CAPMESS11

United States, NY • United States •

REDDEN SIGNING IN BIG APPLE AND PLANTING THEM TOO

Over the last few years the Rangers have made excellent moves in signing veterans.They signed Shanahan and his leadership had proved to be key in the development of the forwards. Shanny also took some of the pressure of Jagr in the locker room,allowing Jagr to concentrate on his Einstein books. The Rangers brought Jason Strudwick back in to the fold last year and his on ice mentoring was vital in the amazing progress of Marc Staal. It's no surprise that Rangers brass has been rumored to have offered both players front office positions. Yesterday they brought back one of their own to help continue the movement into the future.

Bringing back Rozsival was a solid move by the Rangers as they now have Marc Staals defensive partner back in the fold. After watching the Rangers draft character players and mix them with patient mentoring veterans,the mix has been one solid drink. Staals progress is directly related to his willingness to learn as it is Rozsival's ability to respect the youngsters growing pains. Taking pressure off Rozsival is the signing of Wade Redden. Redden will now be the Rangers official QB on the PP and Rozsival can just play his game. It wouldn't surprise me to see Rozsivals numbers increase next season as he now moves down to a second unit on the PP and in a pairing. This gives the Rangers one tough and talented # 3 pairing of Girardi and Tytuin towards the back of the lineup. There is no doubt that the Rangers brought in another solid character guy with Redden in the clubhouse. He has been through a building process, a plethora of coaching changes,and even the Stanley cup finals. Through his 10 years with the Sens his negative PR is almost nonexistent and his trip to the finals could only leave him hungry for more. But the key to this move is not only for the present,but for the up and coming future. This years camp should be real exciting as Bobby Sanguinetti has a shot at the big show. What better tutor for an offensive prodigy with defensive questions,than one that's been there a long time ago. While Sanguinetti continues to round out his game rapidly,Redden has already arrived on both sides of the ice. What we could be seeing is one of the best defensive teams in the NHL within the next year,yeah the Rangers! Looking at this defensive core,they can all finish,they can kill penalties,and all have shared time on the power play. Even the undrafted Girardi turned heads last year.Yet ,not with his solid zone coverage but with his offensive upside.Taking Reddens role even further down the road,enter Michael Del Zotto. This is a player who ironically grew up just outside of Ottawa,the city he was drafted in. It's fitting that it's best offensive D-man would now follow him to Broadway. Although Del Zotto credits his style to Scott Niedermayer ( Skating stride is uncannily similar), I'm sure he had the time to catch a few Sens games and Redden's strong play.

The Rangers are building something really big here. Their rebuilding process has been given massive doses of fertilizer,as the trees they sign continue to produce plenty of apples. Let's see what happens on Day 2

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