In an interview with Newsday, Rangers director of player personnel, Gordie Clark, spoke about the recent addition of defensive prospect Tim Erixon. In it Clark says that Erixon is ready for the NHL now since he has been playing against grown men for several years...
"It's a nice trade for Calgary," Clark said, "because they get a prospect who's ready to turn pro and a couple of pretty high picks. For us, it's a ready-made player -- you don't have to wait to see how he turns out. We know right now he's a top-four D-man, he's played with men for three years. He's ready to step in right now.
"When you go back and check in on him, you see he's gotten bigger, maybe a little smarter on the ice. He's a very cerebral player back there. He really sees the play coming at him, he sees all the options and most times he chooses the right play."
Now we know what it meant when I said the Rangers apparently were very exited about obtaining Erixon earlier in the week. Clark's high praise of the Swedish blue-liner suggests that he will participate in the Rangers' main training camp in September and may even make a run at a roster spot. Right about now Michael Del Zotto is worrying....really worrying.
Training camp should be very interesting all around, but the level of competition on defense is going to be like it's never been before.
Based upon Gordie's comments MDZ will have a hard time making the team, especially if Gilroy continues to show what he showed in the playoffs. If that happens I can definitely see DelZotto go in a trade for a scoring forward. It should be very interesting!
Posted by: JohnP | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 12:47 PM
I think we need to grab another 1st rounder in the 8 to 14 range or a trade...Mark McNeill and Tyler Biggs simply resonate with me as perfect fits for our Rangers...with Krieder and Biggs being centered by Stepan...A cool trade would be Statsny and the 11th pick and their 2nd round pick for Gabby and Del Zotto
Posted by: Leatherneckinlv | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 01:47 PM
The Rangers would need to give their 1st round pick up along with Gabby and MDZ then theres an outside chance it happens. But will Colorado take on Gabbys salary?
Posted by: JohnP | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 02:41 PM
Im looking forward to seeing Erixon play..only hear good things about him..if im a guy like Eminger, MDZ, or Gilroy, then id be worried if i were them
Posted by: MvpGaborik | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 04:34 PM
Or maybe he spends another season in the AHL. Torts did say he would keep him down there for as long as he needed to.
Posted by: Nick Montemagno | Saturday, June 04, 2011 at 08:23 PM