As I mentioned before, it’s highly unlikely that any of the Rangers’ major free agents re-sign with the team before noon tomorrow. But there at least seems to be some dialogue.

J.P. Barry, who along with Pat Brisson represents Jaromir Jagr, said in an e-mail this afternoon that the Rangers and the captain are still talking—with length of a contract and bonus clauses presumably being a major part of the conversation (if you haven’t read Bob McKenzie’s piece on the new rules for 35-and-over contracts, you can read it here. A brief summary: the Rangers won’t have the luxury of creative salary cap accounting that they had with Brendan Shanahan).

Meanwhile, Barry also noted Mats Sundin is in Sweden, which is important only in that it means the Rangers don’t have an elaborate recruiting trip planned for the free agent center anytime soon.

I had been told otherwise at one point today,  but the Rangers replied that it wasn’t true, saying a) they aren’t bringing Sundin in for a recruiting trip; and b) if Sundin was coming in on his own, he’d at least let them know so he could have a look at practice facility.

That’s not to say that Sundin is off the Rangers’ radar (nor does it mean someone else might not be on a scouting mission for him). But my understanding is the center is still contemplating his future, and might not make a decision one way or the other for some time.

Obviously if I hear evidence to the contrary, I’ll let you know.

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Meanwhile, at the risk of Bob McKenzie overexposure, the TSN analyst also floats the possibility teams like the Rangers acquiring a defenseman not through free agency, but via a trade. Among the backliners salary-heavy teams might be looking to move: Mathieu Schneider out of Anaheim, Edmonton’s Joni Pitkanen, and Tampa Bay’s Dan Boyle.

If nothing else, something to keep an eye on…

UPDATE, 10:13 a.m.: The spending spree has already begun! The Rangers have re-signed Matt Zaba. Let’s just say if this is the big splash of the summer, your team is in trouble.

So what are the odds that the Rangers re-sign anyone before noon tomorrow?

Well, think about it for a second: You are an impending free agent. You have had all spring to entertain offers from your own team, and in roughly 27 hours, you will now be able to entertain offers from the rest of the NHL as well.

I am not an economics professor—in fact, I can barely balance a checkbook—but it only makes sense for you to see what’s out there, especially given the exorbitant sums already being handed out to players who are not exactly Hall of Famers.

That being said, there is the possibility that the Rangers submit to the fear of the unknown and present one of their free agents with a contract offer enticing enough to sign now. So for instance, not wanting to risk Michal Rozsival being offered $5 million a season, the Rangers come in with a comparable sum today, all while appealing to the sense of security and loyalty Rozsival has developed in New York.

The odds of this happening are pretty slim, especially since this could have easily happened a week ago, too. But who knows: with the deadline approaching, some teams might now be feeling the heat more than ever.

Either way, stay tuned to the blog over the next few days. We will be monitoring everything closely, so don’t forget to check back often..

Despite reports that say it’s official the Rangers still don’t know whether Martin Straka has signed with a team in the Czech League.

In fact, Tom Renney said he endorsed a Straka return in a conversation with Glen Sather—if, and this is a big if, the economics could work.

“I like Strak. I think he’s a valuable component to our team,” Renney said. “As I’ve said 100 times before, there’s a business component to all of this that I respect. In order to have a team, you’re going to have to afford them.”

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Caught most of the morning scrimmage at the Devlopment Camp today and was impressed by the tempo. Some guys who stood out: second round pick Derek Stepan, Artem Anisimov, Brodie Dupoint. Bobby Sanguinetti was very proactive rushing the puck, but was also on the ice for several goals against.

The goaltending in general was a weak spot.

OK, more later…

I’ve long contended that if the issue is only about money for Jaromir Jagr, he will be playing in Omsk next year, and sure enough, here comes a report that says the Russian team has offered the right wing a three-year deal worth $35 million—or about two years and close to $30 million more than the Rangers are willing to commit to the same player.

If nothing else, this would be the easiest out for the Rangers if they have any doubts about Jagr because if these numbers are true, they can’t even come close to matching it. But if it really is their hope to retain their captain’s services for another year, then they’re probably going to have to appeal to Jagr’s ego.

I don’t know what that means exactly. A bouquet of roses. A serenade of some sort. Maybe a promise to sign Mats Sundin. The point is if the guy’s going to turn his back on some serious coin, it’s not because you’ve seemed indifferent about his return.

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As for Martin Straka, if the left wing really is headed for the Czech League, I contend he’ll go down as one of the most underappreciated NHL players of the last 15 years.

Straka was never quite an upper echelon forward —he made the All-Star team once, although he should have been the Rangers’ representative in 2006-07—but he was a tireless presence on every shift, and often capable of being the most dangerous player on the ice.

That, along with being a class act, which will make him harder to replace than you think.

The NHL and the NHLPA just announced the salary cap for 2008-09 has gone up some $6 million to $56.7 million.

This gives the Rangers even more flexibility for free agency, and could even inspire Glen Sather to re-sign some of his players before then.

Until there is more definitive news on Sean Avery’s hockey career—he does still play hockey, doesn’t he?—or unless he lacerates his spleen again, is linked to more call girls, or becomes engaged to one of the Bush sisters, this will be my last Sean Avery post for some time.

