Now after reading over the great posts by Joe- "Why Wojtek Wolski should not be bought out", CT49erFanatic's- "Discussing Vinny Prospal", and reading you all give the "Pack Line" tag to Dubinski, Anisimov and Callahan like they were Kovalev, Messier, and Graves (Although they remind me of the second line version I must admit). I just don't see the use in lowering Dubinsky's playing time or talent level for the sake of a homegrown line that shuts down virtually everyone in the league. That's why I want to open up discussion on who should be slotted into that LW spot along side 2 all-star caliber players. Now understand that as serious as I made this post, it is only the pondering of who the orginization wants for that spot at the time. I can 110 % guarantee that the coach who changed his line combo's more than anyone in the league, will not just change his ways overnight, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rupp up there at least a couple of times during the season. So let's figure this shit out.

BRANDON DUBINSKY

Personally I think Dubinsky has earned the right to play on that line. When Renney coached and put Dubinsky in the middle on the top line with Jagr and then eventually Straka, he could have messed up, he could have caved under the pressure of doing what 2 - 7 million dollar centers could not, but never did. In fact he played better than what was projected of him for that year by far. Fast forward to right now and just imagine if instead of hitting his ceiling (which I believe he hasn't) he enjoys the honor of being thought of as the top LW player to carry the team along with Gaborik and Richards towards the top of the Eastern Conference. Also, having him out there ultimately protecting the big guns wouldn't be a bad idea for hockey play after the whistle either. That honor right from the get-go would light a fire under a player like him. Now a guy like Wolski, not so much.

WOJTEK WOLSKI

To be fair to the guy (before I go off) he did join a very well coached and disciplined team mid-season, but he just didn't click with anyone after the stint with MZA and Stepan. He did look better than everyone else in the playoffs, but that still isn't saying much. His shootout ability was what we really loved, let's be honest he might have won 3 games in the shootout for us because of just that. With that said he has tons of potential like Joe talked about and who knows maybe all along he, like Gaborik needed a playmaking center to come to life again. The question is has he earned the right more than Dubi has? Well his wrist shot and passing ability certainly says so, but sometimes you have to hit the corners for possession of the puck, can Wolski do that better than Dubi? or even play that game at all? He didn't show much grit last year, so I will take a pass on him for now but down the line he has proven that he hustles in the playoffs which is never a bad thing.

Join me after the jump for the rest of our options.

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This might already be in the heads of you more Cap savvy fans out there but ill give it a go anyway. It's quick, easy and to the point.

So we buyout Chris Drury and the CBA says with its best soup Nazi impression  "no more buyouts for you!" And we say "damn that would have been nice now what?" Well as much as I like the shootout (I hate it actually), I do not want Wolski wearing a Blueshirt anymore, so we must trade him. But what takers are there for a 3.8 million dollar project? Well, I can think of a couple of teams that would be interested in taking him, but not to play of coarse. Ohh no, no, no, my Ranger brethren, to do what we cannot! Buy. Him. Out. Yeah see what if we traded him and lets say the rights to Gilroy to the Flyers for a guy like Versteeg. They need the cap space and

we can give them just that.

Philadelphia trades Verteeg to New York for Wojtek Wolski and Matt Gilroy. See what I think makes this work is the needs all the way around.

Flyers need cap space. 3 million comes off. Check.

Rangers need a good scoring forward that plays defense well to get on a line with Gabby and Richards. Check.

Flyers can buy out Wolski for the 666,667. Sign Gilroy 900,00 to play the 3rd line with O'Donnell on his way out. Have 1.5 million more to throw towards Ilya Bryzgalov and be set with their forward and defensive corp for the most part. Checkmate.

On another note I think other teams like ANA looking for a up and coming defens

man could have interest in that package. Just swap Parros and a fourth rounder and I would take that deal. I mean I know Sather is looking for an enforcer so why not. We wind up alleviating cap space in the process and so does Anaheim. 

 Emperor Sathertine is creating a master plan and don't be surprised if it looks like one of these.

What do you guys think? Feel free to add more trade possibilities including the Wolfman.

Of the few NHL teams that have promising prospects, rookies, freshman players, sophomore players and have not mortgaged the house by trading picks away, the Rangers look to be in the best shape right now. Other teams that are on the rise (Islanders, Thrashers, Canadiens,  Lightning, Preds, Maple Leafs, Hurricanes), Declining teams( Devils, Stars, Sens, Flyers, Coyotes, Blackhawks). Those are just my early predictions for what these organizations look like they will be next season, either less wins for the declining teams and more wins for the rising teams. Okay onto what our next season looks like.

