The Price for Nik Antropov: Worth It?

Here is the big question on the minds of any person following the Rangers: What will the Rangers do with Nik Antropov?

In my honest opinion, I do believe the Rangers will find room in the salary cap for him. No player has had a bigger and more immediate impact than Antropov had this season. Antropov was the player that the Rangers front office hoped Chris Drury would have been.

The Rangers need that offensive, front-of-the-net presence. I have never seen the Rangers consistantly screen the net in all my years of watching them. Chris Drury—who was known for exactly that—was signed in 2007 with that juicy five-year contract. Although he is scoring goals and being productive, I do not think he is performing the way he was expected to.

Drury is still a good player by all means, but there are other teams that would kill to acquire him and it seems that we may have a replacement in Nik Antropov. I feel like we could keep Antropov, who has shown he is ready to play for Coach Tortorella and the New York Rangers. That would more than open up the salary cap room that the Rangers need to keep Antropov and trading Drury could possibly get us even more long-term young talent, or even a short-term tool to get us to the Stanley Cup.

However this situation turns out, Glen Sather will most likely be criticized either way. He has a tough decision to make in the coming months with Antropov.

Sound off on what you guys think, because this is clearly a huge issue with the Rangers.

EDIT

I have just learned that Chris Drury has a clause in his contract that would prevent him from being traded anywhere, which pretty much puts my argument dead in the water. Although the overall question still stands as to whether or not the Rangers should keep Nik Antropov.