Thursday, July 30, 2009

Just Say No To Zherdev

Over at SI.com, Allan Muir answers a question about the likelihood of the Rangers walking away from Nikolai Zherdev if his arbitration award is too high...

"I don't doubt that there are a couple teams out there who look at Zherdev as the bad boy who just needs their loving touch to turn his life around. And they may be right. But he's a lousy fit for a Rangers team that needs to re-shape its identity under Tortorella. Doesn't matter what the arbitrator rules, they should just say no."

...if the Rangers can get 20-25 goals out of Kolalik they will not miss Zherdev in the least. If not, the Rangers could be a worse offensive team than last year. Nah, that's not possible. Right?

...in all seriousness, Zherdev is just not a maximum effort Tortorella type guy (see Ryan Callahan) and does not fit in with what the Rangers are trying to do. No matter what his arbitration award is.

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