In some late news, the Rangers announced earlier in the week, on Tuesday, they will be walking away from the arbitrator’s ruling on forward Nikolai Zherdev. This makes Zherdev an unrestricted free agent and is free to sign with any team, while the Rangers will not get anything back for him. Zherdev was a huge let down for the Rags, as the Rangers fully expected him to be an integral part of their offense. While Zherdev was by no means an Ovechkin like force, he still had decent numbers, he just vanished in the playoffs and that is when it matters the most (sorry for the cliche). He was a twenty goal scorer with 23 goals and 35 assists, down just 3 points from his previous season with the Blue Jackets. It wasn’t like he was a complete bust for New York, but he just wasn’t what they thought he would turn into when given the opportunity he had. What opportunity? Well, he was in New York and had talent around him (or so we thought), so the Rangers of course expected bigger and better things from him.
Let’s face facts here, the Rangers have always given lucrative contracts to players that haven’t always proven to deserve the kind of money they hand out. But in Zherdev’s case, he was only down 3 points from what he showed the Rangers he could do in Columbus. I wouldn’t mind having a 20+ goal scorer on New Jersey’s roster. The only problem? The guy is a head case. He acts like he is a 40+ goal scorer when he is in fact, nothing more than just a 20+ goal scorer. What does that mean exactly? Well, the guy acts like he is more than he really is. When I would watch the Rangers from time to time, he would just pack it in on some nights and go through the motions. That isn’t the kind of play I would want from a player I just gave a multi-million dollar contract to.
With the Rangers walking away from him, it has to make him at least a little humble. If he really was as good as he thinks he is, well then Nikolai, you would still be the property of the Rangers and you would certainly have more money in your pockets. But face it guy, you are a middle of the line contributor in this league, as a 20 goal scorer. The bright spot, however, is that he can muster up those kind of numbers with a lackadaisical style of play. Imagine if this situation gave him some insight as to what he needs to do and he starts to play within the talent that we all know he possesses.
Would the Devils go after this newly made UFA? It would be very uncharacteristic of them to pursue someone of that nature (basically a player who seeks high end money). Although, if the Devils did make a play for Zherdev, I would be surprised, but also think to myself at the same time “I should have known they would do something like this”. When you think you have the Devils figured out, they do something to make you look completely clueless. So who knows, perhaps the Devils make a play for Zherdev if they can talk him down from the money he has been seeking. He wouldn’t have to make much of a transition based on location and he would be more than enough on the third line.
Let’s say he did become apart of the Devils in 2009. He brings offense that the other third and fourth lines just seem to lack. Would he be willing to play on a third line? Probably not, however, he is going to have to settle for something less than what he wants. So, if he did play on the third line in New Jersey, that would be about a 60 point effort on our third line. That would really make the Devils an all-around team. It really depends on whether or not he would put his best foot forward for the entirety of the NHL season. He would not be received well in the Jersey locker room if he played half ass like he did last year. The Devils players have always been a group of dedicated, hard working players. Add Lemaire, a coach who stresses that kind of attitude, and Zherdev would really have to swallow his pride and just play hard. Zherdev as a Devil? More than likely it won’t happen, but if it did and he got his act together, the Devils would be a much better team for it.