The Rangers Do Not Need James Dolan Hyping Them

James Dolan came out of wherever he’s been hiding after the Rangers win on tuesday against the Predators. He made some comments that made some Rangers fans a bit nervous. Here’s what he said:

"“I’m particularly proud of Mr. Sather because all the way back to 2004 when things weren’t going so well and we had a lot of free agents here and we decided to basically re-do the strategy, Glen and I made a pact. I gave him something, which I won’t reveal today, but I gave him something to seal the pact. I said, ‘You can’t give it back to me until we win the Stanley Cup.’ And I think we’re pretty close to getting that thing back.”"

I can only speculate what he gave to Sather, but the fact he feels he’s close to winning the Stanley Cup is not something you say in January. It’s something you say in June. Did I also mention that statement was the first time he talked to the media since 2006? Read more hear my take on how Dolan can mess up the Rangers

For right now i’m not going to talk about Dolan’s battle with other television providers, or any of his other business ventures. I’m going to talk about Dolan’s effect on the Rangers. Dolan has been decent to the Rangers as a whole. The two big things he has done for the team is always opening up his checkbook, and letting Glen Sather run things.

Dolan is a big Knicks fan, and we all know about the team’s struggles this season, and part of that has to do with his input. Maybe if Dolan didn’t have so much input the team wouldn’t have traded for Carmelo Anthony last year. That hasn’t exactly worked out well for the Knicks.

Ok back to hockey. We all remember the post cup era how Neil Smith was pressured from upper management to put a winning team on the ice to impress new ownership. He ended up making a few bad trades that he maybe wouldn’t have made if he weren’t under pressure. I hate to blame Mark Messier but it’s possible he had some impact on these decisions as well. If you don’t recall, In 95′ the Rangers traded Petr Nedved and Sergei Zubov to the Penguins for Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuellson. Needless to say this was a bad trade from every angle and even at the time people realized this.

What I’m afraid of is James Dolan suddenly realizing the Rangers have a chance to win it all this year. He might want to make a deal for let’s just say Jarome Iginla. Quite frankly, I don’t think he’d have a problem trading away Chris Kreider for Iginla in a deal if it means they become Stanley Cup contenders. Those types of things scare me.

Needless to say i’d really prefer if he stays put and cheers the team on from the press box. He’s really helped the Rangers by signing contract after contract and never saying no. Also, how many owners would put up with paying $6.5 million for Wade Redden to play with Fudgie the Whale in Hartford? Not too many owners would do that too happily.

I’m glad Dolan is taking note of the Rangers but I prefer he do it privately. The Rangers really don’t need a Mark Cuban like owner as they already have enough distractions and pressure on them. I also like how Tortorella stepped in after Dolan spoke to repeat the same message that the Rangers are still working on things, and need to keep improving.

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