What the Rangers Need, or the Sundin Experience

For the love of Gump Worsley, when will the madness end?!

Look, Mats Sundin would look good in a Rangers uniform. Looking at it from a statistical output, the Rangers could use another goal scorer. Sundin, in his last season as the Archbishop of Leaf Nation, had 78 points, 32 of them being goals. Not only that, I would love to throw out there that this is the 07-08 Leafs we're talking about.

The Leafs have been going through that period of time where, as an organization, they can't decide whether to rebuild or force themselves into contention by spending money. In other words, the Sundin line has not had either a durable or consistent set of talent for a decade.

But do the Rangers NEED Sundin? In the new cap-driven NHL, the idea of need is a brand new animal. If Sundin had become available like this during the pre-lockout NHL, this deal would already be done and Mats would be fighting over his jersey number with Nick Zheredev. But, the Rangers have the reality of a hard cap to contend with.

Thus, Sather is back to the difference between NEED and WANT.

From where I sit, stand, scream, and throw things at my TV, the Rangers may WANT Sundin, but what they NEED is a big, physical DEFENSEMAN to even out the wandering blueliners like Wade Redden and Michael Roszival. Heck, you could even trade Roszival for a young big defenseman to, say, a team like Minnesota, who needs the offensive support on their blueline.

Even if they don't want to get another d-man, try for another Aaron Voros style player to add some size and grit to the corp of forwards. Scott Gomez is not your answer for grit and edge, even though he got into a fight with Ilya Kovalchuk last week. Plus, if you're looking for regular edge from Brandon Dubinsky, you're looking too hard.

The point is, Glen Sather needs to do some soul searching in the next 24 hours to decide exactly whether Sundin's circus should camp out on Seventh Avenue and West 33rd Street, or should go west to look for gold.

Either way, Sundin's proposed New York arrival would make all of our hockey lives interesting, but would it help bring Lord Stanley's blessed silver chalice? In the humble opinion of this writer, Sundin's arrival does not fill the Rangers' most immediate need.