Clean Slate

Last post was getting pretty full.  Recent Rangers’ related news items:

  1. Staal and Girardi were not asked to waive their no movement clauses prior to the expansion draft.
  2. Keith McCambridge was named head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack.  He was an assistant coach for the Wolf Pack last season after spending the past five seasons as head coach of the St. John’s Ice Caps/Manitoba Moose.  Not many Jets prospects became NHL contributors under McCambridge’s tutelage. Whether that’s his fault or the Jets’ fault for bad drafting remains to be seen.
  3. Taylor Beck, who is the AHL forward we acquired at the trade deadline from Edmonton, has reportedly signed a one year deal in the KHL.

OK, boys, HAV at it.

143 thoughts on “Clean Slate”

  18. His hit is less than Dany G and Marky Mark… dump one of them and Vatanen fits really well… He can’t be any worse defensively than any of the twins and PP specialist we so desperately need.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I actually thought this years pkayoffs were some of the most entertaining hockey I’ve seen in a long long time. Physical, quick counterattacks, and nasty.

    The NHL is starting to get nasty and physical after an “off” season the year before the just concluded one. Nice to see it come back.

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  28. feel bad for Klein. He must see the handwriting on the wall as far as his health and NHL career are concerned. . Another guy who bled blue and was a good Ranger.
    That said if this is true and Vegas decides on taking Holden there’s definitely some potential to turn this blue line around.

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  31. That Klein story/rumor is amazing. His level of play was obviously not what he or we expected last year but that seems like a lot of money to leave on the table for a guy who’s only had one good contract (this one).

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  33. klein would not be giving up that much if goes to Europe. salary would be 2.75 – figure escrow at 15%, agents fees, taxes incl ny state. cost of living in ny too. if went to Europe could make up most of the rest.

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  34. Well, if Klein really does leave that’s still one less RHD on the team. Maybe that money gives them an opprtunity to resign Smith and still make a play for a right hander

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  38. Huge solid Klein would be doing the team if that’s true.
    I figured he was a solid candidate for the “Take This Guy and I’ll Give You a Pick” game. Now they can play that with Holden.

    Now…once Girardi’s NMC becomes a limited NTC – where do we trade him and how much do we have to sweeten the pot?

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  45. I think it’s a lot of money. Klein’s only made $19m so far…taxes, escrow, agent fees….what has he got $9-10m net? So leaving $2.75m in salary seems like a big deal. I doubt he’s getting anything close to that number in Europe.

    Liked by 1 person

  46. JJP

    he’s not leaving anything close to that.

    start with 15% escrow
    ny and fed taxes
    ny cost of living
    agents cut yes that carries to new job

    on net basis he breaks even or better and might sign for 2 or more years

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  47. How do you figure? The only thing he saves is 15% escrow and NY state. Federal is taxed globally. Cost of living sure. But again he’s not making anything close to his current salary abroad. Better than AHL money and easier travel, okay. They don’t pay a lot in Switzerland, Sweden or the Czech Republic. Only place to make money abroad as a hockey player is Russia and I’m pretty sure by the time you get to the 30th best guy in the KHL, that guy is only making a few million. Klein isn’t one of those guys.

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  48. He makes 1.5 gross and he’d easily break even. Remember he’s canadian. their highest rate is lower, no state tax no city tax and cheaper living costs. remember escrow alone takes him to 2.35. very likely he gets a 2 yr deal too. he would not be walking away from much.

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  49. Klein could possibly see the way the modern game is trending. AND the way his personal game is trending. Rather than spend a year as a part-time player, maybe he wants to take his family abroad. His agent might have a handle on an offer over in, say, Switzerland. Apparently they really take care of their players over there.

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  50. i get the sense that klein would like to have his kids get some of the european culture too

    http://nypost.com/2015/10/07/new-york-ranger-dominic-moore-got-remarried-this-summer-and-other-team-secrets/

    Somebody give Kevin Klein his own DIY show. Among his many summer projects, the 30-year-old defenseman was busy restoring a 1964 Volkswagen Kombi van he bought online this spring.