Now sure as Torts said recently "I don't think our team is fully built yet, and i'll be honest, were not there as far as talent", but what does he mean by that? Well, I will tell you what my translation of that is- (Hey we got rid of Redden, traded Rozsival for Wolski, Had guys like EC, Avery, and Wolski show up when ever they wanted to. On top of that Gaborik was hurt, we lost Cally at all the wrong times, our backup goaltender who was suppose to get Lundvquist rest down the stretch got injured, and we still made the playoffs, what more do you want from me?.) As far as the talent thing goes that just comes with time. Look at AA, Step and Boyle. The strides they've taken in their games were amazing this year. Not only that but it looks as Cally and Dubi stepped their games up, when a lot of us thought they hit their ceiling as far as points go.

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Now I will take a look at the roster piece by piece and see what Torts and Sather will try and fix going forward.

Lets start between the pipes, since it is the easiest of course. Well the King at full strength is a top 5 goalie in the league and Biron in my opinion has been a top 5 backup until he got hurt. I see no reason to change this unless Biron cannot come back at full strength.

Possible candidates for replacing Biron (again not unless he has setbacks) Ray Emery, Josh Harding, or Alex Auld.

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Well, in a way it was not so much about the loss, as it was the reality of the team at the moment. Now take a step back and look at the team as if you weren't a fan. Just a fair-weather fan of hockey, watching a team lose a statement game that really meant something. 

2POINTS...

2 POINTS - would be the technical and to some the most meaningful reason, but no for now those points were not all that was at stake that night.

Let us start small with the fact that we just went below the .500 line at HOME with 14 reg. wins and 15 Regulation losses. Okay so it's nit picking but losing that crowd is huge and having a skeptical home crowd, in the playoffs, that doesn't create an atmosphere for other teams to fear, even a little, is even bigger.

Moving on to another specific point is we were playing a game in which our crowd was witnessing a new product McCabe, that actually looked great in this game, but we came up empty after the deadline deal anyway. That is a game where after the deadline every team wants to come out with a bang and say hey we are ready to do some damage and show what run we're about to have. Now to go against the grain and say everyone(NHL Network, ESPN, etc.) who says 'ohhh this deadline wasn't as big as others in the past" are completely out of there minds. If anyone thinks that us,  the Caps and Kings didn't make the rosters significantly better, have mental issue because these teams will be going to the playoffs for those moves. With that said did we do what they did by just getting McCabe? I'll say yeah because I think we filled a real need.

Did this loss say this is what games will look like when you don't have a star playmaker in a guy like Richards or a pure sniper like Gabby in the lineup? Yeah, it is. Not that the whole hard work mantra isn't the best mantra to have but other teams need to be scared of getting scored on too. Buffalo definitely hated playing that hard nosed style and you can tell but we lost the game nonetheless.

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So, what seems to be missing from our 7th seeded New york Rangers that warrants a trade now-a-days?

Well. lets see a real number one center would be nice to have, and I don't see why a Powerplay defenseman seems to be so hard to find, I mean we had one last year and his name was Michael Del Zotto, I think? But is getting both possible or even needed or are we okay with just trading for one. Well, the answer would be a big NO, because having both has been the blueprint since the lockout.... if you looked at all the Stanley Cup winners in the past 3 years Toews-Kieth/ Lidstrom-Datsyuk and Crosby-Gonchar a trend seems to be forming. Notice I didn't mention goalies, I mean, I don't know that Neimi, Fleury(overrated) and Osgood are anywhere close to what Hank is when he is locked in, so basically we have the upper hand in the goalie department on most teams.So, I am going to say we only need one of either a PP QB Defensman or a first line center. Having the king between the pies in my opinion cuts the need for both down to one.

So, what do we need more?

I'm going to play the cigar smoker and say we need a number one center more and there is not a better way to put it.

Now let me check the market for a number one center that can help my team on the powerplay...Jason Arnott and Brad Richards seem like nice options, but which one is do-able. Well, they both are, it's just about being realistic with your moves. Sure we can trade a second rounder to the Devils for Arnott and call it a day but is he really the answer for Gabby, the powerplay and our faceoff wins...not at all. We have to be realistic in what is a number one centerman, and I really don't think he fits that bill anymore.

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So, it's Richards or bust right?

Well, ask the Yanks if they would rather start the year off Cliff Lee or Bartolo Colon, yeah that is how far the drop off is from what we have now and getting Richards,(or Richie Rich as I will call him, because WHEN Sather gives him a contract I am going to regret ever creating this post). Lets just say we would be better off with Richards between Gaborik and Prospal than Stepan or Anisimov right now.

