Nikolai Zherdev’s arbitration figure has come in at $3.9 million, up three-quarters of a million dollars from the Rangers’ qualifying offer. So I’m sticking with he’s a goner.
The Rangers have 48 hours to decide on that - whether to accept the offer or let Zherdev walk into unrestricted free agency. More accurately, perhaps, they have another 48 hours to find a trading partner who likes Zherdev at $3.9 million so that they would get something in return for letting the skilled 24-year-old walk. If the Rangers are intent on letting him go, it wouldn’t take much of an offer to secure a trade. Which would be one reason the Rangers are reserving comment until it plays out.
Zherdev, who scored 23 goals and 58 points in 2008-09 - but none vs. Washington in the seven-game playoff series - was in and out of it with disturbing frequency and didn’t exactly take flight when John Tortorella arrived. Now, a nice arbitration hearing in which teams arguing for lower salaries stress all of a player’s negatives, surely can’t leave either party feeling great about the other right now.



COOL!