New York Rangers At The 2011 NHL Trade Deadline: Rumors, Needs And Expectations

It's been an injury ravaged year for the New York Rangers. Losing Alex Frolov, Ruslan Fedotenko and Vinny Prospal on offense for stretches this season has not been easy, and those issues were only further complicated on Sunday afternoon when Marian Gaborik left a loss to the Flyers with a concussion.

Henrik Lundqvist has held strong in the goal, supplemented well by backup Martin Biron. The rest of the team, though, still needs to be tinkered with as we enter the 2011 trade deadline.

Status: Buyer. They missed the playoffs a year ago. Glen Sather isn't going to let that happen again.

Needs: The Rangers have plenty of holes. A very green defense could be bolstered by adding a player at the deadline, and up front, another scorer is vital.

Players On The Block: It's hard to say who is available in New York, especially since Sather is in charge of things. For the right price, just about anybody is likely available -- with the exception of guys like Brandon Dubinsky and Derek Stepan (and Lundqvist, of course).

Prediction: The Rangers will almost certainly do something. I mean, they are the Rangers after all. I expect them to make some kind of move to bolster the defense -- whether it's a claim of Sheldon Souray off waivers or some other trade at the deadline.

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