Ranger Post Mortem: Ufa's
The Rangers will have approximately 19 Million in Cap Room if they don't resign Jagr, Shanny, Rozival and straka.
if they spend wisely the rangers could look like this
Lw C Rw
Hossa Gomez Huselius
Avery Dubinsky Dawes
Prucha/Korpiskoski Drury Callahan
Sjostrom Betts Mietennen (Holweg)
extra: Orr
D
Streit/ Liles/Redden Stahl
Tyutin Girardi
Finger/Baranka Sanguinetti
extra: strudwick
Notes:
Hossa is the only bonafide sniper on the free agent market.
Huselius is relatively young (28) and just coming into his own (25-41-66)
he should not be prohibitively expensive
Avery should be resigned unless he wants 4 mil.
Dawes deserves 2nd line minutes
Dubinsky is demoted to 2nd line duties not for any mistake of his own but rather that Hossa and Huselius's potentials have a better change of being fulfilled with Gomez. It also won't hurt that Dubinsky's hitting will work well with Avery's grit.
Drury is third line center simply because at times last season this unit worked very well. If Prucha were to be traded , this would be a good spot to see if Lauri's goal in the playoffs was more than rookie luck.
on the 4th line
I like sjostrom's and Betts' potential for two way play, adding Mietennen (if affordable) would give them greater potential for offense based on his stats from lasdt year (15-19-34) and speed. He may not want to come for 4th line minutes. He would also fit the 3rd line.
Alas Holweg is under contract with the blueshirts next year. I'd take a bag of pucks for him right now.
have listed 3 ufa's that the rangers may want to target
Mark Streit
John-Michael Liles
and Wade Redden
Redden is the most veteran and is the only UFA I considered over 30 (31). He is a workhorse and would be worth a short contract 2 years max maybe 3.
Streit is coming off a stellar break out season ( 13-49-62) He was making 300k so He may be the most affordable at around 3 mil.
Liles has the best stats over the past few years, although last year his stats fell greatly. This could have been an aberration or the start of a trend. He would demand a very high price.
I would pair whatever Offensive d with mark Staal. Although he's a rookie , he was our most strong Defensive d man.
for the 3rd pair I say give the kid sanguinetti some minutes. He seems to be a somewhat one sided player (weak d all o ) so third pairing would not tax him overly much. The Rangers must give him some pp time or why bother.
for his partner the blueshirts could call up Baranka who looked ok in short stints up with the big club this year, or if they'd rather not have two rookies together they could pick up Jeff Finger (28 ) who is a dependable d man who hits with regularity. when was the last time you could say that about the ranger d?
Alternatives
There is the bring Jagr back scenario. Rumors are swirling that Jags wants to return- again iIsay if he'll take 5 mil or less for a 1 yr deal 2 at the absolute most -fine. If he wants more adios.
if he comes back, in no uncertain terms should Jagr's cronies- Straka and Rosival be resigned. they are done.
so the 1st line would then be
Hossa Dubinsky/gomez Jagr
If Jagr is history and Huselius or Hossa are unavailable the rangers could take shots at either Michal Ryder or Nicolas Hagman.
Ryder is coming off a career low in points on an otherwise lethal Montreal team. Hagman is a great up and coming player but it remains to be seen whether he has topped out or will continue to rise.