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Drury should thank his ‘immature’ teammates

Ryan Callahan, Victor Hedman

New York Rangers’ Ryan Callahan battles for the puck with Tampa Bay Lightning’s Victor Hedman in the second period of an NHL hockey game in New York, Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

AP

So, earlier this week, Chris Drury called out his teammates for being “immature.” Well, that’s a good choice of words, Chris. If you would have said something like “we need to play to our potential” or - even better - “we should honor our bloated, ridiculous contracts” then you’d be a hypocrite. Instead, you’re just comically misguided.

If anything, the New York Rangers are being saved by their “immaturity.” No doubt, the team’s two most valuable players - by leaps and bounds - are Marian Gaborik and Henrik Lundqvist (oddly enough, the only big money guys living up to their contracts).

When you go beyond that, though, the team is scraping by because young, cheap players are carrying dead weight like Drury. In fact, let’s take a look at how some of those “mature” players are stacking up to “immature” ones.

Wise, veteran wastes of space: Chris Drury, Michal Rosival and Wade Redden

  • An astonishing $18.5 million of cap space is clogged up by these three players.
  • Drury’s points: 28; Rosival’s: 19; Redden’s: 14
  • Combined plus minus of the terrible trio: -10 and that’s because Redden is a +8 (!!!). Captain Drury has a completely mature -13 rating. That’s leadership, folks. (Only it’s leadership to the cellar.)

“Immature” players: Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Mike Del Zotto

  • Approximate combined cap hit: $5.24 million. In other words, less than Drury and Redden’s cap hits and only slightly more than Rosival’s. (Pauses for audience laughter)
  • Callahan’s points: 37; Dubinsky’s: 36; Del Zotto: 29
  • That’s right, Del Zotto has one more point than Drury. For a scant $6 million less.
  • One point in Drury’s favor: their combined plus/minus of -27. Then again, most of that comes from Del Zotto’s -23. He has a better excuse for his bad rating than Drury though; he’s 19 years old.
  • Callahan and Dubinsky aren’t just there for points, obviously, so anyone screaming “intangibles!” about Drury should take a walk.

More thoughts on the Rangers’ mess after the jump.

The New York Rangers are a mess that won’t get any better unless Glen Sather stumbles on a couple more miracle Scott Gomez-type trades. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame them for wanting to try to get the most out of their younger players. After all, when you add the terrible trio to Lundqvist and Gaborik’s cap hits, that’s a whopping $32.8 million tied up into a world glass goalie, an injury prone star and three average-at-best albatrosses. So, Mr. Little League All-Star, the next time you feel the need to point the finger you might want to ... you know, live up to your absurd contract. And since you clearly don’t have the ability to do that, there’s the smart alternative: keep your mouth shut and collect your mammoth checks.

You might want to get used to those darn immature kids, though. After all, if the Rangers are going to make it to the playoffs, they’re going to need to carry your overpaid self the whole way there.