The Untold Story of Dan Fritsche. . .

Boy, I picked the wrong day to try to get actual "work" done at work. ;)

First, I get back to my desk and read that Sam Weinman of the Journal News, who does a great job of giving lots of Rangers updates on his Rangers Report blog, is moving to Golf Digest. Best of luck, Sam, and a sincere thanks for all the hard work these last couple years.

http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/2009/01/29/the-one-move-before-the-trade-deadline-you-probably-didn%e2%80%99t-expect-me/

And secondly, I read that Dan Fritsche has not been sent to Hartford, has not been skating with New York, but rather has been traded to Minnesota for a guy I admittedly haven't heard of in Erik Reitz

http://wild.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=406780

Interesting.

So he joins the ranks of Dominic Moore and Adam Hall, both former Rangers that have had connections to the Wild in the last few years.

If you want a headache, keep reading.

*Dominic Moore, if you'll remember, was traded from the Rangers to Pittsburgh in Summer of 2006 and then traded from Pittsburgh to Minnesota in February of 2007. It was Adam Hall that was the guy traded to the Rangers from Minnesota for Moore, who went to Pittsburgh by way of Nashville in the above trade. Hall was then traded back to Minnesota in February of 2007 for Pascal Dupuis. Hall would sign with the Penguins the following fall, where he'd play alongside Dupuis. Dupuis, who had stayed with the Rangers for about two weeks before a brief stop in Atlanta, came to the Penguins at trade deadline in the Marian Hossa deal in February of 2008. Hall, by the way, was a original draft pick of Nashville. *

If you actually read and understood that, congratulations. But don't say I didn't warn you.

None of this has anything to do with Dan Fritsche. It really doesn't. I was just trying to show how some teams tend to have more connections to some teams than others. For the Rangers, Edmonton, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis should not come as surprises, but Minnesota has a few connections as well. Current Ranger Aaron Voros being another.

Anyway, I was debating posting the below blog link when Fritsche played a stint in the fall with the Rangers, scored a goal and actually looked very nice with Lauri Korpikoski and Nigel Dawes for two games. I debated posting it again this Tuesday when he was waived and again yesterday when he cleared waivers. I obviously didn't.

So instead of posting this while Dan was a current Ranger, I'm posting it now that he is no longer one. If you want to know what kind of guy Dan Fritsche is, it's worth the read. Kind of long, but even if you skim it, you'll get the general idea.

http://fat-a-thonblubberblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/october-27-2007.html

Just as Dominic Moore, Adam Hall, and yes, even Pascal Dupuis, will always have it on their career stats that they played for the New York Rangers, so will Dan Fritsche. He was a Ranger. Not a Ranger that got a real chance, but from a management/coaching staff who obviously doesn't even appreciate the plethora of talent they have and don't utilize on the ice every night, I can't say I'm really surprised.

Dan, best of luck in Minnesota. As a Manny Malhotra fan, I watched Columbus games enough to know that you were an almost every day player and certainly a stronger asset than you got the chance to show here in New York. And as the blog indicates, you appear to be a really good guy. I just want fans of the New York Rangers who didn't get the chance to see that firsthand, to at least know that much about the guy that played 16 games for the Rangers this season.

And I'll Turn It Over To You Larry [UPDATED]. . .

After games like yesterday, I greatly look forward to waking up and reading Larry Brook's column in the New York Post to make some sense of the apparently non-sensical.

He did another great job of that today.

Here are the highlights:

"Somehow, the Rangers almost always look far worse in losing than they appear impressive in winning."

That statement is so damn true it hurts. When they lose, they lose ugly. When they win, they often win in such an uninspiring fashion, it feels like a loss.

There've been so few wins this season that truly felt like wins, I'm now struggling to think of an example to type here. An example of a decisive, all-around, courageous, passionate, team win.

The one early game against the Devils at the Garden came close, the game (not so long ago) against Pittsburgh at the Garden two weeks ago today was another perhaps.

But with 27 wins and more than halfway into the season, it's hard for me to accept that there hasn't been more to cheer about.

"An optical illusion" their record is according to Brooks. And he's right. I've been saying "smoke and mirrors" for a few months now. This team has been lucky at times, but they got exposed - again - in the worst way yesterday.

Unfortunately, they'll probably somehow scrape together one of their Renney-patented 2-1 victories at the Garden tomorrow, to make everyone think it's A-OK in Rangerland. And the team, as constructed, will live another day.

But as if there is anything they can really do about that? Personnel wise I mean. But that is nothing new. As I mentioned late last week, they are stuck with most of this un-tradeable lot for at least the next three seasons.

Oh, but of course, they can swap healthy scratches, right?

"Renney broke up the line late in the third, replacing Callahan with Nigel Dawes. The coach, at the same time, shifted Callahan onto the unit with Chris Drury and Petr Prucha. Why does it seem that the move was a precursor to sitting Prucha tomorrow night and replacing him with Aaron Voros, a scratch throughout the road trip?"

