The NYR Facts Of Life: #20 Vinny Prospal

For each player who suited up in a Blueshirt this season we will take the good, we will take the bad then take them both and see what we have. It's time for the first man with a letter, alternate captain #20 Vaclav Vinny Prospal.

#20's #s: 75 games, 20 goals (6 ppg, 1 shg, 4 gwg), 38 assists, +8, 32 PIM.

Take the good: Prospal was the one player to show some chemistry with Marian Gaborik and anyone who could make the superstar comfortable is ok in our book. He started the season on fire with everyone ranting and raving what a brilliant addition he was to the team. That reputation carried through much of the season, even through a 14 game pre-Christmas goal drought. He got hot again going into the Olympic break with 11 points over nine games. And outside of the numbers, Prospal showed a passion and dedication for the team every time MSG decided to turn their cameras on him in postgame interviews.

Take the bad: Vinny wasn't able to shove anything up Tortorella's butt this season as he was one of the veterans who disappeared when the going got tough. In the team's six regulation losses and four OTLs after the break, Prospal managed just one goal and two assists. He didn't even manage a single shot in the final game against the Flyers. That photo above, I believe, came when he broke his 14 game, preChristmas scoring drought. For a first liner, 14 games is just too long to go cold.

Take them both and then we have: Someone who was quite good for the money he was being paid. Seeing as the Rangers only had to pay him $1.15 mil, that is a good deal for a first-liner to ride shotgun with Gaborik. But if the cost was higher, he would have been even more of a disappointment given his performance in crunch time. The decision to re-sign him this offseason will be a tough one to make.