New York Rangers: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Today we look at New York Rangers' unrestricted free agents Ruslan Fedotenko and Todd White.

Ruslan Fedotenko, Wing
Reasons to stay – Seems to enjoy playing for Torts, meets Torts’ demands of skillful and physical

Reasons to leave – May get a free agent offer too sweet to turn down as his last contract was for $1M/year. Young talent nipping at his heels in the form of two year AHL vet Evgeny Grachev, along with pro hockey noobs Christian Thomas, and Carl Hagelin.

Analysis – The Rangers are a team that desperately needs the production and defensive steadiness of a player like Fedotenko. Fedotenko is a veteran winger. The Ukranian forward has 10 years of NHL hockey under his belt. In seasons where he plays at least 60 games (the fewest he’s ever played in a NHL season is 65) he can be counted on for at least 10 goals and 25 points. The Rangers also need his flexibility as Fedotenko can play both right and left wing. The flip side of the coin is that the Rangers may be getting ready to integrate young forwards into the team. If Fedotenko re-signs on a one way contract, he could become cover if any of the aforementioned young left wingers rise to prominence.

Speculation – Too close to call. Whether or not Fedotenko re-signs with New York depends on too many x-factors. If he should re-sign, the 32 year-old Fedotenko could find himself riding the pine, existing as a living reminder that the club has experienced options if forwards get lazy. If the Rangers’ future stars aren’t ready for the penetratingly bright lights of Manhattan, Fedotenko will be sorely needed to both score goals and help the defense keep its shape and composure. On the strength of his professional relationship with Tortorella, and the current needs of the Rangers for flexible veteran forwards, Fedotenko probably re-signs on a one year/one way deal plus incentive bonuses.


Todd White, Center/Wing
Reasons to stay – Few that I can think of as he was demoted to the Connecticut Whale, passing through waivers to do so (this means that no one else in the league wanted to take on his contract).

Reasons to leave – Doesn’t seem to fit into the Sather/Torterella vision of the Rangers’ future as he is not an intimidating figure, outstanding in ability, or young (White turned 36 this May). The Rangers have signed a number of forwards that will compete for places with the Rangers and their AHL affiliate.

Analysis – Played 18 games for the Rangers with little result. Had 5 points in 9 games for Hartford/Connecticut in the AHL.


Speculation – White is an older player, didn’t get a ton of games, his contract has expired, and he passed through waivers without any sniffs upon his demotion to the AHL. White will test free agency and examine whether or not he wants to continue as a professional hockey player. White is nearing the end of his career - may retire or accept sweet free agent dollars to provide depth for a rebuilding team. White is clearly being phased out, with the Rangers recouping the $2.375M in cap space. Don’t expect him back.

Tomorrow's segment will feature unrestricted free agents Jeremy Williams and Chad Kolarik.

New York Rangers: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

This is the first in a series discussing the New York Rangers' players who are currently unrestricted or restricted free agents. Today we begin with unrestricted free agent forwards Alexander Frolov and Vaclav Prospal.

Alexander Frolov, Left Wing

Reasons to stay – New York is a major media market. The Rangers are in the process of building a team that will contend for years. Failed to boost his salary/trade value and needs a complete and successful season to do so.

Reasons to leave – Trying to stay out of Torts’ doghouse gets stale quickly. Frolov admittedly signed with New York to boost his salary/trade value so perhaps has little attachment to club or city.

Analysis – Frolov isn’t a bad player, but at his current salary of $3M/year the Rangers expect much more than 43 games and 16 points. With his production dwindling (points since ‘06-’07: 71, 67, 59, 51, and then 16 in his injury shortened stint in Manhattan) the 29 year-old Frolov would have to accept a drastic salary cut to stay.

Speculation – As his agent will expect more money, and the Rangers won’t want to give it, expect Frolov to hit the bricks and test unrestricted free agency. If he and his agent can’t find the deal they are looking for in the NHL, expect Frolov to head for Russia in search of big KHL rubles.

Vaclav “Vinny” Prospal, Left Wing/Center

Reasons to stay – Prospal has enjoyed success with the Rangers. He seems to enjoy playing for Torts. Though the Rangers are attempting to build something long lasting for the future.

Reasons to leave – Prospal has offered his services to the Rangers at a steep discount for two years now as he nears the end of his career – money talks.

Analysis – When healthy (60 games or better), Prospal is a reliable 40-80 point player. Prospal has played well, producing better numbers in less games than teammates that make far much more money than he does. Prospal can play center as well as wing, and allows the Rangers great flexibility, which the Rangers need, as Tortorella loves to bench players to make his point.

Speculation – Rangers will again offer Prospal a short term contract but with lucrative incentives. As Prospal isn’t getting any younger, he will likely re-sign with the Rangers.

Tune in for tomorrow where we will look at the situations of Ruslan Fedotenko and Todd White.

