Gaborik to the Rangers! SWEET! How long have I been coveting this guy?

The Rangers finally have the dynamic offensive ofrce they have been missing for the past three years. Gomez is a loss - but I'll take Gaborik over him any day - and we had to move gomez to free up the dollars under the ap. Plus we pikced up Chris higgins in the deal, who is a talented and gritty player.

Still kind of need a first line center, and we are clsoe to teh cap now - but we are definitely a better team than we were alst year. I am pretty pumped for the start of the season.

of all the guys the rags could have picked up, gaborik scares me the least. One solid hit and he his hurt for a week+.

I'm not sure what this flyer team is going to look like, but i'm excited for it despite losing knuble (who wasn't going to be happy w/ 1.5 million over 2 years.....or a lot more for 1 yr....)

Whatever. He palyed 77 games in 07-08 and every doctor says he is back from the injury fine.  Its not like he had a concussion.

You should be scared. The one thing the Ranegrs were missing was a finisher - and now we have one. And Brashear to make sure no one gets feisty with him.

yeah...the one thing....

brasher...please. Orr was a better fighter and didn't go for long streches of time trying to be a goal scorer. How many lines can brasher play on? flyers have four lines of hitters/fighters (that can get major points too) and a d-core that got a whole lot meaner.

It was the one thing. We had a top three penalty kill, the best goalie in the conference, and a solid six deep defensive corps. we blew a 3-1 series lead to teh Caps, but each of those first four agmes - we locked them down defensively and protected leads. Games 5 and 6 were aberrations, were the Rangers didn't show up and got blown out - but 7 was a nail biter which came down to a federov goal with less than five minutes ot go.

Given a real sniper, i really like this team's chances. I would like a crease clearing defenseman as well, but this move has me more optimistic about this team than I have been in years.

I'll let Andy Strickland, one of the featured bloggers at Hockeybuzz.com, speak for me. Andy, the floor is yours.

"The What is He Thinking Award goes to Glen Sather….This guy gives Donald Brashear nearly $3 million dollars when he could have signed Brian McGrattan for far less money.

It gets worse…

Marian Gaborik- 5 yrs at $7.5? I don’t get how and why teams just change players all the time. The Rangers get rid of Scott Gomez and then they sign Gaborik."

Who the hell is Andy Strickland? Did he even watch the Rangers last year?

Gomez is an aging center whose production ahs been decreasing and is a gifted playmekr> Gaborik is a 27 year old sniper, in his pirme who answers the single most pressing nee dhte team has ahd for a couple of years.

This is Sather's best move since he acquired Jagr.

interesting note. gaborik's cap hit is 2 million more then hossa. How many cup finals has gaborik played in?

I LOVE the fact that Gomer and his bloated contract got shipped off to Montreal!!!

Pronger + Flyers = Are you kidding me?  Hopefully Emery can perform in goal.

As for the Devils, I like what we did at the draft.  Lots of Big D.

I'm sad about losing Madden and Gionta, but we need a change.  There's no way we were going to pay Gio 5 Million to keep him.  I wish we could have worked something out with Madden, but there are younger guys that can do his job.  What we need are people who want to play in front of Marty, instead of the normal guys who depend on him to play behind them.  This might be a painful year, but hopefully we won't have to rely on a #1 draft pick to rebuild.  It was sad seeing Clemmer go too, but it was to be expected.  I hope Frazee gets a chance this year behind Marty.

Now all we need is a coach who wants to be here.

I say "we" like I'm on the team, and "here" like I'm not on the completely opposite coast...  Lol!!!

Interesting (while not sure if 100% true, still intresting if only 25% true). Heatly and the rags (note i'd have been more scared of that then gaborik)

Oh yeah - the Heatley thing was very, very close to getting done - ti was widely reported in all the papers here. your source has edmonton still a fornt runner - but I think that is dead. from what i aher, Heatly vetoed a trade out there.

i think the Rangers still have a shot at him, but Ottawa will ahve to take Rosival's contract, and i don't know if they'll do that. I am also not sure I wnat this guy - his character was already in question, and he has been a baby through this whole trade process.