    “I’ve always liked the way Volkswagens looked,” says Klein, who had his vintage ride shipped from California to his Rye, NY, home this spring. “They are easy to work on — it’s very simple and mechanical. There are no computers and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist.”

    Modal Trigger
    Kevin KleinJared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images
    He stripped the interior this summer and will next rebuild the inside, fix up the engine, and have it painted.

    “I’ve got a good vision,” Klein says. “[Right now, the van is] green and silver, and it’s going to be burnt-orange and white on top.”

    The father of two young sons — who hopes to own a bed-and-breakfast with his wife, Jodi, once he hangs up his skates — says the vintage vehicle will be used for family camping trips and beach outings.

    “It has enough room that you can load up a couple of kids and have fun. I’d love to create memories with my children.”

    Once the kids are old enough, Klein can involve them in some of his other hobbies. At their home in Ontario, he’s set up a workshop for metal- and woodwork, and recently made a coffee table from reclaimed barn wood.

    “Working with my hands is a comforting way for me to decompress,” he explains. “In the summer, you get family time and I have my little hobby. It’s nice.”

    Liked by 1 person

  54. Just thought i’d step in on the Klein retirement to Europe thing….he’ll get absolutely nowhere near an NHL salary (unless he goes to the KHL).
    What we get in the EIHL (thats us here in the United Kingdom) to complement the homegrown players are players who are coming to the end of their career (recently – McGrattan, Janssen, Westgarth) or those that haven’t gone pro after Junior hockey ends in North America. Some combine their play with studying for a Postgrad degree or a Masters degree in something. They will be lucky to earn £30-40k for the season, but are provided with accommodation and their education is paid for by sponsors/boosters (i think).

    Some of the other Euro leagues will pay a bit more: Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Germany maybe but teams aren’t owned by billionaires and rely on crowds between 1500-7000 per game

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  55. Buddy who lives across the street from Kleiner said he was injured all season. Set up a blacksmith shop in his garage; very annoying if you live nearby. He’s a country Canadian so doubt he has spent much of his earnings, lives in modest house in Rye.

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  56. That’s a bummer about Kevin Klein. Really like him as a player and teammate, and seems like a really cool grounded dude. Seems like the type who would do something like this. Loyal and good dude so he wants to help the team out. Also seems like him and his wife are in the know. Living, playing, traveling in Europe with your wife and kids sounds like a dream to me. He’ll go to one of those 4 countries Ukranger mentioned. Switzerland, Sweden, Norway have 3 of the highest quality of living grades out there. And Germany is a crapton of fun.

    Wish kleiner the best, blessed dude.

    Liked by 1 person

  61. Klein just wasn’t the same player the last year or so. It seems like injuries took their tool on him. He started to go downhill after OV broke his arm. Maybe the less physical European game and the lighter schedule will let him perform at a higher level. It does free up some cap space for them.

    Liked by 1 person

  66. Klein may find some things more important than the salary left on his contract. It’s not unheard of I recall Marcus Naslund doing the same thing after 2008 and in his case he was still healthy and productive. (82 games 46 points that final season in the NHL). Someone said it before- He may just see the writing on the wall as the new NHL is progressing towards the type of defenseman that he can no longer be consistently. Being a healthy scratch most nights and possibly getting passed around team to team probably isn’t very desirable at 33 years old.

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  67. I think Kampfer takes over the role of Vito Clendening next season. If they can get Smith resigned for somewhere around what Klein is supposedly going to leave on the table then he can play the right side with Staal. Cap wise that would make them no worse for wear and they can still try to acquire a first pair guy via trade. Quite frankly with Calgary and Jets supposedly interested in Raanta, I’m silently wishing for some kind of package deal that involves getting back Trouba or Doug Hamilton.

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  68. “Marcus Naslund doing the same thing after 2008 and in his case he was still healthy and productive. (82 games 46 points that final season in the NHL).”

    Marcus Naslund was on his way to being Reddened the following season had he not retired. He saved himself the embarrassment.

