.....is how this off-season may be remembered, no matter where the Swedish center ends up.
Mats Sundin's agent, J. P. Barry, told a Vancouver radio station that Sundin now has six teams interested, and while not providing names to protect some front offices "from scrutiny", he said, teams have told him they could make room.
The Rangers, with whom Sundin spoke before the Canadiens acquired negotiating rights from Toronto in late June (an agreement that expired), apparently are one of Barry's half-dozen, along with Montreal, the Canucks and Leafs.
We mentioned earlier this month that the Rangers were perilously close to the cap, but legally can exceed the $56.7 million---to about $62.3 million---before cutting down on Oct. 4. They have spare forwards to shed. Remember also that when Mike Barnett, now President and GM Glen Sather's senior adviser, was an agent for IMG for a dozen years, Sundin was a client.
That said, this remains a long shot because Sundin, 37, would have to accept far less money than elsewhere for a chance to play with countrymen Markus Naslund and Henrik Lundqvist in New York. But it does appear that Vancouver's offer of $20 million over two years hasn't wowed Sundin enough to stop listening and jump to Western Canada.
Sundin, who has a few weeks to decide, scored 78 points in 74 games for the Leafs last season, 32 goals and 46 assists. Sather has said he wants the new edition of the Rangers to be younger and faster. One player won't change that. Stranger things have happened.
Apparently, if Sundin is willing to make concessions for a short-term deal on a team that could contend for the Cup with him, who knows?
Trades to Atlanta and Los Angeles---who are below the salary floor---are possible. Nashville, Phoenix and Colorado are well below the cap.
Could the Rangers cobble together $3 million or more to clear space?
Purely for speculation: Prucha ($1.6 million), d-men Mara ($1.9), Kalinin ($2.1), Pock ($667,500)---couldn't Corey Potter at $500,000 replace one of 'em?---Rissmiller ($1), Fritsche ($875,000), Sjostrom ($840,000), Betts ($615,000).
We're not necessarily advocating acquiring Sundin; but would some of the above guys (five UFAs, three RFA's in 2009-10) be such massive losses?
This is surely a topic for today's 2 p.m. chat. Mats Madness in August....
Comments (21)
even if no other moves are made between the last move we did make and when the season starts, i'd like to know what moves were close to being pulled off, and any other moves Sather had in mind that fell through quickly. For instance, after hearing that Kopitar might be involved in that 3 team trade about 2 weeks ago, did Glen pick up the phone and see if L.A. would like anyone we had in exchange for Anze?
If the Kings trade Kopitar they seriously would have to be the dumbest organization of all time.
I don't believe a word of that rumor about Kopitar.
I think he has as much chance of being traded as Crosby or Ovechkin would have.
Agreed
Loved the article Zipay. For a month I have been thinking that the Rangers were still in it given the Swedish contingent, Barnett, and Sundin's original interest in NY. Here are some other thoughts:
1) If Sundin was really interested in just the money... wouldn't he have signed with Vancouver already? He obviously wants to win and probably play for the Rangers, but he is struggling with his decison based on the fact that NY just don't have as much to offer.
2) Also... has anyone thought about why Shanny hasn't been given an answer? It has to be because of Sundin.
3) Given all of this.. I still would be shocked if Sather could get his paws on Sundin and move this team from a possible contender to being a serious contender.
Why is it that when it comes to Rangers nobody trusts the homegrown prospects to succeed and be impact players in NHL unless they are grossly overrated like Staal, Tyutin, etc.?
Bob,
are you talking about the fans trusting young players or the organization?
Because whether or not the fans trust young unproven players doesn't really matter.
they woud move Rozy in my opinion. the only way to make it work $ wise.
our expectations this year should not be that high. our chance is 2 or 3 years away assuming we can get Cherepanov here.
"are you talking about the fans trusting young players or the organization?"
both, as well as the media and non fans.
i think rozi is most likely to be moved as well since he's at 5/yr and i think sather grabbed him not knowing if he'd get redden too. since he did get redden, i think rozi's the most expendable at his contract. that opens a defensive spot too for a young guy
Bob,
I think you have to give credit to the organization for trusting young players more and more each year.
Right now we only have 3 players over 30 years old and I think you have to give credit to the organization for playing lots of the kids and Sather for refusing to deal kids at the deadline the last few years to make a run.
The fans and media? That's a different story.
leetch,
you could be right, it's hard to believe that they would trade Rozi after just signing him to the big deal, but maybe you are right, maybe they signed Rozi while waiting for Redden to say yes to their offer just in case.
crazier things have happened
Strange. On XM Home Ice earlier this morning, they cited the same interview with Barry on Vancouver's Team 1040 in saying the Rangers were NOT among the 6 teams in the mix.
