Dear Glen,
Oh Glen. You are so close. You are so, so close to me forgiving you for all of these horrible years.
Even though you practically did nothing at the trade deadline. Maybe you didn’t do much of anything, you did the right thing.
Before this year, no one really knew why you still had a job working as a General Manager for a professional hockey club. You buy these overpriced superstars past their prime to come to New York and for years you churn out these lazy, lack-luster and boring teams. But you’ve seen the error of your ways; you said goodbye to Jaromir Jagr, you were able to trade away Scott Gomez so that you could make room for the ever wonderful Marian Gaborik and you got Brad Richards, who still has a few good seasons left in him.
You’ve allowed the scouts to do their jobs and bring in some great talent. You’ve allowed them to draft Ryan Callahan and trade up in the draft for Marc Staal. You let them select Derek Stepan and hopefully Chris Kreider will come in and be the blast of speed we so desperately need. You’ve let them grow in the system and these players have proven themselves to be key to the success of this franchise now and in the years to come. As a fan who will be around for a long time, I thank you for that.
But this team can’t score, and this trade deadline with Rick Nash in the open could have been your moment. It wasn’t, and that’s a very good thing.
I said a couple of weeks ago that getting Nash wouldn’t have been the best idea. I stand by what I said, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be looking for someone else. Getting Nash would have meant a lot of sacrifices, and if the rumors of having to give away Stepan are true, you absolutely made the right call.
I think you made a very nice package of Dubinsky, Del Zotto, Erixon and a first-round draft pick. Parting with Dubinsky would have been tough, since he is a big part of the team’s personality. However, everyone knows that sacrifices would have to have been made if Nash were to come into the picture and Dubi would have been the man.
Trust me, if Columbus had come to me saying they wanted Dubinsky, Stepan or Carl Hagelin, Ryan McDonagh or Del Zotto AND Kreider AND a first-round draft pick, I would have laughed in their face, called them greedy and left in diva-like fashion. That’s way too much, especially with a bunch of young guys who make up the team’s identity. Nash may be a great player, but what Columbus was asking for was too much.
I’ll admit, I had hoped you would get someone like Bobby Ryan or Dustin Brown. Brown can score goals and has been a 20+ goal scorer these past several seasons. It’s not like the Blueshirts need someone like Alexander Ovechkin who’s going to get 40-something goals a season (well, in seasons past he’s been there anyway). They just need someone who’s going to add to the offense and would make what would have been a 2 to 1 loss a 3 to 2 win.
However, Brown’s main strength is his leadership abilities, which is something the Rangers don’t really need when they have several players who could be wearing an ‘A’ on their sweater. Maybe more pricey than Brown, but Bobby Ryan is the best option here.
Bobby Ryan would have fit in nicely with the Rangers, probably better than the other two. He’s a bit younger and comes at less of a price. He was my dream for the team, but those rumors of him coming here were so last December. I get it.
Glen, the idea of this current Blueshirts lineup is a bit of a stretch. The team needs that last goal-scorer, and it could have come now. However, you’ve learned it’s better to nourish players rather than get rid of them and bring in big-time talent.
You may not be perfect yet, maybe you never will be, but I’m proud of you on this one.
Always,
Catherine
P.S. Just wanted to congratulate the King and his wife for the baby on the way! It’s so exciting to know that July will welcome a prince or princess in New York. Woot woot!