Rangers News: 9/7/10. Staal a Flame? Fedotenko?

There has been two bits of news coming from the Rangers today.

To start things up, it is heavily rumoured that the Rangers will be sending a camp invitation to 31 year old Ukraine native Ruslan Fedotenko. His agent, Allan Walsh, has tweeted that he had landed in New York today. It is a common trend for the Rangers to extend an invite to camp to a veteran player. Last season, Kyle Mclaren attended the camp. The prior season, it was Petr Nedved who was trying out, and did quite well but that's neither here nor there. I agree with inviting players to camp. It is a no-lose scenario. They have the possibility of striking gold while making no commitment whatsoever. If anything, it makes the other forwards at camp compete harder so he won't steal their spot. Steve Zipay has tweeted that if the invite is indeed extended, that a trade may be in the works. It is my personal speculation that it would involve several of our bottom 6 forwards. While Fedotenko posted a measly 30 points last season, the prior season he posted 39 points in just 65 games and was a contributing factor when the Penguin's won the cup. He played in particularly well during the playoffs, posting 14 points in 24 games.

In bigger news, it is believed that the Calgary Flames have sent Marc Staal an offer-sheet.First reports indicate that it will average around 4.5 million a year, while any speculation on the term would be a mere guess. Unless a big trade is in the works for Calgary which clear out cap space, I don't see how they could do this. They are already 1.8 mil over the cap. And another reason why I doubt this is true..just a few months ago they traded Phaneuf. Why would they trade away Phaneuf just to trade multiple draft picks for Marc Staal just a few months later? While I whole-heartedly believe that Staal was the better d-man, Phaneuf HAS had better seasons than Staal has. His upside is bigger, no doubt. If the term is anywhere from 5-6 years, this is excellent news for the Rangers. If it's for 1-4 years..not so much. The Rangers could wind up losing their young star defense man, ala Bouwmeester.

 Are they trying to get back at the Rangers for the Jokinen trade (I kid, I kid).

Now, a look toward the future.

Ryan Bourque is dominating the QMJHL preseason. He has 10 points in 4 games.

Jesper Fasth (our 6th round pick) is having a stellar showing for HV71 of the Swedish Elite League. In what is considered to be the 3rd best league in the world, Jesper has 5 goals and 4 assists in just 11 games. He had started on their 4th line, but has since worked his way up to be HV71's first line right winger.

Hopefully both prospects can keep up this pace.