Dude, In addition, a similar recent happening was the resigning of Tyuting, ableit mid-season though, and then trading him this summer without him playing 1 game under his new contract terms. We shall see though.
acquire Sundin n then trade him to dallas to get Avery back along with picks
I'm sorry, Bob. Did you say that Staal was grossly overrated? Please tell me you didn't. I agree with Toots, but not Staal.
I'd love to get rid of Roszival's 5 mil cap hit, but who could both afford and want him? Atlanta seems too stingy, so does that leave a trade with LA the only option?
Avery was ok but he was not going to be the huge difference maker going forward. plenty of others as a group can do what he did. the team is moving in a different direction so give it up. must be from all those who bought his jersey.
Prucha and Rozsival to LA for Patrick O'sullivan and Denis Gauthier !!
I think Sather signed Rozy so abruptly because he had intentions of trading him all along ... Almost every team wants to acquire a "puck-moving D-man" so it makes Rozy more appealing trade-bait then anyone else on the Roster.
He probably thought a) i could keep him? b) i can trade him? or c) lose him for nothing? He obviously made the right choice by signing him.
I dont think that Rismiller will be on this years roster either. He was an early july 1st signing and the team has taken on a new dynamic since then. Plus, we signed Voros for 3 years, so he is obviously more appealing then Rissmiller.
Prucha 1.6 million -- Rozsival 5.0 million -- Rissmiller 1.0 million off the cap looks good to me even if we dont sign Sundin and just trade for the LA guys
With Mats Sundin it's simple, he doesn't know if he wants to return to the NHL or not. It kind of sucks as a fan because you've gotta listen to all this speculation when if the Rangers were to get Sundin, it'd basically mean reversing at least one or two moves they made by trading Rissmiller, Voros, etc.(And who's going to want these guys? I'm not sure what we were thinking giving these guys 1 mil a year when we've got players who are probably better than them in Hartford like Laurie Korpikoski and Dane Byers..)
We'd have to bend over backwards. It's not going to happen. And Sundin is not going to sign for $3 million dollars a year, which is about what we'd have room for if we just traded Prucha. Look at the market this year. Sean Avery got $4 million a year for 4 years. As much as we all like Avery, lets be realistic, he's a glorified 3rd liner. Mats Sundin is a future hall of famer, about to sign his last contract. It may not be about the money for him, but this is a business and his agent isn't going to sit back and let him sign for anything less than $6 million a year, you can bank on that. That's money we don't have.
If Sundin was on Sather's radar there's no way he goes out and spends the kind of money he did on Rissmiller, Voros, Kalinin, and Fritsche. Just no way. I bet his interest wasn't very serious, especially when he saw the chance to get Naslund for a much cheaper contract than what Sundin would've wanted.
Upside of getting Sundin far outweighs losses that must be incurred to secure him. That said, chances are slim of it happening. However, Rangers are a class organization and Sundin defines that as a player. His addition would put them over the top for at least this year and would give the younger players a taste of the elite status Sundin would seal for them. All of this is only a possibility, but the chance is reasonable enought to have an air of "just maybe". I really don't think any of the players on the current roster who remain would object in the least......
Neil,
What does it really say about how much your franchise values the concept of a team if they're willing to dish a handful of players they just signed/re-signed to go after ONE GUY? If I'm on the team, it's got nothing to do with what kind of player Sundin is, it's more the principle of the matter and that management just got rid of 3 to 5 of my teammates to get one player. And it has me not trusting management and probably being a little upset with them. And its not nearly the same as a mid-season trade, you just signed these guys to new contracts. I know contracts mean as little as ever in pro-sports these days, but come on now. Prucha is the only player that was already under contract going into this year worth dumping other than Thomas Pock(who will not make much of an impact on the salary cap..). And with the money we supposedly owe Jagr and Shanahan, we're about 1 million dollars under the cap. Sundin, even if he wants to play here and is willing to play for a discount, is going to require at least 6 million dollars cap space.
So really we'd have to probably have to clear up 8 million dollars cap space, not just to make room for Sundin, but the guys in the minors that would have to replace the handful of guys we traded.
It just doesn't seem mathematically possible.
And as pointed out, if Sather really wanted Sundin why would he have spent the kind of money he did on guys like Voros, Rissmiller, Kalinin, and Roszival? Say what you want about the guy but he's paid the big bucks to put together the largest market NHL team..he has to have SOME idea of what he's doing.