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  69. On thing Klein retiring does is it puts him in control of his career, but puts it outside of North America pro leagues. That is if he chooses to carry on playing at all. We shall see in the coming days. Its a compromise deal for the team, frees up $2.9m cap space but also means there’s no asset in return.

    My favourite Optimus moment has to be the missing ear GWG:

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  78. Marcus Naslund was on his way to being Reddened the following season had he not retired. He saved himself the embarrassment.
    ^

    Yeah Idk about that one Doodie. He was 4th in scoring on that team and 2nd among wingers behind only Zherdev who was about to fly the coop if he didn’t get overpaid. He wasn’t what he was in his 20s but the team went out and got Vinny Prospal to play with Gaborik the next season and to fill the hole left by Naslund’s departure.
    Only embarrassment that followed was finishing 9th the following season after the Ollie Jokinen shoot out shot heard ’round the world.

    And since we both know you need to have the last word on the matter, I’ll agree in advance that in the event that you are correct- the same could also be said about Klein. If he knows he is all but done on the NHL level, why not avoid the embarrassment of being kicked around the league like a spare part?

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  79. I’ll say this much about Naslund- his defining moment as a Ranger was in that huge come back victory against Boston at MSG. Scored the game winner in the shootout. Thought the roof was going to fly off the building with the noise that night. Not sure I’ve heard it like that since..

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  81. Klein was not a “healthy” scratch all season, I think that’s pretty obvious.
    –
    This team needs a few more kevin Klein players and a few less Kevin shattenkirk players.

    Liked by 3 people

  82. Typical lawyer trying to bury me in paperwork lol. Like I said, in Klein’s case he may be trying to keep his integrity. His best years were as a Ranger, he got a sniff at a championship and now he’s getting older and is obviously beat up and slowing down in a league that’s getting younger and faster (except for Jagr). I don’t find it shocking.

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  90. But i’ll be honest, I’m not paying much attention to this team up front. i’m fixated on improving the blueline. I guess that’s what happens when you blow 4 leads in the post season in 3rd periods with less than 2 minutes left..

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  92. Pirri will be lucky to get on any team next season…his cameo here just reaffirmed what we were told when we signed him that he can score the occasional power play goal, but not much else

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  93. https://www.nhl.com/news/dan-rosen-over-the-boards-mailbag-june-14/c-289921106?tid=277729162

    Do you think the New York Rangers will get Kevin Shattenkirk? — @Zblisko27

    I keep thinking this is less and less likely to happen. I keep thinking it’s more and more likely that the Rangers look to make a trade. I speculated in an earlier mailbag about them trying to acquire a right-handed defenseman like Justin Faulk from the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade for a core forward, perhaps Chris Kreider or J.T. Miller. I haven’t heard anything of the sort from anyone on that since, but now is the time when trade talk picks up. Maybe they will look to do something along those lines. I think they should.
    The other thought I have is maybe they bring back Brendan Smith and then try to incorporate some of their prospects (Sean Day, Sergei Zborovskiy, Neal Pionk, Alexei Bereglazov, Ryan Graves and John Gilmour) into the mix. Maybe one or two of them could be players for the Rangers this season. Going younger on D is a good idea for the Rangers.

    The NHL buyout window begins Thursday. I think the Rangers have to buyout Dan Girardi, who has three years remaining on his contract. He would be on their cap for the next six seasons at a reduced rate if they buy him out. Marc Staal has four years remaining, so buying him out means he’d stay on their cap for the next eight years at a reduced rate. Girardi is the one that makes sense.

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  94. CCCP – you only have to look at the buyout maximums and realise that unless Gorton has a crystal ball and knows the cap is going to be over $80m within 2 years he’s going to suffer with that dead cap space.
    As in after Nash is gone and we need to acquire an Elite scoring winger he won’t have $7.8m to play with but $4.6 – that doesn’t buy a 1st line 30+ goal scoring winger…..

