#8's #s: 76 games, 42 goals (14 ppg, 1 shg, 4 gwg), 44 assists, +15, 37 PIM.
Take the good: He was healthy! I set the over-under at the 17 games he played last season and he blew it away with 76, setting a personal record in points with 86. Fourth in the NHL with 42 goals, Gabby was pretty much the be-all-end all of the Ranger offense and despite that, he was often able to slip their coverage to grab some great goals. That he managed 44 assists with a revolving cast of wingers goes to show just how talented he is. He also was willing to show that he would stand up for himself, as he did with dirtbag Dan Carcillo.Take the bad: Minnesota fans warned that Gabby wasn't a big game guy (just one assist in six games in the '08 playoffs) and he did nothing to prove them wrong. In the two biggest games of the season, vs Boston and vs Philly, Gabby came out with donuts. And he was dumb enough to fight Carcillo; maybe he thought his teammates would help him out (damn you Girardi) but it is one thing to shove back at the guy who hit you and it is another to throw off the gloves. He should know that his hands are too valuable to be wasted on Carcillo's ugly face.
Take them both and then we have: The best signing Glen Sather has made during his tenure (not that that is saying much), even if it seemed like a gamble, and even though we are just one year into a five year deal. Gabby is the lone skating star on the team and it's his offense that carried the Rangers to the few midwinter wins that they had. We just have to hope that, at 28, he can still grow into a clutch player.
3 comments:
I'm trying to imagine what this season would have been like without Gabby. What a horror show that would have been. As far as performing in a big situation, if a team has only one big time threat, for the most part he can be neutralized by a good defensive scheme with a shadow or a double team (or even a tripe as Jagr used to see.) Lokk at the job the Rangers did on Ovechkin over the 1st 4 games of last years series.
My favorite Gaborik play of the year came against the Kings; it embodied everything about his contribution to the team. Bad stretch paA behind him, he corralled it with one hand on the stick, slipped into the offensive zone all alone, then all of sudden let off a wrister past the goalie Erksberg. scoring a goal out of nothing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N7lMPgKOCg
Thank goodness for Gaborik. Last season we didn't have any players stepping up and scoring, getting the points the way he did. He allowed other players to get open (Prospal), but not having strong line-mates has made him any easy target to manage for defensemen as the season wore on.
I'd disagree with the "big game" guy. For the most part, he was able to step up, especially early on in the season, and he has been able to score some great clutch goals. It sucks that he couldn't score a couple of more in the final game to take us to the Playoffs, but you really can't ask for more from a player who is injury prone (and didn't get injured too bad this season), played in the Olympics and ranked 5th in the NHL in scoring, 10th in points and 3rd in Power play goals.
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