krsmith17

Make sure you lowball this one Kenny...

Absolutely. If we could somehow ship Nielsen back to the Island, and sign Thornton to $6M x 3, I'd be down...

"Kinda like Vanek" would be 40-50 points, and if Yakupov put up those kinda numbers, I'd like to keep him for sure.

If it works out, why would you flip him for picks? If a 23 year old, former 1st overall pick works out here, I'd want to keep him as part of the future. I wouldn't trade him for a pick(s) in hopes that we can draft a 17 year old kid that may or may not become an NHL player.

Hell no!

What are you talking about? I'm not trying to justify anything. As I said, I wouldn't want Smith at his current contract. No one is talking about the players Kronwall or Ericsson were a few years ago, or the player Smith may or may not be in a few years. All I'm saying is "right now", I'd take Smith at his current contract over Kronwall, Ericsson and possibly DeKeyser and their current contracts (and current level of play). Again, I don't want Smith, just that I believe the Rangers are getting a better return with Smith than we are with any of the guys mentioned in 2017.

Hopefully Holland low balls and strikes out on all of these guys as well. The good news is, I don't think Holland can afford to pay any of these guys what they'll likely be asking... Going to be tight against the cap after re-signing Tatar, Athanasiou and Ouellet.

I'm not really sure what this has to do with anything. The point is Smith's contract really isn't that bad when you compare it to other defensemen around the league. Just looking at our team, I would take Smith at $4.35M over either of Kronwall at $4.75M or Ericsson at $4.25M, and the argument could even be made for DeKeyser at $5M...

I think we all know this isn't necessarily true. I was wondering this as well. And if this is the case, I guess I'm okay with bringing in a defenseman on a short term deal, otherwise, go with what we have or make a trade... I've been one of Smitty's biggest supporters, and I would MUCH rather him than any of the other guys mentioned, but unless we can shed one or two of Kronwall / Ericsson, I say let him re-sign with the Rangers...

Do you think there's even a remote possibility that Ericsson is the healthy scratch? I don't. But I would still prefer a 24 year old Sproul in that spot over a 38 year old Campbell. How does scratching a 24 year old with potential (even if that potential is a 3rd pairing, power-play specialist) and bringing in a 38 year old that's on his last leg help a rebuilding team?

Fowler will not hit free agency. If we want a player of Fowler's caliber, it will need to be through the draft or trade. We have drafted some good looking players that we hope will develop into top pair defensemen, but we should also be exploring the trade market. Maybe Holland is exploring every avenue, but unfortunately, I doubt it...

I agree to a certain extent. Maybe I shouldn't have said that Holland hasn't been able to adapt. He has been doing a better job lately of bringing the kids (ones you mention) up, but let's not forget that it took injuries for both Mantha and Athanasiou to make the team. And I guess that's fine too because injuries are inevitable. I guess it's just frustrating seeing that he's in the market for another veteran defenseman, when that's the last thing this team needs.

Sure, if we somehow signed Dan Girardi from 5 years ago. Girardi sucks. At this point in his career he's a decent shot blocker and that's it. If that's all a player is bringing to the table, no thanks. Rangers fans wanted him gone for the past two years, he was just bought out (for good reason) and Rangers fan couldn't have been happier. And he's going to come in and be our best defenseman? Not likely. He's a glorified Jonathan Ericsson in my opinion.

The only way I'm okay with signing a veteran defenseman, is if we first trade Ericsson (retain $2M) for a mid round draft pick, and sign one of the vets for somewhere around $2M for one season for the purpose of trading at the deadline. But A.) why would any of these guys take a pay cut to sign with a non playoff team? and B.) why would the team we traded Ericsson to, not just sign one of these vets instead? So in other words, this scenario would not happen, and in my opinion it would be a mistake to sign any of the rumored vets... Let the kids play and develop.

I have no idea if any of this is directed at me, but I said high end prospects, aka 1st / 2nd round picks, not elite top 3 picks. So yes, high end prospects do still need some time developing in the minors, just not as long as we've been used to in the past... Also, I didn't say anything about a quick rebuild or any expectations on said rebuild, other than, ya know, actually rebuilding by playing the kids, and not signing past their prime vets...

You really think Ericsson, making $4.25M would be a healthy scratch? Not going to happen.

That's my fear with Holland managing this team going forward. The league is getting younger, and Holland hasn't been able to adapt. The days of prospects playing in the minors until they're 23-24 should be long over. Most of these kids (higher end prospects) are ready by the age of 20-21. I do think teams need veteran leadership to succeed, especially in the playoffs, but this is not a playoff team with or without those guys. Besides, we have Zetterberg, Kronwall, Nielsen and Abdelkader to lead by example. Which is more than enough in my opinion...

I completely disagree. We're an average to below average hockey team, no matter if we're dressing Sproul or any one of the vets. Why spend the money and roster spot on these guys when we have players within the system that are a decade younger, just as talented but actually have upside? That is awful asset management, especially for a team that should be rebuilding.

This is an option, but not a good one in my opinion. Unless we're moving Ericsson, or Kronwall ends up on LTIR, we don't need any more vets back there. Give the kids a legit shot, and build for the future. I don't want Sproul sitting every game or be waived and lost for nothing because we sign a vet for one season... Players that need to be on the roster and / or are waiver eligible... Zetterberg, Nielsen, Nyquist, Tatar, Athanasiou, Mantha, Larkin, Abdelkader, Helm, Sheahan, Glendening, Frk (12) Kronwall, Ericsson, Green, DeKeyser, Jensen, Ouellet, Sproul (7) We have two spots available. Either sign one of the young reclamation projects (Yakupov or Grigorenko) and / or let one or two of Svechnikov, Bertuzzi, Hicketts, Russo fight for a spot. Don't Sign Any 26+ UFA's!!!

So you think we should sign a past-his-prime "band-aid" veteran defenseman so we can waive and lose a kid like Sproul or Ouellet?

I hope Holland isn't dumb enough to offer more than 0 years on ANY "vet" defenders... This team doesn't need any more vets, we need young guys that can help with this rebuild. Do NOT sign any over the hill UFA's. If you must sign a UFA, take a look at one of the young reclamation projects like Yakupov or Grigorenko. I'd go as high as 2 years at $2.5M on either of those guys, but I wouldn't pay a dime for any of those aforementioned veteran defensemen. We have enough depth at every position, we just lack top end talent. You're not going to get that in free agency. If you want to improve this team, make a f***ing trade.

Don't do it Ken! Stay far away from free agency. Get drunk and go for a round of golf on Saturday to celebrate Canada Day. For once, that is what would make Red Wings fans happy...

Poile has already said that he's looking for a top 6 forward (Duchene), but isn't willing to move any of his top 4 defensemen... How he expects to pull that off, I have no idea... Edit: what amato said... But yeah, we need to be calling teams like Nashville, Anaheim, Winnipeg, Carolina, Philadelphia, etc to see if there's a deal to be made. I'm fully confident that if we go into this season without making any significant changes, we will have a good shot at Dahlin / Svechnikov in a year's time.

Carolina has been reported to be shopping some of their young D. Unfortunately for us, they're likely looking for a young established center in return. I'm thinking they're looking for a similar type trade as the Jones for Johansen one that went down last year.