the newest ranger, sandis ozolinsh...

of course this is brought to us by the great barry beck, who did not lose a set is last night's paddle fest.



The Rangers did there due dil on Ozolinsh because many of his former teammates are on this current team. No one really knows about his subsutance abuse because he checked himself into the program administered by the NHLPA. Also, he played in the olympics so GM Sather assumed he'd been checked over by the Latvians as well.

"As you know, everyone that goes to Olympics was checked for everything," Sather said. "So we knew he didn't have a problem there. I know his agent (Paul Theofanous) very well. And everybody I talked to thinks he's a great guy and a great team guy."

A torn pectoral muscle that required surgery limited him to just 36 games in 2003-04. And a knee sprain suffered in late November had him shelved until he checked himself into the NHL/NHLPA substance abuse program on Dec.29.

Cleared to return just in time to play for Latvia at the Olympics, Ozolinsh played impressively for a team short on NHL players. He wowed Sather, who was one of only a handful of GMs to attend the Games.

And after doing some checking into Ozolinsh's personal problems, and checking with former Anaheim teammates Steve Rucchin and Petr Sykora and former World Junior championship teammate Darius Kasparaitis, Sather was convinced this was a risk worth taking. Besides, the price wasn't very high - defensemen went for larger ransoms yesterday - and
the Rangers have plenty of room under the cap to absorb the $2.75 million Ozolinsh is due next season.

He's a big guy but also fast and a great passer in the mold of the Eastern European defensman. Think a stronger, older and wiser version of Sergi Zubov, member of the '94 Rangers.