There is a reason for people wanting him traded.... 1. He is a Restricted Free Agent..There are going to be teams looking to sink the Rangers by offering an dumb contract (all it takes is one) that the rangers will not match. Now getting a potential second round pick (contact up to 3.4m) or a 1st and a 3rd (contact up to 5 million) may be nice for down the road stockpiling, but we are in a win now moode. I don't want draft picks for a guy who was a first round pick. 2. The Rangers do have a nice stable of dmen. Not saying losing MDZ would hurt the top 6 but you have to give up something to get something the Rangers need, up front scoring. 3. The upside of MDZ was always he was going to be very good, if not great, offensive defensemen....well outside of a two month stretch we have not seen this in a long time. Is he young and still developing, yes...is he worth the risk of paying 3 to 4 million a season after this season...I am not willing to roll the dice on that one. Especially with the emergence of Moore on the blue line and potential behind them. 4. He is a defensive liability that his offense doesn't generate enough to compensate for. 5. Does he have the blast to be a PP point man? Not really...is he a banger that can be your #1 pk guy...nope....out of the 6 dmen on the team....2 minutes left in the game protecting a 1 goal advantage...is he one of the four you are comfortable having out there? Dump you say he is just Chuck, Struds and myself whipping boy...there are reasons for it. Don't be talking about how his pathetic shooting percentage is better than Girardi and Staal. Those two did not have the high expectations to be a point producing dman like MDZ has been. Personally my opinion is if MDZ resigns next year with a decent raise...we are talking 4 to 5he will want...he will not live up to it, just like Dubi. Trade him sometime this season for a proven goal scorer.
if somebody is crazy enough to offer MDZ 4m + per year let them, would gladly take the compensation. If he wants to earn that kind of contract with NY he has about 50 games to prove it. He is a major defensive liability, offers no physical play at all and his shot is very erratic. MDZ's problem is emotional not physical. Still don't want to give up on him but time is running short
Nobody is saying give up on Del Z but it definitely makes sense to move him for the right scorer back 1. You have to give to get and this team can afford to lose depth on D 2. His potential will command a contract that isn't good for this teams cap space 3. We need another 25 goal forward even with Nash
Your same argument could be made for John Moore Al, the guy's making $800K this year versus MDZ's $2.9 mil, using your logic the obvious choice for a GM to throw money at is Moore. I have no problem trading MDZ for fair value, not for another overpaid, undersized, might score 15-20 if he doesn't get hurt guy like Petry, been there done that and the Rangers can't afford him anyway. The Rangers do have a nice stable of dmen now but 5 are free agents at the end of this year followed by Staal next year. I do see teams easily offering Girardi $4+ million after the ridiculous free agency contracts given to defensemen last year, I'd be shocked if the Rangers were able to hold onto him. I don't see Glen offering MDZ more than $3.5mil. I'd like to see McIlrath up this year to see what we have, definitely rolling the dice to bring 2-3 inexperienced dmen up from the farms and throw them to the fire. I like Moore too but the guy has 2 points this year in 17 games (emerging?) while MDZ has 4 points in 15 games and has led Rangers dmen in scoring the last 2 years under the offensively challenged Torts, I think that at least qualifies him as very good. Sorry to point out his shooting % but just wanted to show that MDZ clearly doesn't have the worst shot on the team among Rangers dmen as was being constantly stated, the numbers don't lie. Most of the critique of MDZ is more along the parameters of how figure skating is judged, emotionally. Comparisons of MDZ to Dubi are totally unfair. I liked Dubi until he became a greedy, lazy hump who held out twice then did little to earn the raises. I do find it amazing that the Rangers are in 3rd place without Nash who is finally skating again, 7-3 in their last 10 as the age of Tortoiserella has left the Garden and the Rangers become more accustomed to AV's style of hockey but still the negative Nellies are crying for trades.
Al, most everything you said was ridiculous. He's the whipping boy because people compare him to the rest of the Rangers defenseman which are better than what 90% of the rest of the NHL teams use. He's not a defensive liability. You compare him defensively to our defenseman. On a ton of other teams, he would be considered a defensive strength. I have no issues with moving MDZ for a scorer. However, the fact remains that all these other teams are asking for him. They aren't asking for a guy that is a defensive liability, has no shot and average offensive skills. Also, MDZ has already had two pretty good offensive seasons. He's not being used on the PP this year silly because AV is trying McDonagh there. If he had been playing on the PP all year, his point pace would be what it was a a couple of years ago. High 40's.
Your problem Al is the same as thousands of our other fans. You're bored when this team wins and have nothing to talk about. So, you have to find something to complain about. Just like that dumbass Brooks. Notice how the moron tried a short, pathetic article on our PP improving after I pointed it out to the imbecile with a comment on how stupid he was. There is nothing wrong with Del Zotto's defensive game or offensive skills. Rangers fans are just spoiled with our defenseman. The team hasn't scored goals in 8 years and has made the playoffs in almost all of them because of our defenseman and goalie.
I'm soooo not bored with wins...although lets be fair they beat pitt and...Detroit. ..is there room for improvement? YES. .and can we all agree that yhe improvement is another skilled winger (gee where have we heard this before) and to get said skilled player you have ro give up something that teams want....I point to the one player I don't lose sleep on giving up. I think he can be replaced. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
Btw..dubi got fucked over with the numerous position changes that he was asked to do. The guy is lazy but has the A on his sweater in columbus. Want to talk abour being a whipping boy.... Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
