Take the latest “Rangers a favorite to land Vesey” with a grain of salt

The Boston Herald has cited a source that claims the Rangers are one of three teams to likely land Jimmy Vesey.

Over the past several days, numerous scouts, team officials and agents on hand for the Beantown Summer Classic have speculated on Vesey’s plans. One very well-informed area NHL scout expressed the belief that the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Bruins will be the finalists.

Not Much To Go On

So let me get this straight…we are once again raising our hopes based off a belief from a  “well-informed area NHL scout?” In an offseason where the biggest hockey insiders were way off on who will be traded and the teams that will be the most active were wrong, why should we buy this?

And in the same article three other teams were mentioned to sound like favorites too!

While the Sabres haven’t been able to sign him, it’s possible they’ll be final candidates. The Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom Vesey’s father, ex-Bruin Jim, is a scout, have also been widely mentioned. And more than one source at NESC pegged the New Jersey Devils as a darkhorse contender.

Again, this is a prime example of how you can take one line from an entire article and make it seem like the only important thing to come out of it.

The Telling Quote

Actually, if you really want to play that game, this quote from Vesey’s agent, Peter Fish is the most telling. “There’s about 4-5 teams other than Buffalo that he wants to hear from. And then after that he’s going to make a decision. I think he’d love for the Bruins to be one of those teams. I assume that we will be taking a call from them.”

Bottom line, the Rangers of course have a shot, but like I wrote yesterday I think it’s a small one.