Fair enough, but you'd have to know coming into this that the Rangers and other large market teams were going to suffer no matter the outcome. This is, and always has been, about Bettman trying to atone for the poor performance of the bottom half team's in the NHL.
Alot of opinions from the start were "I dont care what happens, I just want to see hockey." When its become clearer and clearer that the Rangers might have to dismantle their team this summer, its not so cut and dry anymore.
I don't believe they will have to dismantle as much as make a couple of hard decisions on who they feel is more valuable to the roster long-term.
The cap going down forces them to make decisions with several years ahead in mind.
Like I had been saying earlier, about Del Zotto, is he worth sacrificing McDonagh, Stepan, Staal, Girardi, Callahan, Lundqvist?
You have to accept that you will have to make sacrifices in order to keep the bulk of the core together.
Those players i listed above, IMO, are more important.
Gaborik and Del Zotto have value. Rangers could retain the bulk of the core by clearing the cap space necessary, and restock the system at the same time.
McDonagh and Staal are better defensmen, and are on the left side. Girardi is a better player. Del Zotto isn't reliable enough in his own end, nor is he mature enough to sacrifice other players for.
Again, hard decisions. Del Zotto has a ton of potential. But its a position of strength, at the NHL level and in the organization.
Id rather use that chip, retain the rest of the core, use the remaining free cap space to sign a cheaper right handed veteran defenseman short term, as a stop gap, while Skjei and McIlrath develop. OR, maybe Gaborik brings back a young right handed defenseman that can play in the top four.
We will see.
There are interesting things that can be done. Sather needs to get ceative. He's good with trades.
