The season is over, and the offseason plan

The Rangers have been eliminated from the 2013 playoffs by the Boston Bruins in game 5 of their series. After the expectations were cup, there will be major changes, the Rangers will most likely fire head coach John Tortorella and buyout Brad Richards, who they signed in the 2011 offseason on a 9 year, $60 million contract,he is currently in year 2 of that deal. Needless to say he has not been living up to that deal. In my opinion, the Rangers should sign Ryan Clowe to a 2 or 3 year deal, for about 10,000,000 per year. They should also sign Jaromir Jagr to a 1 year deal worth $52,000  or the veterans minimum, and Jarome Inginla, to a $20,000,000 contract, for 3 years. In the draft they should try to pick up Max Domi son of former NHL enforcer Tie Domi. Instead of buying him out the Rangers should trade Brad Richards to (in my crazy completely not true wishful thinking mind) the Colorado Avalanche for Seth Jones, but in reality they should maybe trade him for a 2nd or 3rd round pick and maybe a prospect from somewhere. However, I have now realized the entire article I have been neglecting the salary cap, the Rangers only have $13,555,833 in salary cap space, and after playing around with capgeek’s salary cap calculator the salary cap space is only 7,826,131. That is after I resigned, Carl Hagelin, Mats Zucarello, Ryan Clowe, Derek Stepan, and Ryan Mcdonaugh. I also signed Bobby Ryan, called up JT Miller, Dylan Mcilrath and Ryan Bourque, who is the son of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque. I also traded Aaron Asham and demoted Michael Del Zotto. So after all of that the Rangers would have $9,751,131 in salary cap space. The Rangers NEED to free up more than 9,751,131 in cap space because Henrik Lundqvist, Brian Boyle, Ryan Callahan, Darrell Powe, Michael Del Zotto, Marty Biron, Ryan Bourque, Stu Bickel, Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi are all free agents, and they will all demand top dollar. I think the Rangers can get Lundqvist and Callahan cheap, because they like being rangers and for the better of the team will sign cheap, but Del Zotto is probably going to demand top 5 defensmen money, and so is Dan Girardi, I would be fine with letting Bickel go, but we need Biron. Marty Biron, is a starting NHL goaltender who is just behind one of the best goalies in the NHL. They should resign Bourque too, who will probably ask for a few million dollars, depending on how he plays next year and if he is called up or not etc… As well, Malkin is a free agent and he is going to demand lots of money and the Sedins’ will as well, and Stasny will probably demand upwards of $15,000,000.  I truly believe the Rangers will not win a cup unless something serious happens aka James Dolan sells the team, I understand that will not happen but I would love for it to happen.

Bobby Holik Takes the Time to talk Favorite Moments On and Off the Ice

Bobby Holik Takes the Time to Talk Favorite Moments On and Off the Ice

By Max O’Neill

                  A wish came true when Bobby Holik answered my tweet a while back and agreed to an interview; unfortunately, things came up and we had to wait till April 6^th, 2013. It is safe to say it was well worth the wait. We talked about a range of things for over half an hour, including concussions, stadiums, movies, his favorite memories and players in the league.

            Mr. Holik told me something that was very surprising - he stated that his favorite memory was not winning the Stanley Cup - it was in fact just lacing up the skates with his teammates, grabbing his stick, and jumping on the ice while surrounded by the crowds cheers or jeers.  Since the end of the lockout he has been working with young players in various leagues, such as the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He told me one player from every team that were the nicest players he had the opportunity to work with: Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers now Winnipeg Jets, Brian Leetch from the New York Rangers, Patrick Elias, Martin Brodeur and Bruce Driver from the New Jersey Devils, and Ron Francis from the Hartford Whalers. His favorite arenas to play in were both the Montreal Forum and the Bell Centre and Madison Square Garden. He also said he did not like the atmosphere in the Nassau Memorial Coliseum, but who can blame him?

Holik said something that drove home the differences between injury diagnosis while playing back in the 80’s and 90’s and even the early 2000s and playing now; it was that he probably sustained a concussion but did not want to lose his job. So, even if he felt dizzy, he would just man up and keep playing. Thankfully, he did not mention that he still has residual effects from suffering head trauma. However, there are many players in all sports who still do. For me this brings up memories from the summer of 2011 when three enforcers died: Derek “Boogeyman” Boogard, Wade Belak and Rick Rypien. Those three players had a combined 2078 penalty minutes.  Mr. Holik and I both do not like the staged fighting where players ask other players, “Dude you wanna go?” or “Yo, you want to dance?” when they are not actually mad at each other, they just know that it will ignite their teams for a possible comeback and fire up the crowd. He does not believe this kind of staged fighting adds anything to the game.

Playing for the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils on both sides of the Hudson River Rivalry was something Holik enjoyed immensely. Probably because of the hatred between the two side’s fans and that sometimes the games have playoff implications. He thought that all of the trades at the 2013 trade deadline added veteran depth and he liked the Jaromir Jagr to Boston trade. He also said it is too early to know which trade was the best and helped out the teams the most.

He is a big war history buff, so his favorite movies are military history movies. He has seen Argo and Zero Dark Thirty recently. He also said that becoming an American citizen was a great experience. He said that at first when he was retired he still looked at the game as a player, but he has developed his view into looking at it like a broadcaster. Overall, I think he is a very nice man and I am thankful that he let me interview him to get some experience under my belt.