ESPN shows how much they have their head up thier ass when it comes to hockey again. They are bitching (mind you by a guy who covers hockey while based in Atlanta...........seriously) about the selection of the flyers over the capitals and saying that the NHL picked the wrong "team" [key term]. They article mostly talks about how great ovechken is and that mike green, nick backstrum and alex semin are also star players.....yet they don't consider Richards, carter, gagne, pronger, timmon, and briere to be stars (i won't go into a detailed comparison of scott hartnell's stats verse alex semin's, but one tidbit is that semin only had 4 more goals then scotty). The key here that ESPN seems to be missing is that the Winter Classic is a game and not a skills competition. The flyers ahev a better overall team then the caps do (granted they both of goalie issues, but over 82 games who you you want, emery/boosh or varlimov/theodre????) and are much less reliant/focused on one player. Another issue that ESPN misses is that match-ups also make ratings. Last year no one seemed to question the balckhawks as a selection (they only had potiental and actually wound up getting smoked) since they were playing the red wings and that is a classic rivarly incompising great games and great players throught the decades fo hockey. Flyers bruins does the same thing and provides compelling match-ups/stoprylines within the game, chars v pronger, hard nose forwards verse hard nose forwards, two of the favoroued teams to reach the finals 9caps have this too, but its not like its lost by picking the flyers), and storied franchise verse stroied franchise.

I guess its my fault for still reading the dribble that ESPN writes abotu hockey....

 Hah, ESPN sucks in almost everything they report on.  They have a limited number of good writers/bloggers.  On the whole are equal to the typical local radio talkshow blowhards who makes a big deal out of meaningless stuff, and misses the big picture.  Not to mention they are incredible whores for any sports/games they will be televising

I generally agree with you Lars. Flyers-Bruins was a great rivalry in teh seventies, and then again a little bit when they were both good late eigthies/early ninties. Thsi is a fine matchup and will do a great number for NBC next New Years.

I think your off though about your analysis of the tw teams. I think its pretty clear that the Caps and the Pens are the class fo teh conference. I think eveyrone else is fighting for third - but odds on - one of those two get through to the Finals.

Stag Lord said:

first. Find me their best defensmen that isn't a winger who skates backwards (Green). Second find me their second best defensemen period.

Third. Tell me hwo their starting goalie is and if you would rely on him for 82 games.

Fourth give me thier second line.

Last explain how a better caps team 2 playoffs ago (better goalie, more depth) who couldn't get by a worse flyers team (no expeirence no gagne nor pronger) in the playoffs is going to get by them this year?

heres the caps roster to help you out.

Forwards
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
19 Nicklas Backstrom 6' 0" 183 Nov 23, 1987 21 Gavle, SWE
10 Matt Bradley 6' 3" 201 Jun 13, 1978 31 Stittsville, ON, CAN
17 Chris Clark "C" 6' 0" 196 Mar 8, 1976 33 South Windsor, CT, USA
16 Eric Fehr 6' 4" 212 Sep 7, 1985 23 Winkler, MB, CAN
14 Tomas Fleischmann 6' 1" 190 May 16, 1984 25 Koprivnice, CZE
15 Boyd Gordon 6' 0" 201 Oct 19, 1983 25 Unity, SK, CAN
Mike Knuble 6' 3" 230 Jul 4, 1972 37 Toronto, ON, CAN
21 Brooks Laich 6' 2" 210 Jun 23, 1983 26 Wawota, SK, CAN
Brendan Morrison 5' 11" 181 Aug 15, 1975 33 Pitt Meadows, BC, CAN
92 Michael Nylander 6' 1" 195 Oct 3, 1972 36 Stockholm, SWE
8 Alex Ovechkin 6' 2" 220 Sep 17, 1985 23 Moscow, RUS
28 Alexander Semin 6' 2" 205 Mar 3, 1984 25 Krasnojarsk, RUS
39 David Steckel 6' 5" 222 Mar 15, 1982 27 Milwaukee, WI, USA

Defensemen
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
4 John Erskine 6' 4" 216 Jun 26, 1980 29 Kingston, ON, CAN
52 Mike Green 6' 2" 208 Oct 12, 1985 23 Calgary, AB, CAN
23 Milan Jurcina 6' 4" 233 Jun 7, 1983 26 Liptovsky, SVK
26 Shaone Morrisonn 6' 4" 210 Dec 23, 1982 26 Vancouver, BC, CAN
2 Brian Pothier 6' 0" 200 Apr 15, 1977 32 New Bedford, MA, USA
3 Tom Poti 6' 3" 210 Mar 22, 1977 32 Worcester, MA, USA
55 Jeff Schultz 6' 6" 221 Feb 25, 1986 23 Calgary, AB, CAN

Goalies
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
60 Jose Theodore 5' 11" 182 Sep 13, 1976 32 Laval, QC, CAN
40 Simeon Varlamov 6' 1" 183 Apr 27, 1988 21 Samara, RUS