Okay, so lets go get him.

Not so fast there my Ranger brethren. Who says he wants to come to the big city? Sure, he won a cup with Torts but does he like him genuinely? Only he can answer that question. Also...what about the boo-boo in Big D a couple years ago, anyone remember Sean Avery being cast off faster than Redden can say 'Hartford'? Yeah, I am sure he'd be thrilled to be in a locker room with that guy again More to the point, he has a NTC, he still has to waive it, and he likes the city and his team.

So what now?

Never fear, the trade deadline is near and people everywhere like, no, love money, and i'm sure Dallas has spoke with Richards about his chances of getting a big contract for years to come. So now that NTC stands for Need-The-Cash and i'm sure he knows where to get it. Richards just closes his eyes at night ...and sees Redden, Drury, Roszival and Gomez skating around a big heaping pile of money in the Garden with Glen lighting up a fat one and smiling... back to reality 'If they got that type of money I wonder what I can get', that's is shit for sure what I would say.

So, let us say he is on board, what do we give Dallas? Sauer and a fourth?

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It could have been coincidental that Anisimov, Brandon & Callahan(ABC) have been thrust into first line duties due to Prospal and Gaborik going down with injuries early on here, but destiny is more what it feels like. With Stepan taking the spotlight in the first game and the ABC line contributing with the Avery, Fed, Step line early on, it seemed like we were getting a treat from each supporting Gaborik line that was due to take over and over shine them eventually. Although time seems to be of the essence for these three in their contract years with no one to overshadow them. No first round pick being thrust in front, no Gaborik, no Drury, no Prospal and even the Stepan progression/hype takes a back seat  to these three. If someone would've told me in a couple of years back players drafted 54th in 2006, 60th in 2004, and 127th in 2004 would be logging top line minutes in 2010, I would have said "well that's Sather for ya". In actuality they are playing top line games right now.

These three do not have the talent Graves, Mess, and Kovalev(the jury is out on AA on this one still) but the mind set seems to be identical at least to me. And the attitude is Win.

Callahan having to take over leadership duties without Drury and Prospal seems to be flourishing in the spotlight, defending Roszival(which I think Drury wouldn't/couldn't have done), being an uplifting presence in the locker room, and communicating well with the zebra's between plays. Without mentioning his value to the team in play, he is at least the 3rd most important player on the team behind Hank and Gabby. His penchant for putting the pucks in great scoring areas using his speed compliments AA and Dubinsky great so far. He's on pace for 90 points and as much as I love the guy and wish him more than that, I see around a (still breakout year) 62 point season for Cally at this point.

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Well, I am not a fan of having the best role players on my team donning chicks names on the back of their jerseys, I have to say I would gladly go against those beliefs and add a new one in Ray Whitney. Now before we say "who was the last Ranger that was 38 years of age and contributed...?" Well then I would answer and say Markus Naslund. No, i'm not joking by him retiring he contributed a bunch to our near playoff Cinderella run...I digress. The Canes are not going to resign him, as the GM already declared so. Now look at three facts of a 38 year old left winger before we become skeptical:

His last 7 seasons have been more productive than (a normal players prime) his first 7 years in the league.

He shows up in every playoff series he's ever been in. 43 points in 65 games. His last 3 playoff series 30 points in 40 games.

This was on Pierre's blog on espn... "Whitney's point production over the five seasons since the lockout (334 points) is better than the likes of Shane Doan, Rick Nash, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Cammalleri, Thomas Vanek, Teemu Selanne, Jason Arnott, Danny Briere and Patrik Elias..." - Pierre LeBrun

Amazing I know!

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I'm usually against big signings for long term but my kind of signing might be worth it.

First question: How much does he cost?

Rumblings about him wanting more than 10 million per have put off a whole lot of teams. Us probably the same deal, not worth it. BUT what if we give him 9 million for one year. Do you think he takes it? Probably and here's why. Playing on a big stage in MSG, with another premier player in Gabby, in front of a top goalie with budding young stars around him. Just add the fact that Torts runs his kind of style and will have his points spike playing with Gaborik.

Kovalchuk wearing the blue and playing opposite Gaboriks wing could be deadly. The more I think about it every great team has two great SKATERS. Crosby - Malkin / Ovechkin - Backstrom / Toews - Kane / Heatley - Marleau etc.

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We unfortunately have one. Gaborik. The production of a tandem like Kovy and Gab would definitely eclipse the 100 point mark for each player at the end of the season.

The second question is Who centers them?

Everyone mentioned above is either a center or apart of a line with a great center.

Well, we could look at our options.

