Peter Carr/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesChris Drury figured the one thing he had to fix after last season's treadmill to oblivion was defense. And he was right.
But maybe – just maybe – he should have thrown in "Offense" as well.
This week's Maven Roundtable Chairman Jess Rubenstein has been X-Raying Drury's lineup and acknowledges that blue liner Slava Gavrikov could -- that's a "maybe" in case you missed it – be a defensive asset.
Hold tight, folks; here comes the big BUT:
"Drury subtracted Chris Kreider, K'Andre Miller and Zac Jones from the lineup," Jess asserts, "so, I ask you, where will the Rangers find offense? Don't look for Gavrikov. At his best he was good for 33 points.
"Do you – I think Jess means Drury – think the remaining defenders can raise their play? I'm talking about Will Borgen, Carson Sousy, Urho Vaakanainen and Scott Morrow."
Then a pause, and now some explosive points. Listen up:
"I can see Will Cuylle replacing Kreider, but where else will the Rangers find offense?"
And that's not all, unless the Salary Cap doesn't interest you. (But, it should, I tell you, it should.) For the Blueshirts to straighten up and fly right, they'll have to deduce how to solve Rubenstein's stellar series of paychecks: Take it away, Jess:
"According to Puckpedia, the Rangers have $777,976 in cap space. That means there's no room under the Salary Cap to fit Brett Berard ($867,500) Gabe Perreault ($941,667) or Brennan Othmann ($863,333) without cutting salary elsewhere."
You have to give Jess a ton of credit for taking Algebra in high school. But before he takes another bow, he exits Stage Right with a heads-up for a couple of Rangers roster busters:
"If I was Justin Dowling, Taylor Raddysh or Juuso Parssinen, I'd keep a short-term lease on my apartment I rent for the season!"