While most of us were sleeping, the Rangers may a nice, relatively cheap signing that could pay huge dividends and have massive ramifications on the current roster. The
NY Post reports that the Blueshirts have signed Vaclav (Vinny) Prospal to a one-year, $1.1 million contract. Prospal, who became a UFA when Tampa Bay bought him out of the three remaining years on the four-year, $14 million contract he signed last summer, usually plays the win but also has experience playing center. In addition, he played for coach John Tortorella prior to and post the 2004 Lightning Stanley Cup winning team, though he was a member of the Ducks at the time.
Prospal and Torts did not have the greatest relationship, but for one year at the that salary, it could turn out to be an excellent signing, especially since if you believe in the good year, bad year pattern that Prospal has had in his career, he is slated to have another good season. In addition, when looking at the salaries thrown out in free agency in general, and the three years, $9 million dollars we gave Ales Kotalik, paying $1.1 million for a skilled forward, who in a worst case scenario is our top line center, and in the best case, is another scoring forward Tortorella can put out on the ice, the signing looks even better. The downside is that by adding Prospal, you may prevent either Artem Anisimov or Evgeny Grachev from breaking training camp with the team, though if both play well, Torts and Sather will find a place for them, and if Prospal shows little, he can be waived during the year without a large cap hit.
What does this mean for Dubinsky? All of us on the Hockey Buzz have been waiting, rather impatiently, for GM Glen Sather to lock up our likely top-line center long-term, but that signing has dragged its feet. Dubinsky appeared to be penciled in to have the chance to center Marian Gaborik on the team's top line, with maybe Avery or Higgins on the left. The longer it takes for him to sign, the more worried all of us get that an RFA may be forthcoming, costing us a young, upcoming player. By signing Prospal, Sather, to a certain extent, has hedged against that chance by providing the team another forward, albeit one who seems to vacillate wildly in his performance from year to year. In terms of Dubi, if no long-term arrangement is reached and no RFA offer is forthcoming that forces the Rangers to match, he will be back this season in New York on his one-year qualifying offer of $698,500.
In addition, the Rangers have finally righted what has been a long-term wrong as the
NY Post reports that Mark Messier is rejoining the' organization as a special assistant to Sather. Messier has made no bones about wanting to rejoin the team and be a member of he Front Office since retiring after the 2003-04 season, but it's taken until now to make the dream a reality.
As the Post mentions, the position Messier will have is similar to that Steve Yzerman, Cam Neely and Al MacInnis are filling in Detroit, Boston and St. Louis, respectively, allowing them to get their feet wet and learn the management side of the business, but it doesn't mean they will succeed the current GMs. Messier brings his knowledge of hockey, and more importantly, what it takes to succeed in NY, allowing him to provide a unique perspective that the current coaching staff lacks.
All I, and I am sure all Rangers can say is, WELCOME BACK CAPTAIN!
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