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Buzz: Prucha May Play Tonight

by Brian Monzo on November 28th, 2008 at 8:45 am

Larry Brooks reports in the New York Post that Petr Prucha may play tonight in Miami as the Rangers battle with the Panthers. Prucha has played in only eight of the Rangers 25 games this season. If he doesn’t get in, he may be sent down to Hartford on a conditioning assignment. The Rangers recently sent down Patrick Rissmiller, but he was recalled earlier in the week.

Monzo: I am a Peter Prucha guy. He is making $1.6 million and is a RFA at the end of the season. It has gotten to the point that Prucha needs to play or be traded. We all saw that when Prucha gets opportunities to play consistently he produces. He is not the kind of player that will be effective if given a limited role. If Prucha plays, the next question is : Who sits down? That is likely Dan Fritsche. So, if this is case, coach Renney is again going with a rotation of Prucha, Fritsche, Rissmiller and Nigel Dawes. It’s always good to have fresh legs coming in and out of games, however Prucha is useless in this role and either needs to play the rest of the season, spend the rest of the season in Hartford or get moved. My feeling? He gets moved.

Should the Rangers move Petr Prucha?

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  • waynefromwestbury

    Prucha was great as a rookie, pretty damn good in his second season and invisible ever since. When he first came up he was able to stay involved in the physical play and produce points. After that second year teams were very aware of him and really finished off the checks on him, pretty much taking the gritty little guy out of the play causing this extraordinary lack of production. I don’t see that changing any time soon in NY. I think Prucha has to change his style of play if he wants to be successful in the NHL. He should take a long look at the career of Teemu Selanne and model his game after that. I think he’s got to try and stay away from the gritty style he plays, he’s just too small to compete in the NHL like that. But if he can turn into a guy who uses his quickness and puts himself in position to shoot and score every time he touches the puck and stays away from the corners, half boards, and behind the net, he can be successful. Prucha is the guy who needs to be receiving the passes from the guys doing the gritty work and putting that quick shot of his on goal. It’s real tough to change your style of play, it’s undoubtedly the way Prucha has approached the game his entire life. Whether he does it here in NY or elsewhere if he wants to make it that’s what Prucha has to do. I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

  • waynefromwestbury

    The trade talk surrounding Prucha has me thinking. What would the Rangers be looking for in a trade? Would he be going in a package with some other players in a big deal? Or would we be just trying to dump him and the 1.6 mill from the cap asap? Personally I don’t think they would ever receive the equal compensation they should for Prucha in a one for one deal, so the big deal package seems like a better option from my perspective. Hopefully Rozsival goes too. Maybe Rozsival and Prucha to Toronto for Nik Antropov. We can definitely use another body besides Voros in front of the net. New GM Brian Burke may want to change things up in Toronto and adding Rozsivals experience to that young Maple Leaf defense may be a possibility. Something is going to happen, I’m starting to feel it. LETS GO RANGERS!!!!

    • SouthJerseyBlue

      Burke loves big strong North Americans. On TSN they were going on about what he’ll be looking for. Rozy and Prucha just isn’t his type guys. However that may mean Sundin is definately not going back to TO. I’d love Antropov here.