But for those of you who can’t get enough Avery, and that would seem to include Sean Avery himself, here’s a video courtesy of Men’s Vogue.

My apologies on the lack of posts. I’ve been preoccupied with golf lately, and last night, I was even called out of the proverbial bullpen to cover the Mets (where I ran into at least one other displaced hockey writer, Mr. Brooks).

My instinct is nothing substantive is going to happen until July 1, and if it makes you feel any better, you should know you’re not the only ones waiting to see what happens. I talked to Paul Mara this morning, and the free agent defenseman said that while his agent has had preliminary conversations with the Rangers, he’s been given no indication what the team’s plans are.

“There’s been no movement on that front,” Mara said from Cape Cod. “I don’t think we’ve been proactive, but I think they know I want to return.”

Whether the Rangers want Mara back is another story, and in all likelihood, the team probably won’t know for sure until it has addressed more prominent players first. In comparison to last year, there are far more moving parts at work, so while I think there will be news to report the first day of free agency, the signing period might drag on a little bit longer this summer.

Update: Well, the Rangers have signed one forward to a contract extension. The team just announced that P.A. Parenteau has been re-signed. 

I was pulled away on a golf assignment today (for a laugh, you can get a glimpse of my glorious golf swing here), and I returned to reports that Mats Sundin might be on the Rangers’ radar.

Consider me skeptical a) that this ever gets past the conceptual stage and b) that it would work out even if it did. Granted, you can do a lot worse than Mats Sundin, not only given the Rangers’ glaring need for a big body in front of the net, but also because he’s so widely respected around the league.

But I think a lot of fans would agree that if the Rangers are indeed ready to turn the page on the Jaromir Jagr Era—and it doesn’t necessarily sound like they are—they should be looking to get younger and not be looking to bring in a 37-year-old stand-in.

The other consideration here is that center is the one area this off-season the Rangers DON’T need to address, but bringing in Sundin might just give the Rangers the excuse to try Chris Drury at wing, which they tinkered with in spots down the stretch.

So I don’t think it’s a question of position as it is a philosophy. I’m not one of those people who thinks a team needs to field a team full of 23-year-olds, but I do think if you’re going to look outside your organization to strengthen yourself, you’re better served investing in a player who can give you more than a year.

There’s no point in reading too much into what took place on the ice on the first day of the Rangers development camp. Most of the players hadn’t been on the ice full-time in months, and many were just getting to know one another.

But for the record, yes, Michael Del Zotto and Bobby Sanguinetti, the two Rangers first round draft picks present today, stood out, and even spent some time as defensive partners. I asked Tom Renney to compare the two defensemen, and while Renney deferred to Sanguinetti’s age and experience, he said the two are cut from the same cloth.

“Bobby’s a bigger, stronger kid a year later (actually two years) and he’s been exposed to us and what we do,” Renney said. “But the instincts are similar, the intuition to jump and make things happen. You can see that Mike wants to get involved.”

As it happens another puck-moving Rangers defenseman was in the building today: Michal Rozsival. Rangers property for at least another week, the defenseman was said to be working out in the weight room after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his hip a few weeks ago. But who knows, maybe because his days in New York are numbered, he also wants to stock up on all the free sticks and tape while he still can.

And speaking of free agency, Renney didn’t want to go into great detail about what he hoped happened by July 1. He said bumping into Rozsival was the first contact he’s had with any of the Rangers free agents so far, but he sounded willing to jump into the fray if called upon.

“If the boss tells me to phone someone, I’m all over it,” Renney said.

The coach did say the team has had conversations with all of the UFAs, even if just touching base, and it’s safe to say some of those conversations will heat up this week.

Will the Rangers prevent anyone from hitting the open market at this point? I’m skeptical. That’s not to say they don’t want certain players back, and that includes Jaromir Jagr. But I have a hard time believing either side would let things reach this point if they didn’t want to see what lurked on the other side of July 1.

OK, I’m off to a dinner. More later…

Greetings from the MSG Training Center, where the prospects are on the ice. In the meantime, here’s  Sean Avery reflecting on his time at Vogue.

Here’s the players who will be at the MSG Training Center in the camp that runs Monday thru Saturday.

Note that it’s a pretty good representation of prospects with the exception of Alexei Cherepanov (maybe he and Jaromir Jagr are busy with their own Omsk minicamp).

GOAL (3)
Blanchard, Jean Christopher
Lafleur, Antoine
Perugini, Andrew

LEFT DEFENSE (4)
Del Zotto, Michael
Gaulton, Mitch
Greenan, Chad
Urquhart, David

RIGHT DEFENSE (5)
Busto, Michael
Pageau, Nick
Ryan, Joe
Sanguinetti, Bobby
Wallingford, Justin

CENTER (7)
Anisimov, Artem
Campbell, Max
Doyle, Chris
Eizenman, Oren
Pyatt, Thomas
Stepan, Derek
Zaborsky, Tomas

LEFT WING (6)
Dupont, Brodie
Hillier, Ryan
Hobbs, Danny
Meidl, Radek
Soryal, Justin
Taylor, Mike

RIGHT WING (3)
Kveton, David
Skokan, David
Weise, Dale