FIFA and/or EA Sports must really hate the United States

So I was at home, hangin’ out playing FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa for XBox 360. You might ask “Why?”. I would answer that my FIFA 2011 game disc is useless now because of small fractures that occur when placing the game disc on its spindle in the case, and when taking the game disc off of said spindle. It’s the second time that I have had a disc damaged this way. At $60 a go, and no way to really contact anyone at the company it’s a bit irritating. But I digress. We’re here to talk about FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa. Good news! I won the World Cup with America....wOOt! Won fair and square Portugal 0:2 United States...it was awesome. So I wanted to see if I had won the Golden Boot for Jozy Altidore. Apparently not. Apparently he had only scored the two goals in the final, and that’s all. I knew that couldn’t be true, so I checked the team stats for United States. It turns out that the game records indicated that NO ONE Had scored a goal other than Jozy scoring his two in the Final. This is impossible. Also for what is probably the first time in the history of the World Cup (video game or real-life) no one from the championship side was selected to the All-Tournament team or won either the Gold Ball, Silver Ball, or Bronze Ball. Weird eh? Skeptical?...I thought you’d be, so I made some photographs of the screens to prove it. FIFA and/or EA Sports...shame on you. Do you really feel the need to blot out American achievements even in a video game? We yanks have been unable to win the actual World Cup Finals...could you at least let us dream of doing it?

p.s. - It’s hurtful when the game news text in FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa keeps saying that every team in the world should beat the USA...You would like to think America's recent positive results against Argentina, Spain, & England would entitle the USA to a little bit of football respect...apparently not.

Week 4 Q&A

1) According to the text "Remediation" the author uses the phrase (in relation to Hollywood's use of computer graphics)
"remediation operates in both directions" - what is meant by this?

The author is articulating that new technologies, such as CGI and digital compositing, have the ability to reshape film and television. In turn, the reverse is also possible. Television and film directors can use their media to reshape ways that these new technologies are implemented.

2) What does Michael Benedikt, author of "Cyberspace the First Steps" introduction argue had happened to modern city by the late 60s, having become more than 'a collection of buildings and streets'?

Benedikt stated that “...the modern city was more than a collection of buildings and streets...The city became seen as an immense node of communications a messy nexus of messages, storage and transportation facilities, a massive education machine of its own complexity, involving equally all media, including buildings...”

3) In his short story "Skinner's Room" William Gibson describes how Skinner watches a tiny portable 'pop-up' TV set. What can skinner no longer remember? (remediation in relation to television as an idea is neatly summed up in this sentence!)

Skinner “...can’t remember when he ceased to be able to distinguish commercials from programming...”

(Burns and Allen during the birth of television had commercials during programming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwPFvWwnQ8, for Carnation Condensed Milk among others.)

4) Author of the famous pamphlet "Culture Jamming" Mark Dery paraphrases Umberto Eco and his phrase "semiological guerrilla warfare". What does this mean?

“semiological guerrilla warfare” would be mass subversion of advertising (or of any medium) for the purposes of more realistically rendering products and their effects rather than the sanitized version presented by profit seeking companies.

5) From Mark Dery's pamphlet, briefly describe "Subtervising"

The act of “subvertising” is to take an existing advertisement and subvert the advertisers intent by altering it in ways that draw attention to the true nature of the products and services presented.

New York Rangers: Building Through Youth? Alexander Frolov, Welcome to the Fish Bowl

The Rangers have undoubtedly done a good thing by signing Alexander Frolov. Where Frolov goes, he generally tends to win things. In international play he has won five medals with the Russian national team. This includes his World Junior championship gold medal, and also a world championship gold medal from a year ago.

For seven years, interrupted only by a stint back in Russia during the 2004 NHL lockout, he has been a faithful servant of the Los Angeles Kings hockey club. During his tenure with the Kings, he has scored 168 goals and 213 assists for 381 points in 536 matches. This translates to roughly a goal every three games and nearly a point a game (.71).

Shortly after the deal on July 27th, there was a Stanley Cup match from this Spring on television. I watched Frolov play several shifts. His intensity level seemed to be quite high. Frolov wasn’t shy about hitting, and also set up a goal with a one-time pass from the side of the net. Effort, execution, and desire don’t seem to be problems for Frolov, which is good as Ranger’s coach John Tortorella will consistently demand it of him.

On the negative side:

1. Frolov has only signed for one year, admittedly to increase his bargaining position with NHL clubs. The Rangers are a club desperately searching for consistency and continuity.

2. For an organization that insists that they are building through youth, signing a 28 year old free agent to fill a gap that could be filled by one of the Rangers’ promising young farmhands at Hartford, doesn’t exactly demonstrate confidence in the club’s young prospects.

We keep hearing about how Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider, Ryan Bourque, and Evgeny Grachev among other prospects in the Rangers’ organization are going to be stars. Going to be.

