Why I Am Not Happy with the Rangers Free Agent Signings

All is calm on the Rangers free-agency front, and now that the dust has settled on the chaos that is the first week of signings, I look around and see.... well, not a whole lot. In fact, I don't see much. In fact, it truly upsets me what I see. When I look at the free-agency tracker on NHL.com and see what the Rangers have done so far this offseason, I am not one bit pleased, or assured that the Rangers are going to be fine in the upcoming season with the moves they have currently made.

Let's kick off with the gents who have shipped off that were here last season. Ruslan Fedotenko to Philadelphia, Jeff Woywitka to St. Louis, John Scott to Buffalo, Brandon Prust to Montreal, and John Mitchell to Colorado. I did not look, but I'm pretty sure if I went back and added up every goal all of these players scored last season, it'd be less than 15. So, there is not a lot of tears to be shed on this part, the Rangers have simply trimmed some of the non-producers on the lineup.

That isn't what upsets me. What upsets me is what the Rangers have done in response to all of those players leaving.

The walking of all of those players clears up quite a bit of cap space. So one would think that if the Rangers were letting all of those players go, they would want to sign someone who is going to be worth a pretty buck, like Zach Parise, right? Well, that ship has sailed. He's off in Minnesota swimming in dough with Ryan Suter, who the Rangers were also thinking about targeting. Or, maybe they're looking to swing a trade for someone like Rick Nash, or Bobby Ryan? Possibly, but then that would leave the Rangers down quite a bit of cap space and a few players in exchange for one guy. No, what really gets me mad is what the Rangers HAVE already done with their cap space, and what "good use" it's going to be going to.



The first player the Rangers felt they needed to fill the void for was, of all things, ANOTHER tough guy. Yaknow, the ones who only know how to punch and who's heads are softer than a microwaved marshmallow? Well, the Rangers went out and signed Arron Asham, a 34-year-old, Atlantic Division journeyman who scored a total of 16 points last year, five of them being goals. As a fan, I've deplored Arron Asham for a long, long time now. Not just because he's played on every Atlantic Division rival team, but because he is exactly the polar opposite of what the Rangers need. Yes, the Rangers are a gritty team who block shots and hit a lot, but we already have players who can do that and still score and fight better and Arron Asham can. Arron Asham is basically Mike Rupp 2.0. Anyone out there who is expecting a rebirth and offensive flourish from this guy, don't hold your breath. Asham is a bum. Always has been, always will be.

But, it gets even better. As if the Rangers didn't have enough boneheads with Rupp, Bickel, Newbury, and now Asham, the Rangers signed Michael Haley from the New York Islanders. While Haley probably will not play very often, as he has yet to play over 30 games a season in his three years in the NHL, it literally and figuratively baffles me that the Rangers felt they needed to sign him. Haley has done literally nothing in his career. I could count his total career points on my left hand alone. Toughness was not the reason the Rangers didn't get to the Finals last year, they didn't get there because of a lack of clutch offense. Tough guys have there place in hockey, but they rarely, if ever, help a team offensively, and you sure as hell don't need FIVE of them on one team!

Last, but not least, the Rangers final outside signing was Taylor Pyatt from the Phoenix Coyotes. This is it. THIS is the best signing the Rangers have done so far in this years free-agency. Pyatt has done some good in his career, scoring over 35 points a few times in his career, but as of recently, he has been unable to find any kind of consistency in his game. He's a more youthful Ruslan Fedotenko, and that pretty much sums him up in a nutshell.

Free-agency isn't over yet, and there are still moves that can potentially be made. But, as of right now, the Rangers are going to need to plug some holes if they want to have any chance of repeating their success they had last season. I hope for the teams sake the Rangers can make some moves that will actually benefit the teams offense or defense soon, because they are going to need some help, and tey haven't gotten it yet. Not by a long shot.