(Join mwah after the jump.)

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 Okay so barring the Mayans being right and the world actually does end in 2012 then I just wasted 45 minutes of time writing this up but I will take my chances. Now, I know you all will believe I am getting a little ahead of myself here but lets look at the 2011-2012 season, before looking at this upcoming season. IMO, We COULD be set.

Lets say Drury has one more unproductive season(POINTS GUYS not LITTLE THINGS), whats our chances he pulls a Markus Naslund and retires before his last year? It could happen, he is a man of honor.

Lets say that Rozy plays through another season and is more productive(hold the laughter) then he becomes an actual chip to trade with one year left on his contract, it's more likely to happen 2011-2012 when his contract doesn't scare as many GM's.

Let us say that Redden has another crappy season, (how hard can that be) and finally Messier (ooohhh, I forgot to mention Sathers gone...yay) puts him down........to Hartford. This will work, because Dolan will not dare piss off the Ranger faithful by threatening Messier's Job.

Now lets get to the non-dreamy portion of my piece...

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Ah, Our New York Rangers are in discussions with an injury prone, one time great free agent, who played his heart out in the past and is ready for some more action in this coming season. Where have I heard this before? Ohh, yeah  Shannny, Lindros, Gretzky, Lindros.... hey guys by the way, watch what you say about Cindy now because he's on Sather's list of get em while there "not" list of future pick ups. Not to say all of the aforementioned were total busts but definitely not prime cut players in there stint in New York. 

The real question is just that ... is Forsberg in prime comeback form, or is he over the hill and long gone from the great player he once was? Now this question might be golden for teams looking for a spark or a missing piece, why? because now it gives all NHL GM's leverage knowing Peter  has to MAKE IT back and prove himself because hasn't gotten IT back already. He speaks as if he has already began retirement which is a bad bargaining chip when talking bucks.. ("It was worse than I thought,"  "It went a bit faster than I was prepared. My performance against the Russians was pretty O.K., I think, but today I was not good."). Of coarse him speaking of his performance in Finland's Trouncing of Sweden 7-0 in the Karjala Cup tournament. A tourney in which 3 games he scored 0 points. Maybe the #21 this year has a jinx on it i dont know?

Anyway.. the question that would follow is he ready to play old Foppa style hockey and  would this move make sense? and of course first... it would have to make CENTS, which is just about how much the Rangers have  under there cap in comparison to wanting to sign Forsberg. He knows he can get Jagr money or at least Sundin money(in Vancouver) so why not get it, somewhere, anywhere? Even if it means playing in the Florida version of Hockey homes in terms of retiring and where old players go of to die in the KHL...okay maybe just to make their last buck, but you get my point.  If the Rangers move a couple pieces around you just might get surprised, ...although i wont hold my breath, but here is the scenario...

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These men are tough as nails, old school, SOB's with attitude, not to mention a championship under their belt. Tom Coughlin and John Tortorella might share a lot of the same coaching traits, although Tom has put his stamp in New York sports lore with winning a Super Bowl and John Tortorella has to still prove that he has that championship touch here, because Tampa Bay has nothing on the Big apple i don't have to tell you guys that, but I'm still wondering who's under more pressure at this point in time? Hockey at times fly's under the radar, especially with the football season around, so i wouldn't be surprised if Tom is on a shorter leash just because of the win now aspect of not only football but New York alone. With that said. Who has more potential to have more successful career all around when it's all said and done? and is it possible that Tortarella can do what Coughlin for the G-Men by turning a middling mr. softee team into an elite team to be reckoned with year in and year out?

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Well guys and gals, i was thinking while listening to banter radio about the questions answered by Dave Maloney

and it hit me on the question of Grachev making the team right out of the gate, when would it be better for a guy like

Grachev to be used: Now or Later? Maloney says later but  tell me what do you guys think?

Keep in mind that we have a stacked lineup, on the top 3 lines and i don't think its worth having him on the 4th line heck I don't even think it's worth having Lisin on the 4th line but he'll end up there anyway. I think its really for the benefit of the team that he plays on the Wolfpack because as Dave put it, they have a good system down there and it will be better for him to get the minutes.

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One would think, with all the talk of possible trades that were rumored to occur involving Boston and the Rangers, how close were any of these rumors to happening and is it a coincidence that as soon as Kessel gets traded Dubie signs up?(1st fan Post BTW)

I would believe that some sort of trade was a lot closer to happening than we all thought involving the Maple Leafs, Rangers and Bruins. It all seems very odd to me...

Dubie and Sather have completely different views on a contract.

Dubie doesn't enter camp.

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