The New York Rangers made a move to right the ship. They had to with so many past mistakes already hurting the future of this one proud franchise. Ray Nuvolone was hired as Team President and General Manager and comes to a team without much right now and not that much to look foward to. The question is does he decide to try and keep the team competitive for what could be a lower playoff spot and more than likely, a quick bounce out since no one would even take this team seriously against a stronger team which there will be plenty of in the East come spring time. Or does he decide to trade away his core players for younger players and draft picks? "I want time to really inspect what we have here from top to bottom. There are some untapped assets here. We wanna get some more players under contract and get our farm system in use, we wanna really work on our scouting department also to prepare for a draft in which we have two first round picks." Nuvolone is also aware how the franchise is in trouble. " We want to restore the Ranger shield back to something that deserves respect. All I can promise the players and fans right now is some stability."
Ranger fans don't hide thier displeasure and they can see this roster. They see an aging team with more than half the players entering the last year of thier contracts heading to unrestricted free agency. There are no real exciting sure fire prospects in the system to speak of and no one worth mentioning among the Wolfpack right now meaning the Rangers could be a basement team for a few years. Nuvolone already has contacted the agents of Sebastien Charpentier, who is more than capable of a backup role. They also are in talks to get Burke Henry back in the fold. Granted these aren't very excting names, but the roster is so thin that if injuries hit the team could get in trouble. If Charpentier should sign it could give Valiquette some time in Hardford to get his game togeather. The backup job may have to be battled for though because the Rangers also contracted Jason Labarbara about signing a pro contract. Labarbara's rights are owned by NY and is a former MVP in the minor leagues who should be backup quality atleast, again giving more depth to the system.