Sather: Smart or Cheap?
With many rich teams adding big name free agents this off-season, the Rangers ended up dumping a lot of salary and not signing and big name players.
They traded away Adam Graves and Tim Taylor. Valeri Kamensky and Colin Forbes were both bought out. Kamensky signed with the Stars shortly after.
Since Glen Sather stated that he needed more tough defenceman he signed Ulanov and Karpa. Also added was LW Ciger who hasn’t played in the NHL since 1995-1996.
A lot of people were upset when Sather failed to acquire Jagr from Pittsburgh. Rumor was GM Craig Patrick was asking way too much from Glen Sather. Is Hlavac, Brendl, Johnsson and a 1st round pick worth Jagr and his $20.4 million dollars salary? Well personally I think it wasn’t. Sure Jagr will be a great scorer for the team, and was Petr Nedved’s former teammate, but it isn’t worth trading all that youth.
It appears if Sather is sticking to his young guys like Malhotra, Brendl, Lundmark, Johnsson and Kloucek, as he should. These all here have some great talent, and it’s time to get them into the lineup. Putting Malhotra and Brendl between Messier would really give both young players a great leader to learn from. Messier could get them playing like veterans in no time as he is one of the best leaders of all time. A rehabilitated Fleury should be able to pick up where he left off.
So did the Rangers GM Glen Sather go cheap or get smart? Answer is smart. Sure he could have spent big big bucks on his team and made them a contender. Heck, Sather could have signed Turgeon, Robitaille, Moginly, York, Hull, and any other free agent and make a dream team. The money is there, Neil Smith proved that when he spend $67 million on Kamensky, Fleury, Lefebvre, Taylor, and Quintal.
So it looks like the Rangers are actually finally rebuilding, and for some people that means having young, cheap players make up most your roster while you develop assets and future starts without worrying about making the playoffs. Sather is smart, in 3 years Ranger fans will be worshipping him, but until them give him a break, it isn’t easy going against fans and the media who just want big name players and to win now. This team has no option but to rebuild. Sather is smart without doubt.
In a few years they will go out and instead of trying to sign players to get them in the playoffs, they will be looking to add players to put them over the top. 
By: Chandler