With the trade deadline quickly arriving, and rumors spreading quickly regarding whether or not our Captain would be traded, I’ve decided to finally put my two cents into the discussion. If you follow me on twitter, or have ever had a conversation with me, I’m sure you know that I am a huge Ryan Callahan fan and would hate to see him traded. I was asked last week to write an article on why I wanted to keep Callahan and in all honesty besides being obsessed with him, and moderately in love with him, I found it hard to write about possibly losing him to a trade. But it made me think, what is it about Captain Cally that makes me want him to stay?
Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
It’s his heart. We may all have our own ideas on how “Cally” plays on the ice, concerns regarding his age and other ideas on him, but one thing no Ranger fan can say is that Callahan doesn’t have heart. Upon watching Callahan play, and listening to not only his coaches but also his teammates also say how big of an impact he has on the team behind the cameras and seeing him always remain positive on the upcoming games, and his dedication to the Rangers foundation, it’s become apparent to me that Callahan is the heart of this team.
For those of you who have played on hockey teams, or just any team in general, we have all had those players on our teams, and in our lives, that have encouraged us, pushed us beyond what we believed we could do, and were always optimistic about the outlook of our team even when the rest of the team may have been hopeless. They may not have been the best player on the ice, but without these players our teams would not have the drive and heart to carry on and keep fighting through the hard times. For the Rangers, that player is Ryan Callahan, which is why he’s the Captain of our team. Callahan has played his entire professional career with the Rangers, and we all know that he’s repeatedly said that New York “is where he belongs” and “where he wants to be.” Callahan is a name that is synonymous with the Rangers, and even though there is a lot of talk that he wants to leave, Callahan’s heart is with the Rangers, and as I’ve said since the beginning of these rumors, Cally isn’t going anywhere. There are some things we cannot put a price on, and having heart and passion is one of those things.
I’ve been reading a lot of things about how Callahan isn’t producing the way a Captain should, that he is asking for more time then he is worth, that he is injury prone, etc etc. But if we were to trade any player that wasn’t producing the way they should, about half of our team would be gone. Players missing open nets, taking unnecessary penalties, not playing defense properly and giving up goals that should have been stopped, these are all problems Rangers faced these last few weeks. But does that mean we pay them less because they aren’t playing up to their potential? Players have off games, off weeks, and sometimes players have a hard time adjusting to another Coach. It’s understandable some people believe that Callahan is asking too much, and personally i think a 6 year/33 Million agreement would be ideal, but at the end of the day negotiations are between the GM’s and players agents.
It’s hard to watch people talk so negatively about a player that has given us everything he has in his professional career. As a player that has worked his way back from injuries to keep playing and driving this team forward, I believe that Callahan’s heart won’t let him leave the Rangers. I look forward to the day we see that Callahan resigned with the Rangers, and the day we all dream of, winning the Stanley Cup. Contracts may cost millions of dollars, trade negotiations may drive us crazy, rumors may cause us to lose sleep, but winning the Stanley Cup is truly priceless.