The NYR Facts Of Life: #4 Michael Del Zotto

For each player who suited up in a Blueshirt this season we will take the good, we will take the bad and take them both and see what we have. And this time around we started with the high numbers and finishing up with last (and one of the least) #4, Michael Del Zotto.

#4's #s: 47 games, two goals, nine assists, -5, 20 PIM.

Take the good: Del Zotto came out of a summer spent training with Gary Roberts and laid a nasty hit on Pat Kaleta in the season opener.

Take the bad: It was all downhill from there. Scenes like this were all too familiar this year, where Del Zotto was walked around by the opposition. For all of the big hits he attempted, he often simply waved his stick at the bad guys as they came near. For all of the speed he has, he often was outhustled to the puck. The flashes of offensive greatness that we saw during his rookie season were gone and he was outright disastrous on the power play. He quarterbacked like he had a live hand grenade, and he either tossed it away harmlessly or got his fingers blown off while overhandling it, resulting in a shorthanded break for the bad guys.

Take them both and then we have: A player who was clearly number one with Ranger fans (watch the video). It is hard to say that he had a sophomore slump when he was just as inept in his own zone as he was when he was a freshman. But at the end of the day he was just a immature 20 year old living the dream in the big city. Hopefully the trip to the bus league helped him grow up and set him on the the path to being a capable NHLer - if not the rightful heir to Leetch that so many hoped for.