Hockey Rants

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Blues go to the Retread Market for Rucinsky

Instead of giving a young guy like Lee Stempniak a chance to develop, Blues GM Larry Pleau is wasting more money and signing old guys...like Martin Rucinsky, who found himself out of the Czech Mafia in New York because Glen Sather ran out of hush money.

TSN Story:

"In Martin, we have added a veteran goal scorer with proven leadership skills to our line-up today," said Blues president John Davidson. "We are happy to have an opportunity to acquire a player of Martin's ability and look forward to his second stint with the St. Louis Blues."

Rucinsky, 35, was a point-per-game player last season with the New York Rangers, recording 55 points in 52 games. He has registered 20-plus goals in four of his 14 NHL seasons.

Sure, Rucinsky was a point-a-game player last season, but we've seen this song and dance before.

In the comfort of New York, Rucinsky has played some his best hockey with his Czechmates around. Rucinsky has displayed the same great talent when surrounded by his pals playing with the Czech national squad. Once he leaves his comfort zones, however, he's just rather ordinary.


2001-02 New York Rangers  NHL 15  3 10 13  6
2002-03 St. Louis Blues   NHL 61 16 14 30 38
2003-04 New York Rangers  NHL 69 13 29 42 62
2003-04 Vancouver Canucks NHL 13  1  2  3 10
2005-06 New York Rangers  NHL 52 16 39 55 56

Does anyone expect a 35-year old Rucinsky to be the same player he was last season, or the mediocre player he was with the Canucks and Blues?

Really, the Blues aren't going to make the playoffs, but are spending money in a vain attempt to get there. Why not use a cheaper option like Stempniak who may develop and give a Rucinsky-like level of production?

It's not a horrible signing, but it does seem unnecessary.

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Sincere apologies to The American Hockey Fan, a hilarious guy who, although he is American, did not deserve to his have Pronger posting ripped off like I did.

It was an accident, and this shows that bloggers should be careful of where they get their material and ensure where the original source comes from.

# posted by Unknown @ 7:36 pm

Comments:

Regarding a couple things you said...

- Stempniak will lose some ice time because of this signing, but his stop on the team is still pretty secure.

- I don't think you'd find many Blues fans that would describe his play here the last time around as mediocre. He played well, had good chemistry with Weight, and was rather good defensively. Most Blues fans were very unhappy that the Blues let him go somewhere else at the time.

Anyway.... the real problem with this signing is that it came after they re-signed Cajanek and Drake. They should have let one of those two players walk so there was another spot for a young player.

# posted by