INSIDE HOCKEY

Glen Sather just refuses to learn from his mistakes.

One day after making possibly the best move of any team in the NHL this offseason, the Rangers general manager ruined everything again with two questionable signings.

Tuesday night, Sather committed grand larceny by acquiring 26 year-old left wing Chris Higgins, defenseman Doug Janik, and prospects Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko for center Scott Gomez and prospects Mike Busto and Tom Pyatt.

The fact that Sather was able to dump Gomez’s ridiculous contract by itself was a truly shocking and amazing maneuver by Sather. That he got a legitimate young scorer in Chris Higgins and the best prospect in Montreal’s organization in Ryan McDonagh was pure insanity.

Better yet, immediately after the big trade many media outlets reported that the salary dump was a precursor to a trade for Dany Heatley, and that the trade was imminent. It appeared to all that Glen Sather had a chance to fix the Rangers in a span of hours.

Obviously, that didn’t happen and Edmonton completed a deal with Ottawa that remained in limbo through the night as Heatley decided whether to accept the move. But Blueshirt fans woke up to the very real chance that Heatley, who desperately wanted to be a Ranger, would be Gomez’s replacement.

But it isn’t Glen Sather’s style to spend money wisely. And as we’ve learned over the last several years, it certainly isn’t his policy to save money if there isn’t a good option to improve his club.

So when the free agency period opened today at noon, Sather was chomping at the bit to waste his freshly cleared salary cap space. Looking at the carnage now, nine hours later, waste seems like an optimistic word for the way Sather handled his money today.

First, Sather signed goon winger Donald Brashear to a two year, $2.8 million deal. Not only can Brashear not play, but he also completely disrespected the Rangers organization with a cheap shot to Blair Betts in the playoffs just over a month ago.

Even worse, the Rangers own heavyweight Colton Orr signed earlier in the day with Toronto for $400k less per season than Brashear. That’s Orr who worked endlessly to improve his game with the Rangers, was completely unselfish, could actually play defense, and has a fraction of the cheap shot artist reputation of Brashear.

But even then I gave Sather a pass on this mistake based on his shocking success last night. Then tonight Sather landed his coveted superstar scorer, right winger Marian Gaborik, formerly of the Minnesota Wild.

Gaborik may have been the most talented player available from the pool of Heatley, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Mike Cammalleri, and the Sedin twins. However, he also happens to be one of the most injury prone players in the NHL. Gaborik has missed 154 games in eight NHL seasons. He played only 17 games last year. A stiff breeze could be enough to send him to the press box.

But Glen Sather has shown that he’s got an eye for players ready to bounce back. He had tremendous success with the signings of Wade Redden and Markus Naslund last summer. And in years before that he showed that trading for injury prone players like Pavel Bure and Eric Lindros are no predictor of what happens when the player dons Ranger blue (Sarcasm intended).

Signing Gaborik wasn’t the worst idea. When he’s healthy he is undoubtedly one of the most talented players in the league. In fact the initial reports of a five year deal at $5.75 million per could be considered a bargain. But then the actual details of the deal came in, five years for $37.5 million, $7.5 a year. That money for Gaborik is an abomination.

The Rangers escaped from salary cap hell just last night, and they are now thrust back into the same position. His money is now invested in Humpty Dumpty.

Gaborik is a tremendous player. If somehow he avoids health issues, the Rangers may return to relevance rapidly. But that’s a huge if. If however Gaborik does continue to struggle with injuries through the duration of his deal, he may prove to be even more difficult to move than Gomez in a couple years.

Sather assuredly is patting himself on the back for acquiring a scorer without parting with any of his prized young players as he might have been required to do for Heatley. While it’s encouraging to see that Sather is protective of his young talent, this was not the right decision.

This is a chance the Rangers shouldn’t have taken. Maybe there wasn’t a better option this summer, but shouldn’t Sather have learned restraint by now? Hasn’t he made enough mistakes? The Rangers have been down this road before, and now they’re back where they started.