Swedish left wing Markus Naslund, who played in Vancouver for 12 years is the newest Ranger, inking a two-year deal. They also added defenseman Dmitri Kalinin from Buffalo.
Naslund, who turns 35 on July 30, was 25-30-55 last season, and had four goals in a dozen playoff games for the Canucks. He had been the captain there for eight years. "I wanted to be signing with a Cup contender," he said.
"Right from noon on July 1, my eye was on the Rangers, it took a little longer than I thought," said Naslund, who said he spoke with former coach Tom Renney several times. "Having Henrik back there was a big selling point for me. I think that's where you have to start building a team...."
Comments (24)
Kalinin too...
that helps the D
yeah, not bad signings at all
no more Jags
Yeah that pretty much leaves Jarg out of the picture all together. Not bad signings thou.
I know its early, but I fail to see how this group is going to have "chemistry" together... or at least compared the group we just came from in 07-08
you know what though, we didn't win in 07-08, so, we needed a different chemistry
tsn says its a 2 year deal for Naslund
I don't like it. :(
I would think that Sather and gang believe this group of UFA-pick-ups and the trade are exactly what they needed to surround Gomez and Drury with.
Yes, we're still missing a crease clearing d-man. But hey, we have youth, new blood and leadership in the swedish form.
DRURY FOR CAPTAIN!
Slick
Dude - Touche.. good point lol. Guess its u to Gomer and Dru to lead the way in the dressing room.
shanny, jagr and straka needed to be replaced as there skills diminished quite alot this season.
kalinin is 5th on the depth chart i assume, we still a banger back there.
naslund is a great addition, more suited to play with gmoez than jagr was.
zherdev-gomer-naslund 1st line aint to bad
Another trade is coming.
too many 3rd/4th liners. Too many centers.
hey Tj long time.
I was thinking Drury with gomer and Naslund
Zherdev with Dubdo and ??? Prucha ???
You got an awesome player in Naslund. He had no offensive support here and had to play the last two seasons with juniors and plugs and he still managed to get 25 goals/55 points. Good character and loyal. I can't wait to see how he does with some talent around him for a change.
Good Luck Nazzy
Markus Naslund is off the available list for free agents, as the Swedish winger has signed a 2-year contract with the New York Rangers worth $8 million.
Interesting sign Nasland to 4 mil a year deal and Kalinin as a filler until Sang is ready for the Big times. Interesting indeed, might still have 4 mil left to play with.
Naslund ?? God, how can you people eat this sh!t up and say this is a good move. Another player in the decline signs with the Rangers.
Wonder how much we signed Kalinin for. If its more than Toots, its a f@cking waste.
Why do we bother talking about chemistry anymore ?
Naslund loyal? To whom? To the highest bidder? Haha, that's not loyalty, that's self interest.
Naslund WAS a good player, now he's older and slower and less sharp. If Rangers are expecting him to lead them to a cup ... they might as well have hanged on to Jagr.
Oh, and playing in Vancouver on the top line with the Sedin twins or on the second line with Morrison is not exactly "playing with juniors and plugs". He'll repeat the 25goals/55points one more time in NY. But Jagr had 25/71 as well, so where's the big improvement?
Why dont you open your eyes Mr. YeahRight, Naslund is 2 years younger than Jagr, and costing probably 3 million dollars less at least, there's your improvement. Sure, he had a bad season last year, may be on a bit of the downturn, but for 4 million he can turn out to be one hell of a deal. He played with the Sedin twins very little, id say MAYBE half the season, if that. Worst comes to worst, SOMEONE would love to have him at the trading deadline for that price.
Really like the Nas signing...he'll have Gomer to pass to him (something he didn't have last year)...not only that, but he add character and experience for the young forwards....don't se Jags back, we need the leftover $ for a bruising D. Think our next C is going to be Gomez.......how would we rate Sather this year?...probably a C+/B....what do you all think?
Hope GoNucks is right and YeahRight is wrong. Being a Met fan I fear YeahRight got it correct. This team is now Met like, a lot of still good but on the down side plus untapped “upside” and reputations of playing hard when they damm well please(In fairness this is the perfect description of the departed Jagr). I am still pissed that Avery is gone. I am glad I do not know Avery personally but I liked him on my team. Not great stats but they will rue letting him go like the Mets rued letting go of Ray Knight
Well, Haha, my eyes are wide open.
Naslund made $6 mil last season, now he took a pay cut to $4 mil. I'm sure Jagr would have taken a similar paycut if he wanted to re-sign. So there goes one of your "improvements".
As for 35 versus 37 years old, Jagr and Naslund have different body types and playing styles, so you can't simply compare their ages and say "here, this one is better". Jagr can take a body check or some roughing, Naslund used his speed and skill in the past to avoid those but now that he's older and slower he can't anymore and instead has to grind it out. That's not his style, hence his declining stats over the past 5 years. There goes your other "improvement".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that Rangers keep Jagr (unless he accepts a big pay cut; doubtful), I'm just saying that what they're getting is NOT the 2002-2003 Naslund. It's the 2007-2008 Naslund, a year older.
Not bad signings at all, if this is the team that ends up starting the season I'd say they're at least slightly better than last year's team, which is actually pretty good considering the team was pretty darn good last year.
Hopefully Avery leaving tho won't hurt them too much, remember the team didn't play as well when he wasn't in the lineup, and wasn't even a playoff team in 2006-2007 before they picked him up (although they didn't have the talent they have now then).
Just find it interesting how Sather preached how the Rangers needed to focus on getting younger (i.e. Zherdev) and then turns around and signs a 35-year old winger (i.e. Naslund). Once again, though, this team is appearing to be very top heavy with little depth outside of the first two lines.
Naslund was a very loyal Vancouver Canuck IMO. The team has imploded and he spent enough years there. Good for him for being good to himself. I welcome him cause he is a quality guy. It is going to be so great this season watching how the scoring will be spread.
He's 35, who cares. The Rangers are getting younger by the minute, they can afford a 35 year old who still plays hard and scores. Nice addition.
And even better is that division rivals won't get an easy ride figuring out the Rangers attack any more (sorry Jags, yes I was talking about you). They are going to have to work a lot harder than they did last season
Kalinin sucks... epic underachiever.
Not a good sign. Mark my words you will be itching to get him off your team in a couple years. I know from experience as a Buffalo fan.
Good luck!
Naslund didn't make the playoffs last year... scored 4 goals in the 07 playoffs.