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Vesey Ready For Madhattan? |
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Jimmy Vesey is a NY Ranger in name.
The easy part was selecting his team of choice and signing his $5.6 million entry level contract.
After the lift, comes the let down.
The Harvard grad is now tasked with having to earn the respect of his teammates and his Broadway Blueshirts coaching staff.
Vesey said Friday night that he isn't expecting himself to be a "savior"for the Rangers. Vesey said that he only wants to help the Rangers win hockey games. Vesey better drink his milk and hit the weights now because he is going to have a neon red bullseye on the back of his sweater once his first NHL training camp begins in a month. Rangers fans want their players to put up or shut up. They hate failure. They hate division rivals the Flyers, Penguins, Islanders, Devils, and Capitals. Vesey will be expected to be a leader and a point producer from Day 1.
The kid is going to have to grow the thick skin of a grizzled veteran and do the work that is expected of him to become the top six forward he purports himself to be.
Talk about pressure.
NY Rangers GM Jeff Gorton told the team's website that he had an uncomfortable feeling about the Rangers' chances of winning the Vesey Scramble. Then, Gorton's cell phone rang on Friday afternoon.
"I was glad to see the caller ID, being a Boston number, so I answered and then he said 'This is Jimmy Vesey. I made my decision and I'd like to come to New York', and I had a pretty exciting response, probably one I can't say in public," Gorton told reporters on a conference call Friday night. "Until he called me today and told me he was coming, I would say I was uncomfortable because you never know. You just never know."
Vesey's cell phone call concluded the most dramatic, highly publicized college free agent courtship periods in NHL history. In all, the Vesey mania lasted four months. In April, the former Nashville Predators draft choice informed GM David Poile that he would be declining the opportunity to join the Preds for their playoff run. Vesey and his agent declared that the player would be heading to unrestricted free agency. In June, Buffalo Sabres GM Tim Murray traded a third round draft choice to the Preds in exchange for Vesey's exclusive negotiating rights. The Sabres made a few pitched to Vesey and his agents in June and July in hopes of wooing him to sign in Buffalo. Vesey opted to test free agency. On Tuesday of this week, the 23 year old college star became UFA and seven suitors stalked him down.
On Friday afternoon, Vesey's phone call to Gorton ended the conquest.
"When we left the room I would say we felt really comfortable that we had a really good meeting and that we were able to touch on a lot of the points we wanted to," Gorton said of the courtship of Vesey. "We just thought we had a connection with the young man. Of course, without having spoken to the other teams, there were seven teams and I'm sure we all felt the same way."
It helped the Rangers that Vesey has friends on already on their roster in Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller. Playing shinny with your Boston bros on Wednesday nights in Foxboro in uly and August is one thing. Playing full contact, balls to the wall hockey on the largest stage in the Mecca Of Sports is entirely another.
Vesey said Friday night that he was very impressed with Chris Drury, Rangers Director of Player Development, during the Blueshirts' presentation.
When the ice chips melted, Drury and Gorton closed Vesey on the merits of playing on Broadway.
One wonders if Drury and Gorton informed the kid that he will be showered with Bronx cheers if and when he is held score less in consecutive games.
How will Vesey react to being a rookie who has never skated in an NHL practice dictating his ice time, role and power play inclusion on a team loaded with veteran competitors who have been through the wars of NHL regular seasons and the playoffs?
"It was definitely a tough decision....."I just thought New York was somewhere I could play and hopefully stick in the NHL. They seemed to really want me and really believe in me, and that was something I was really looking for. After all the talks I thought this was the right fit."
Is Vesey's ice time guaranteed? Has he been promised a top six role with 15-18 minutes TOI per game? Has he been guaranteed first unit power play time?
One wonders if Alain Vigneault's hands will be tied if and when Vesey struggles. What happens when the kid hits the rookie wall at Christmas time? Will Vigneault be permitted to down grade the kid to the third or fourth line? Will AV be allowed to bench the kid or take away his TOI if his poor play dictates it?
Vesey and his camp qualified his Vecision as being a hockey decision.
