
This is the path of least resistance. It is the path most traveled by Sather and the Rangers.
Perhaps the GM is too stubborn to admit to his mistake regarding Rozsival, even as it plays out on the ice to thousands of pairs of eyes. Perhaps he lacks the gumption to tell CEO Jim Dolan that Cablevision must pony up millions to a minor leaguer. Or perhaps Dolan will not permit Sather to send expensive mistakes to Hartford.
But regardless whether it’s Public Option A, B or C, the result is the same. A player with an unmovable contract who has no business playing for the Rangers, is playing for the Rangers. He is playing for the Rangers because Tortorella won’t scratch him. The coach will scratch Aaron Voros or Enver Lisin, all right, but not Rozsival.
Accountability apparently is a fleeting concept.
It isn’t only Rozsival, of course. Wade Redden has been somewhat better than last season, but in the way a two-car collision is less damaging than a 12-vehicle pileup. When this season ends, Redden will have four more years to go on his deal that chews up $6.5 million of space annually.
Chris Drury has a no-move clause in his contract that carries an annual $7.05 million cap hit. But his sharp decline is every bit as much a factor in the Rangers’ issues as are Rozsival and Redden. That’s unmistakable.
Sather and Tortorella have constructed a broken roster that is already breaking down. There is only one way out. It’s called taking the road to Hartford.
Now is the time. For if not now, when?