    First option will be trade and eating 25-50% of salary
    Second option will be convincing either to retire

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  96. Doodie

    pretty stupid to buy out a 24 goal scorer at that cap hit. he was not even close to being a failure here despite brooks opinion (and yours evidently)

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  98. If it was a more even cap hit for Girardi over the 6 years i think they’d do it, but its the peak over the first 3 that causes cap problems. I think they trade him after 1st July in a Girardi for No Girardi (plus $1.5m cap hit trade)

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  100. there is not 1 player of the 5 making more than 5 million that we would resign now to remaining years and salary. the least onerous of the lot is nash only because his is 1 year remaining.

    all those blocked shots and concussions since those deals were signed have taken their toll.

    but we must also remember how very painful a buyout is for many years to come and shattenkirk would just bring much more pain at least until the next lockout.

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  104. When he retired he finished the season at Modo with Peter Forsberg, then retired again as he couldn’t even hack the pace of that league for more than 30 games!

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  111. Here’s the thing about trading for a defenseman- there are young players available via trade that would fit the bill. Shattenkirk is a bad move and only partially because he is a bit older but that doesn’t mean they have to bring in a 30 something year old or promote from Hartford. Trouba is 23, Hamilton is 23, Josh Manson is 25. Cam Fowler is 25. None of these guys are coming for cheap but all could probably be had in the right deal so I don’t believe age has much to do with this. And not for nothing that’s a pretty damn good list of Dmen with Fowler probably being he least desirable (although it would erase the Jessiman draft mess of 2010 if he ever came to NY)

    On the flip side of the coin, they’ve stock piled some young dmen. But none of which are righties or have played the right side which is where they need to fill holes. Especially on the number 1 pairing where neither Girardi or Brendan Smith belong.

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  115. Boy I really opened a can of worms with the Naslund thing. That’s what I get for trying to rile doodie up…Speaking of riling up some doodie, where’s E3?

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  120. I think it’s dumb to buy out Girardi and not staal. You can be rid of both by 02JUL17.
    –
    You buy out staal now, and trade Girardi at the first of July.
    –
    Girardi is moveable after June, so why take on the buyout hit at all. Staal on the other hand is not moveable at any point so you have to take that buyout hit regardless, just take it now and get it over with.

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  126. With that said, he was still a team leader in points. And with THAT said, Prospal was kind of his “replacement” brought in by Torts the next season and he put up 20-38-58 while playing a much more effective all around game. And they still missed the playoffs…so

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  129. Carp can remember the name of the dish washer at Pat’s Hubba Hubba back in the late 90s and what Eddie Giacomin ate for dinner after his final victory as a Ranger in 1975, but he doesn’t remember the tail end of the 08-09 season. 🙂

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  131. alex. they were really tight up against the cap, Naslund was pulling in a $5 million hit. That would be like he was making 6.42 million against the cap today. He was showing clear signs of decline. It was widely reported he would be receiving a buy out. I don’t know why this is so hard for you to believe.

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  133. oh oops, thanks Gravy. At least you knew what I meant. Hard to keep track of all the draft busts lol

    But since someone mentioned the ’12 redraft, the ’10 redraft would be interesting to do as well.

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  134. Fwiw I’m not a Fowler fan but he was on a tear to end the season. I guess the real tragedy of that draft was Tarasenko (16) and Kuznetsov (23) getting left on the table.

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  135. Wow, So G is getting bought out. I wonder if there was a request to waive the no trade clause afterall. Either way, as much as this is a “good thing” for the blueline and the cap, it makes me sad. Def the end of an era for a true Ranger warrior.

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  138. I know what you’re saying. I think trading for Fowler would make the draft seem worse, in hindsight, especially if it wound up being a Vesey-type going the other way. I’d just prefer to trade for any other defenseman.

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  141. thanks to Dan Girardi …. good Ranger …always gave his all for team. Best of luck going forward for him and his family. Hope he lands somewhere and succeeds….Torts probably calling him now

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  142. so if Klein leaves for Europe, there isn’t an RD currently on the roster. Giardi buyout equates to 2.89 million of cap space freed up. With Klein’s contract off the books that’s about 5.7 million.

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