So...let me get this straight. Years ago, Glen Sather inked checking forward Bobby Holik to an outrageously long and expensive contract. He did the same thing again with Chris Drury and Scott Gomez - lots and lots of dollars over many years for slightly better than average players. Then he did it again with Wade Redden last summer - except Redden isn't even better than average anymore. Marian Gaborik was the lottery winner this summer. At least he's a phenomenal talent I guess. Shame about the tissue paper groin though.
But suddenly, 3.9M for one year is too much for 24 year old Nikolai Zherdev? Forget about whether Zherdev is actually worth the money or not (seems like a decent bet to me) - how they hell does Sather live with that kind of cognitive dissonance? The irony itself should be causing his skull to explode like a victim in a Scanners film.
I mean, really - WTF is Sather doing this season? We're nearly a week into August and the Ranagers have just 11 NHL caliber forwards and 4 NHL defensemen signed. They have a significant RFA still twisting in the wind (Dubinsky) and all of 3.6M in cap space left. That's right...a team icing this line-up:
Avery - Drury - Gaborik
Kotalik - Higgins - Callahan
Voros - Arnason - Rissmiller
Brashear - Boyle - Lisin
??
Redden - Rozsival
Staal - Girardi
Gilroy - ??
??
is not only walking away from Zherdev, but is basically a cap team as well. When looking at the roster and cap situation, keep in mind that 37 year old Donald Brashear was signed to a 2.8M, two year contract (1.4M cap hit) this year. Seriously.
I'm starting to think that Sather doesn't really watch hockey anymore and that his impressions of players and teams are remnants from when he was actually involved in the game and not some overly tanned stuffed shirt big wig in New York. He must basically make his moves based on fuzzy name recognition. Kinda like Mr. Burns picking stocks. And his underlings are too spineless to tell him he doesn't have a clue...
Mr. Burns: Where did I go wrong? I made all the right moves, didn't I?
Burns' Underlings: Yes, sir. Absolutely.
Mr. Burns: Oh, I see it now; you're nothing but a bunch of yes-men. I was making all the wrong moves, and you were too gutless to tell me!
Burns' Underlings: Yes, sir. Absolutely. Every move the wrong one.