How and when will Vesey earn the trust of his new demanding head coach Alain Vigneault? Being a nice kid with a Harvard degree only gets you in the locker room. Scoring clutch goals and playing every nook and cranny of the 200 by 85 foot sheet will keep him in the lineup.
"There's no guarantees in sports obviously, but I feel that New York is somewhere I can plug in right away and play and hopefully stick in the NHL," Vesey said.
How would you like to be the veteran player or prospect who has to now lose his job and surrender ice time to a still yet unproven college hockey player?
"This was an opportunity, a real good player became available...and we're trying to replace some of that depth we've had in the past. We're trying to get as many young players as we can. The game is getting faster and younger and more skilled all the time. So we're really excited to get a player like this. It's a very exciting day for us", Gorton said.
Vesey scored 24 goals and added 22 assists in 33 games last season.
"I think he has the ability to score, he can make plays," Gorton said. "He's a very talented player. He's a really good player with a lot of intangibles. I think he can come in and play."
Ok. He was a 23 year old scoring on 19-21 year olds in college hockey. How is Veesy going to create offense when he is being dogged all over the ice by superstar players like Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin,Geno Malkin, Claude Giroux, John Tavares, Jack Eichel, and Patrice Bergeron?
The good news is that the Vesey Scramble is over.
The bad news is that every player young and old, and every coach in the NHL now know who Jimmy Vesey is.
Is the self admitted low-key, home body of a kid ready for the bright lights and the bigger city?
I've said it 1,000 times before and I'll say it again:
Vesey would have been better served playing in a hockey mad market like Buffalo where he wouldn't be expected to carry a team on his shoulders from Day 1.
Too late now. Vesey is now strapped into the sickest, most terrifying cork screw roller coaster ride of his life. There is no reverse gear. He's about to get hit in the face with the G Forces that only New York City can create on a young, highly publicized athlete.
Vesey might want to phone Hank Lundqvist, Derek Jeter or Patrick Ewing and ask the legends what it takes to win over the fans while being a leader of men at such a young age.
Vesey thought that playing at home in Boston would have been an emotional, pressure packed affair?
What happens when Vesey takes himself off on an ill-timed line change and give up a 3 on 1 goal against Hank Lundqvist? Hank hates it when his forwards and D hang him out to dry. He is notorious for screaming profanities at his teammates when they make stupid mistakes. Vesey better hope that he doesn't pis off Lundqvist or else he will get Han'd by the trademark Swdish death stare.
There isn't a grittier, more in your face city in the world than New York City.
Vesey better win the fans over early and often.
**
Tim Murray must be smarting.
Big time.
Since July 1, the Buffalo Sabres GM has swung and missed out on high profile UFA forwards Steve Stamkos, Drake Caggiula, and Jimmy Vesey.
Full credit to Murray and Dan Bylsma for their aggressive pursuit of the best of the best free agents in the game. I love Murray's moxie and his all-in attitude. He will tell you that its his job to improve his roster every single day. Full marks to Murray and the Pegulas for putting their money where their mouth is.
So what will Murray do now?
He still needs a scoring winger to play with Jack Eichel and Samson Reinhart.
I sincerely believe that Murray and Bylsma will be giving Alex Nylander every opportunity to earn a top six job in Buffalo. Nylander was Buffalo's first round pick in the NHL Draft. He is a slickly skilled, speedy left winger who has all of the raw talent to become a star in the NHL for years to come. Nylander is in a unique position because he can play in the NHL, AHL, juniors and in Sweden in 2016-17.
I think the Vesey loss will be Nylander's gain.
I also think that Murray will be holding onto Evander Kane until furrher notice.
The Sabres are a top four defenseman away from being a playoff team in 2016-17.
Murray should waste no more time with his RFAs. Its high time that he re-signs RFasmus Ristolainen and Zemgus Girgensons.
Girgensons must be geeked that Vesey has passed on playing for Buffalo. The Latvian Locomotive would have lost ice time to Vesey had he signed with the Sabres. Now that Vesey is out of the picture entirely, Girgensons gets a fresh new lease on his hockey life.
Zemgus, Nylander and Tyler Ennis just might be the solutions to Buffalo's scoring left winger problems.
More to come...
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