#33's #s: 82 games, 3 goals (1 ppg), 20 assists (3 ppa), +3, 78 PIM.
Take the good: Time heals all wounds and Rozsival played marginally better his second season removed from Marek Malik. He made less mistakes that directly went into the back of the Ranger net and he did it for less money than Wade Redden. According to NHL.com, the Rangers posted a record of 10-2-5 when he registered a point ... for the mathematically challenged, that is 17 games and there were 82 in the season. Tortorella's lack of faith in Hobey Gilroy was disturbing but it resulted in the coaching giving Rozy 25 or more minutes of ice time 13 times over the course of the season, including six of the last nine games. And despite the extra workload, Rozy never broke down and never slowed down. Take the bad: It is hard to break down when you aren't particularly physical and it is hard to slow down then you aren't particularly fast. Aside from one 10 minute misconduct, all of Rozy's PIM were from minors - primarily sloppy, lazy, detriment-to-the-team minors. Rozsival averaged 1:54 of ice time on the power play a night while playing in every single game and accumulated four points. Four.
Take them both and then we have: At 31, Rozsival should be in the prime of his career and yet his point totals have gone down over the last three seasons. And let's face it, he wasn't Bobby Orr to begin with. He doesn't put up points, he doesn't hit people, he gets in the way of the goaltender - the Ranger goaltender - and he gets beaten to loose pucks. There was a time when Rozsival was the top defenseman on the team and seemed capable of actually being a top defenseman. Fast forward to now and we have a second-pairing blueliner just two years into a painful four-year, 20 million dollar deal. Ouch.
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