During an NHL on NBC intermission analysis presented by Mike Milbury and Pierre Mcguire, Mcguire said something like ‘…the future looks bright for the New York Rangers..’ to which Milbury contended along the lines of ‘…great, then I’ll buy tickets to the future.’

When is the future going to be now for the New York Rangers?

US Soccer: Qualifying Cycle for World Cup 2014 Brazil

The World Cup in South Africa is all in the books, and the United States team is going to do what it always does. Rebuild, and have another go at it. It’s the human way - things get torn down or destroyed, and we rebuild them.

The US squad for the next World Cup, to be held in Brazil in 2014, is likely to be one that is very different from the one we know today. Although being over 30 years-old isn’t a death sentence in football, the extra mileage does make it difficult to quickly recover (or get up from) from those knocks that weren’t such a big deal when you were 22.

Let’s use our crystal ball, and see what things might be like in 2014 for the good ol’ US of A.

Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo are 31. Jay DeMerit is 30. 8 other players in the 2010 World Cup squad for America will be over 30 when the 2014 finals in Brazil roll around. You would imagine that Landon Donovan, fitness permitting (at age 32), will make an attempt to feature in a 4th World Cup Finals. Donovan is a generational talent, and I can think of no replacement for him in the American team at this time. So if he is fit, it’s a safe bet that he will be there, provided that the United States qualifies. The same may apply to Dempsey who will be 31 in 2014.

Goalkeeper:

I can’t think that it will be anyone other than Tim Howard in the number 1 shirt, unless he is ill or injured. Brad Guzan (28 in Summer 2014) and Chris Seitz are also candidates for the job, and/or backing up Howard.

Defenders:

Of the group that went to South Africa it is possible that none of them will play in the next World Cup Finals. So, you have to wonder if maybe it will look something like choosing 7 from this lot:

Chad Marshall, Heath Pearce, Drew Moor, Edgar Castillo, Etchu Tabe, Jamil Fearrington, Erik Hort, Eric Lichaj, Ryan Miller, Jay Needham, Michael Orozco, Michael Parkhurst, Jonathan Spector, Zak Whitbread, Marvell Wynne Jr., Dasan Robinson, Tim Ward, Carlos Borja, Jonathan Bornstein, Eric Brunner, Kyle Davies, George John, Mike Chabala, Ryan Cochrane, A.J. De La Garza, Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Kevin Alston, Seth Sinovic, Jeremy Hall, Tim Ream, Tony Beltran, Bobby Burling, Ike Opara, Jason Hernandez, Patrick Ianni, Nathan Sturgis, Tyson Wahl

Midfield:

From: Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, José Torres, Stuart Holden, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Landon Donovan, Robbie Rogers, Sacha Kljestan, Alejandro Bedoya, Eddie Gaven, Dax McCarty, Freddy Adu,

Forwards:

From: Jozy Altidore, Robbie Findley, Eddie Johnson, Charlie Davies, Mike Grella, Marcus Tracy

If that seems like a long list of defenders, it’s because I think the United States has to almost completely rebuild their back four due to the old guard aging out. So it’s a matter of who is going to step up and play the best at defense.

Generally the optimum age for outfield players seems to be 24-28 years old. This is usually the best window in terms of fitness and experience - any older and fitness tends to dip, any younger and inexperience may cause a shortfall in performance on the world stage. A few players play in world cups past the age of 30, especially goalkeepers who have a much harder time amassing their match experience.

Stay tuned…

New York Rangers: The Off-Season to Date

The NHL off-season. Free agents leave, free agents re-sign. Players get traded, and then we see what remains.

The Rangers have re-signed 7 of their free agent players.

The Rangers added 8 new players through trade or free agency.

The Rangers lost 12 players to trade or free agency.

The most notable free agent that has not yet re-signed with the club is defenseman Marc Staal, who is arguably the Rangers’ best and most consistent defenseman. Let’s hope that Glen Sather manages to re-sign Staal…because if he doesn’t, I don’t think that he has much longer before he gets the sack.

Notable free agents that have re-signed with the Rangers are: Vaclav Prospal and Dan Girardi.

Notable additions to the Rangers are goaltender Martin Biron, enforcer Derek Boogaard, and the entry-level signings of World Junior Championship star center Derek Stepan, and defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

Noteworthy players leaving the Ranger organization (through trade or free agency) are defenseman Ilkka Heikkinen (HC Sibir Novosibirsk of the KHL), enforcer Jody Shelley (who signed with arch-rival Philadelphia for 3 years), Olli Jokinen (who signed on for another run in Calgary), defensemen Corey Potter (Pittsburgh), Bobby Sanguinetti (Carolina for two draft picks), forwards P.A. Parenteau (to the Islanders), Corey Locke (Ottawa), and goaltender Steve Valiquette (CSKA Moscow of the KHL).

True statement: The Rangers as an organization have gotten a lot younger, and a lot meaner.

True statement: With the addition of Biron, King Henrik won’t have to play 70 matches this year.

Stay tuned…