What Is Next For The New York Rangers?

As of late there has been minimal action as far as trades and or signing in the NHL. As another week has passed, there has been really no news coming out of the Rangers office since the separation of the Rangers and Nikolai Zherdev, which I am not at all happy about.

Part of me thinks Zherdev went through arbitration knowing the Rangers would walk away, giving him the opportunity to go back to Russia to play in the KHL, but there has not been any news to prove that as of yet.  

Part of me feels that Zherdev saw what the Rangers were paying guys like Redden and Drury and felt he deserved more. When, if you look at it from that perspective, I guess he would be right, considering he is better than both of them. In that aspect, the Rangers created their own monsters by over-paying players that really were never that good to begin with.

The way I see it is like this: Regardless of the reasoning for both sides doing what they did, they both lose out. The Rangers have not signed anyone as of yet, and really there are only one or two players left on the free agency list that might come close to having the talent of Zherdev. If, Zherdev goes to Russia to play for the KHL for more money, or whatever the reasons may be, he suffers for a number of reasons. For starters, the KHL is not the NHL. I doubt if he does go to Russia that there will be any team in the NHL that would sign him again, making his career here in the US and the NHL over.

With that said, the fans lose out as well due to the simple fact that when Nikolai Zherdev is on his game, he is one of the most exciting players to watch and he is awesome at what he does. 

The big surprise is that Alex Tanguay, Maxim Afinogenov, Phil Kessel, Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Tuomo Ruutu, Brandon Dubinsky, and David Krejci are still on the free agency list. That is just listing the forwards.

With close to $10 million in cap room, why are the Rangers waiting to sign some of these players is confusing.

For the last few seasons the Rangers have had scoring issues, signing huge contracts for overrated players. As usual the results were the same: massive hype that lead to zero goals, zero cups.  

Tanguay and Afinogenov are coming off questionable seasons, but both players are play-makers and would definitely help any team they signed with. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been talking with Tanguay in hopes of signing him and have him play across from Vinny Lecavalier. They would be a threat against any team.

Phil Kessel had shoulder surgery and David Krejci had hip surgery and they might miss some of the beginning of the new season. They might be perfect to sign for a two-way contract and would add major scoring to the Rangers roster. 

The fact that Todd Bertuzzi, at age 34, still has that toughness in him that would work great with John Tortorells’ style has not even been considered.  Bertuzzi can still be relied on to knock in 15-20 goals in a season. 

The Rangers are in serious need for a first-line center and it has been way too quiet out there with the talent still available on the free agency list.

With the talent right there for them to deal with, what are the Rangers thinking? What are they up to?  Only time will tell.

As a Rangers fan, I just want to see some sort of action. Some news is better than no news...unless that news is the Rangers signing a bunch of nobodies or some ridiculous contract for another overrated, washed up player.