Seven years after the fact, the Rangers might finally reap the
rewards of the controversial Brian Leetch trade.
The haul from that trade was Maxim Kondratiev, Jarkko
Immonen, a first-round pick that became Lauri Korpikoski, and a second-round
pick that became Mike Sauer. Kondratiev played 29 ineffective games
for the Rangers and is now in the KHL, Immonen managed three goals and five
assists in 20 games with the Rangers, Korpikoski was dealt two summers ago to
Phoenix for Enver Lisin, and Sauer has become a stalwart on the Rangers’ blue
line.
But Immonen was a monster during the recently concluded
World Championships scoring nine goals and three assists, and he has been
dominant in Finland and
in the KHL in recent years.
The 26-year-old was unable to stick with the Rangers despite
impressing in the AHL, but Immonen has grown up a bit since then and has
clearly caught the Rangers’ eyes once again.
The Rangers still control Immonen’s rights and Whale GM Jim
Schoenfeld said “he will be
part of the discussion” at this week’s organizational meetings.
CT Whale beat writer Bruce Berlet believes Immonen could be
an option at center should the Rangers fail to land Brad Richards. That’s
a bit of a stretch, but Immonen isn’t going to need any more seasoning in the
AHL if he does sign. If the Rangers bring him back to North America, it will be to play in the NHL.
The Rangers already have Derek Stepan, Brian Boyle, and
Artem Anisimov firmly entrenched at center, so if they believe Immonen is ready
to make an impact there would be a log-jam.
- The cause of Derek Boogaard’s death is still in question,
but this
report indicates that his concussion was more severe than most realize. "It
was frustrating because we couldn't go out without his head spinning again. One
thing that nobody knows is that riding in cabs through New York, he would just start spinning. He'd
have his hands on his head and he'd say, 'I need to get out right now' and we'd
end up walking like 60 blocks home. I knew [the concussion] was bad."
- Don’t miss Jim
Cerny’s touching tribute to Boogaard.
- Again, the cause of Boogaard’s death is unknown, but former
NHL enforcer Georges Laraque thinks the Rangers deserve at least some of the
blame. Laraque says that Boogaard told him the Rangers told him
to ‘take the rest of the year off’ even after Boogaard had recovered. Laraque
recalls that Boogaard was ‘a bit down’ when they spoke. We’ll know
more when the autopsy results come out, but Laraque chose to open his mouth
prematurely anyway.
- Andrew Gross spoke
with Chris Kreider yesterday, and the BC junior still says he’s going to
stay in school next year.
- Here’s a cool
look at how MSG looks right now while it’s being renovated.
- It’s sounding pretty likely that the Atlanta Thrashers
will be on the move to Winnipeg. That
means that there could soon be division realignment, and there are some
interesting scenarios for that. TSN’s Bob McKenzie first
reported that Winnipeg would head to the Northwest, Minnesota would go to the Central, and Nashville would end
up in the Southeast. Last night The Fourth Period reported
that the Columbus Blue Jackets could move to the Southeast Division, the
Thrashers would move to the Northwest, and the Wild would move to the
Central.
- Here’s a scouting
report we posted earlier today on Mark Scheifele.