Even before the lines were officially switched yesterday, I figured this is the perfect type of game for Renney to say, oh, this, this isn't working, let's shake it up. And I figured, of course, it'd be Prucha taking a seat in order for him to do so. So reading this was not a surprise. It made me nauseated, but it was not a surprise at all.

I mean, surely - obviously - it was Prucha's lack of intensity and lack of scoring or his defensive liability - his soley - that caused yesterdays embarassment on ice.

Obviously.

It couldn't possibly be that - yet again - the entire team was exposed for the frauds they are. That they are a "rotten," uninspired team, that somehow managed to bore their way to the top of the conference.

And one of the few exciting and inspired players - the guy who started the renaissance against a flailing Islanders team on Garden ice, the guy who scored the only goal a few days later in Washington, and the guy whose gutsy play from his rear end a week later in Ottawa lead to the game winning goal - is going to take a seat because, really, who else can the coach blame?

I'd be more disturbed, if I didn't know it was coming, somewhere down the pike. Team efforts - good team efforts - were going to come to an end soon. Or, rather, this team was going to be exposed for their complete and utter lack of them.

That time came yesterday.

Oh and make no mistake. These are not your father's New York Rangers.

Hell, they are not even the New York Rangers of my youth. At least those guys weren't boring. At least they weren't as life-less as the bunch of "oh but we love each other" drones I saw yesterday and that I've seen most of this season.

And the one guy that isn't a boring drone, he'll probably take a seat tomorrow.

A shame really. Just truly a shame.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01192009/sports/rangers/rangers_road_trip_ends_with_ugly_loss_150857.htm


**Author's note on edit:
Please note that I read Larry's column on my own this morning before readng Sam Weinman's Rangers Report. But apparently he agrees with me. Great line by Brooks:

http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/2009/01/19/critical-juncture/

Petr Prucha, Nik Zherdev, and The Everly Brothers. . .

First of all, thanks to Sam Weinman over at The Journal News for writing an article on Prucha and his unbelievable character.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090113/SPORTS01/901130385/-1/SPORTS

There hasn't been a ton of press devoted to Prucha - minus Larry Brooks who's been arguing on his behalf all year now - so any is appreciated.

Pete is now playing with confidence. He always played with heart, but confidence makes a big difference. It is a pleasure to watch. I'm sure - scratch that, positive -there will be a time for me to delve deeper and again into the enigma that is Prucha's time with the New York Rangers. But I think I'm going to take a pass on that for today.

Instead, word has come out courtesy of Larry Brooks, saying that contract talks have begun with Nikolai Zherdev.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01132009/sports/rangers/blueshirts__zherdev_talk_new_contract_149935.htm

Yes, pick yourself up now.

I am not saying that for the reason I don't want him on the team.

I absolutely do.

As one of the few - oh precious few - that can dazzle and make things happen offensively, I'd love to have him.

Just one teensie little problem.

$

$

$

The Rangers, thanks to Skipper Slats, are handicapped for the foreseeable future. How long is forseeable?

Well they are a half year into Redden's 6 year deal. They are one and a half years into Gomez's seven year deal. One and a half years into Drury's five year deal. Half year into Lundqvist's six year deal.

As I highlighted in one of my personal favorites: "Does it Really All Add Up Rangers Fans... (http://naturalhattrick.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-it-really-all-add-up-rangers-fans.html). . . these four players make approximately 49% of the Rangers entire team salary allotment.

Half!

And out of the lot, only Hank deserves what he's getting.

Therefore, the foreseeable future becomes anywhere from 3.5-5.5 years from now.

That's 3.5 years where other "significant" players cannot be signed unless these "insignificant" players are moved. Comparitively speaking.

And do you really think anyone is going to bite at Redden at his $6.5 million per year? Drury at his $7.050? Gomez at his $7.357?

Really?

I just don't see it happening. It would be a gift - a rare gift - if someone would take any of these players at THOSE salaries. A gift!

And frankly I just don't see the other GMs in this league playing Santa Claus to Mr. "If I had the payroll of the New York Rangers, I'd win the Stanley Cup every year" Sather.

So Zherdev wants to stay in New York for the long term. He loves it here. (Face it, of course he loves it here.)

But unless someone owns a time machine to go back and erase July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008 from everyone's memories, I don't see how it happens.

And if it does - if it does - that's going to be that much less money they are going to have available to sign anyone else to play with those five players. (Well ten players actually if you include Naslund, Staal, Girardi, Voros, and Rozival as well who are also under contract for next year.)

And you want to presumably keep Staal, Mara, Girardi or someone that can actually PLAY defense beyond this/next year?

I'd now like to quote the Everly Brother's hit song:

Dre-ea-ea-ea-eam. Dream. Dream. Dream. Dre-ea-ea-ea-eam.