Zherdev Bolts...

TSN recently reported that Nikolai Zherdev was set to sign in the KHL but can you really blame Glen Sather for walking away? Zherdev tied for the club league in points last year with 58 in 82 games. His career stats are on the same type of pace with 239 points in 365 NHL contests. Not exactly staggering stats for a supposed first line winger. It could be argued that the players he played with weren't of his caliber however that is not the issue with Nikolai. He has been widely regarded as an enigma and deservedly so. He has every tool to be an amazing hockey player including skating, stick handling, a great shot and the ability to score... The catch is he excels at these things when he feels like it. A catch that Head Coach John Tortorella picked up on almost immediately upon taking over for Tom Renney at the end of last year.

Zherdev played 21 games for Tortorella scoring 7 goals and 6 assists and ultimately wound up getting benched. The playoffs got no better for Zherdev as he played in all 7 games and didn't record a single point. It wasn't even the scoring that was the problem so much as his unwillingness to grind it out and make plays. He played that way all season but it was magnified in the playoffs when you HAVE to play with desire and heart. He was all but invisible in the series against the Capitals.

This offseason Zherdev felt he was worth $4.75 million as opposed to the $3 million the Rangers qualified him at. It's been speculated that his number was purposely high to free him to go to the KHL, and not belong to the Rangers if he returns. Through arbitration Zherdev was awarded $3.9 million which the Blueshirts walked away from. I can't imagine a team silly enough in the NHL to give those kinds of numbers for a second to third line caliber player who shows up when he want to. Zherdev's skills are undeniable to the point teams find themselves saying 'If I can only get this guy with the right players...' This may have been what Glen Sather did when he traded Fedor Tyutin and Cristian Backman for Zherdev and Dan Fritsche.

Critics of Sather now complain that the Rangers have nothing to show for this trade and gave up a promising young defenseman. To that I say easy on the Fedor Tyutin-Bobby Orr comparisons. Tyutin is a solid number 4-6 defenseman. He is not a game changer nor will he ever be. Not to mention Sather has more than replaced him compiling a stable full of young defenseman ready to step in and challenge for the two spots presumably available this year. (See Matt Gilroy, Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Del Zotto, Sean McDonagh etc.)

The Blueshirts took a chance on Zherdev and everyone knew that going into it. Players can be taught a lot of things but heart, passion and desire are not among them. The Rangers needed scoring. He provided some. He didn't provide enough. He just never gave enough.