Friday, July 2, 2010

Keep Bringin' The Pain

As if this free agency period wasn't bad enough, the Islanders added P.A. Parenteau and Zenon Konopka today.

Losing a Ranger to a rival always hurts and Parenteau is not an exception. He won over more than a few fans with his shootout skills. Of course, he still was little more than a complimentary player so letting the little man isn't a big deal. Hopefully another Hartford winger will take his place; perhaps Dale Weise, who could bring more size and toughness with a decent pair of hands.

Speaking of toughness, the Konopka deal kills me. The Rangers give one-dimensional goon Derek Boogaard a four year deal for stupid money, citing his age as the determining factor in their decision in selecting him over Shelley. But what reasoning could there be to pick him over Konopka? Konopka is only a year and a half older and took a one year deal.

I could get into Boogaard's failures as a deterrent; Mikka Koivu lost how many games because of cheap shots? The Tampa tough guy - along with Steve Downie-Syndrome - allowed Steve Stamkos to flourish last season into a superstar.

Konopka, like Shelley, was highly regarded as his teammates. No one in Minnesota has come out saying they will miss the Boogeyman, at least not that I have read. Boogey skates six minutes a night, Konopka eight. Konopka played in 17 more games and had 33 fight majors to Boogey's nine. And, AND Konopka ranked second on Tampa in faceoff percent with 62.5. If Boogey ever took a faceoff, well there would be something seriously, seriously wrong.

The Rangers could have gotten a goon like they wanted AND a worthwhile fourth line center. Instead we are looking at a fall with Brian Boyle coming back in that role. Brian Boyle. Playing alongside Boogaard. And some of us are paying to watch them play. How dumb are we?

Better question, how is it that every July 1st brings a spell of insanity in Sather? Or is it just stupidity? It is just a shame that Glen does his damnedest to avoid us fans so we will never get the answers.

7 comments:

Dave W said...

Was on the fence to go for a half season pack this year. Been a while since my friends and I had gone to games on a regular basis.

Now? Not a chance in hell. I honestly have no idea what Sather is attempting to do. Every choice has made me madder and madder. The only thing I can say I'm ok with is bringing Prospal back. That's really it.

We have $5M+ in cap space. What the hell is Sather doing with it?

Scotty Hockey said...

Don't worry Dave, you will be able to get tickets for less than face from frustrated season ticket holders this season, that is for certain.

mike said...

Give me a break with this one, Scotty....Konopka if he's lucky will last another season or two before his body/brain breaks down, and P.A. Parenteau is useless outside of the shootout. Konopka is a better player than Boogey to be sure, but if Yzerman didn't want to pay for him it's best we stayed away from him.

I agree with you that the Boogard signing is idiotic, but Parenteau can't skate well enough to be missed at all by this team. He's an AHL-er at best...or an Islander. He's where he deserves to be. He might pot a few goals for them but overall his loss is not a big deal for the Rangers.

The Rangers look like they're setting up for a tank job this year. Why is that a problem? Isn't that what every fan says the team needs?

Dennis said...

It seems to me from the Ranger staff comments that of all the prospects McDonagh and Stepan are not only ready for NHL but the team is making/saving room for them. And on the flip side Kreider and McIlrath still have a year or two before making the jump.

I still think we need one solid veteran to play with Staal on defense, but if the defensive corps looked like this next year I think I'd be psyched:

Staal and Veteran X
Del Z and Girardi
McDonagh and Gilroy

This obviously assumes we get rid of the R&R train wreck. I also wouldn't mind seeing us trade Gilroy away from someone less soft, and younger.

Anonymous said...

Mikka Koivu ... any relation to Mikko?

Anonymous said...

boogeyman has fewer fights cos no one will fight him. (because he's a killer)

Pete said...

I'm going to take the high road here and just be happy that the team has a legit enforcer again, and hope for the best. If he's nearly as entertaining as the youtube compilations make him out to be, I'll be happy.