The main criticism mounted against the Rangers signing of star sniper Marian Gaborik was a result of his inability in recent seasons to stay healthy. Any hockey fan would have told you that the Rangers desperately needed goal scoring after finishing 28th in the league in goals scored and the addition of Gaborik could certainly go a long way towards addressing that problem. The question was would Gaborik be able to stay on the ice enough and produce enough offense to justify the lavish contract Sather had bestowed upon him.
Our worst fears were confirmed when it was reported at the beginning of training camp that Gaborik was held out of certain conditioning exercises because of groin tightness. Groin problems were one of the reasons Gaborik had missed time in the last few seasons and to see him already dealing with the same problem was frightening.
Rangers’ coaches and management did their best to reassure us as fans that holding Gaborik out of some portions of training camp (including the first 4 exhibition games) was done as a precaution. Well, Rangers fans weren’t going to be satisfied until we saw our new marquee name on the ice and healthy. We finally got that last night.
Gaborik’s debut was almost ended before it was fairly begun as less than 30 seconds into the opening period he was smoked on a hit from Red Wings forward Johan Franzen. Gaborik was alright though and showed why Sather felt he was worth the huge investment by assisting on Enver Lisin’s 1st period power play tally making a nice cross-ice, backhand feed to Lisin. He also led all Rangers with 5 shots on goal.
Coach Tortorella’s take on Gabby’s debut was a mixed bag. “I thought he did some good things,” said Torts. The coach followed by saying, “Obviously you can see his talent. He did some good things in our own zone, he did some lousy things in our own zone. I think he’s gonna add a dimension to our team that you need in winning and that’s his creativity and just the dynamic player he is. I’m sure it was hard for him; he wants to be healthy and I thought he gave us some good minutes.”Not exactly a ringing endorsement but those words are still music to the ears of many Rangers fans.
Don’t get me wrong; I know it’s only one exhibition game and Gabby certainly has done nothing to date in training camp to prove the naysayers wrong. However, the important thing is that Gaborik is on the ice contributing. For Gabby to follow through with a relatively injury-free and successful season it’s going to have to start with one game. One game is in the books.
Our worst fears were confirmed when it was reported at the beginning of training camp that Gaborik was held out of certain conditioning exercises because of groin tightness. Groin problems were one of the reasons Gaborik had missed time in the last few seasons and to see him already dealing with the same problem was frightening.
Rangers’ coaches and management did their best to reassure us as fans that holding Gaborik out of some portions of training camp (including the first 4 exhibition games) was done as a precaution. Well, Rangers fans weren’t going to be satisfied until we saw our new marquee name on the ice and healthy. We finally got that last night.
Gaborik’s debut was almost ended before it was fairly begun as less than 30 seconds into the opening period he was smoked on a hit from Red Wings forward Johan Franzen. Gaborik was alright though and showed why Sather felt he was worth the huge investment by assisting on Enver Lisin’s 1st period power play tally making a nice cross-ice, backhand feed to Lisin. He also led all Rangers with 5 shots on goal.
Coach Tortorella’s take on Gabby’s debut was a mixed bag. “I thought he did some good things,” said Torts. The coach followed by saying, “Obviously you can see his talent. He did some good things in our own zone, he did some lousy things in our own zone. I think he’s gonna add a dimension to our team that you need in winning and that’s his creativity and just the dynamic player he is. I’m sure it was hard for him; he wants to be healthy and I thought he gave us some good minutes.”Not exactly a ringing endorsement but those words are still music to the ears of many Rangers fans.
Don’t get me wrong; I know it’s only one exhibition game and Gabby certainly has done nothing to date in training camp to prove the naysayers wrong. However, the important thing is that Gaborik is on the ice contributing. For Gabby to follow through with a relatively injury-free and successful season it’s going to have to start with one game. One game is in the books.
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