New York Rangers: Offseason 2010

NHLHS New York Rangers Correspondent Jason Arbeitman discusses the New York Rangers off-season to date.

After falling to the Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout on the final day of the regular season the Rangers missed the playoffs by a single point for the first time since the 2003-04 season. As expected with the Rangers cap woes it has been a relatively quiet offseason for the Blueshirts.

GM Glen Sather has made several solid moves to help re-vamp the Blueshirts in hopes they can challenge for a playoff spot next season. Just minutes after noon on July 1, the Rangers agreed to terms with backup goaltender Martin Biron, formerly of the New York Islanders, to a 2 year deal worth 1.75 million. The Rangers also inked fighter extraordinaire Derek Boogaard to an extremely questionable deal of 4 years and 6.5 million. The Rangers then signed free agent left winger Alexander Frolov formerly of the Los Angeles Kings, who was widely regarded as the second best winger on the market behind Ilya Kovalchuk.

In addition to those three signings Sather also re-signed pending UFA Vinny Prospal to a 1 year deal worth 1.1 million with another 1 million in performance bonuses, which was allowable to him being that he is over 35 years of age. The team also brought back Erik Christensen (2 years, 1.95 million), Brandon Prust ( 2 years, 1.6 million), Dan Girardi (4 years, 13.3 million) leaving only RFA defenseman Marc Staal left to be signed by the New York Rangers. The Rangers have also signed highly touted winger Mats Zuccarello-Aasen, formerly of Modo of the Swedish Elite League.

In other moves, the Rangers shipped Aaron Voros and Ryan Hillier to the Anaheim Ducks for veteran defenseman Steve Eminger. Glen Sather also successfully convinced Wisconsin standouts Derek Stepan (center) and Ryan McDonagh (defenseman) to step away from their college careers in order to turn pro in hopes of making the team out of training camp in the fall.

The question on every Rangers fans mind has been what will happen to Wade Redden come September, where he can be waived and demoted to Hartford of the AHL where his 6.5 million cap hit will be removed. At this point it looks like that is highly likely as the team only has 1.4 million in cap space left and RFA defenseman Marc Staal still to sign. In addition, the team can use another veteran defenseman who will sign at a cheaper rate than Redden’s massive contract.

For the remainder of the offseason, the Rangers goals are to sign Marc Staal to a 5-6 year contract worth approximately 4 million per season, sign a veteran defenseman and try and acquire a top 2 center (Brad Richards has long been a rumored target).

As the offseason concludes and the Rangers continue to tweak their roster check in for all the updates and analysis. I will also provide the line-up that I would like to see on opening night in the near future.

Jason Arbeitman
NHLHS New York Rangers Correspondent
jarbeitman@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @NYfan1610