As for avery Honestly I’d rather see the team promote D.Byers over Hollwegg and UFA hunt the duo of J.ruutu and Matt Cooke they could combine for 25-35 goals and eat up about 30 minutes a night for about 3 million cap hit combined. Avery wants more than 3 mill and is more injury prone, smaller, prone to complaining, and will have a tough time hitting the 30 goal barrier in his career.

As for Rozival… is he fully healed, can he produce w/o Jagr*last season was both Jagr’s and Rozivals worst in terms of clutch scoring and overall point production.

But then again Right handed scoring Defenders are very rare so Sather might have to pony up more than he wants to in order to keep Michal happy.

my picks for the team

Prucha*1.6*—-Dubi*700k*-JJ*4.5_+bonuses*

Cooke*1.6*——Gomez*7.3*-Dawes*RFA*9ook*

Korpikoski*1*-Drury*7*—-J.Ruutu*1.4*

Callahan*600k*—Betts*600*-Sjostrom*1.25*

Byers*600*—-Anisimov*?*—-Orr*550k*

Staal*700k*——-A.Foote/W.Redden/M.Roz*5m*

Tyutin*2.8*——Girardi*1.5*

Backman*2.3*——M.Commodore*2.75*

Pock*750k*———Strudwick*500k*

Baranka*675k*—-Hutchinson*800k*

Lundqvist -6.75
Vally———850k???
Miika———???

A grand total for the starting 18 of 51 mill
understand that Jagr’s cap hit either doubles for this year or next year if he is indeed signed to a 1 yr deal

e.g.—-bonuses could add 4 mill to the hit

but the team could defer the bonuses to next season in order to add more players midway through the season

Sather’s immediate need is for a crease clearing defenseman. After that, a forward to take Jagr’s place and an offensive defenseman to take Roszival’s place.

Oprik may not be available since Hossa is headed to unrestricted free agency. That frees up $$$ for Pittsburgh to sign Oprik. What other crease clearing defenseman are on the market?

Same question in case Jagr is not signed and Hossa deemed too expensive?

Is Campbell the answer, or will the Rangers be outbidded by another team? If not Campbell, then who??

Wasn’t that Swedish player the Rangers signed supposed to be a repacement for Avery?

Even though I like both Gomez and Drury, the Rangers paid a hefty sum for them. That was market conditions and the Rangers needed change. Might have been better to use Cullen the way Carolina did and not have to sign both Gomez and Drury. Money saved could sure be used now.

If Sather gives in to Jagr and builds around his desire to have things his way, then Sather is being Sather. Let him go, move on and build the team around Gomez and Drury since they were so expensive.

Sather and co finally drafted some guys recently who look like they might be stars (#17, 18), but had a long drought in his first five or six years. Hopefully, his the awful drafting trend is over and they have finally figured out what to look for in a young player.

As a reminder, there is currently one player on the Rangers roster who we got when he “Cleaned house” before the lockout year. That player? Blair Betts, fourth line center. Maybe Korpikoski will be a second next year, but to trade seven or eight NHL players and only maybe have two holdovers from three seasons ago is unacceptable.

Del Zotto—-#/2-4 PP QB//has upside on D
was 15th overall and #1 overall amongst Defenders for Offensive upside according to Mckeen’s has to learn the system could be NHL ready as early as next year*2009-10*

D.Stepan—small but decent top 6 speedster
15-24 goal 40-50 upside…but hes got to
stay healthy and @ 6’168 he’s got to gain at least 17lbs of pure muscle and find away to avoid getting banged up by the big hitters in the new NHL
not the bpa…but you never know-I was very upset w/ the 2003/4 draft picks in rounds 2/3…and didn’t see much in Dubinsky…now he’s at worst a gritty 2nd liner at best..
a decent 1c center

3-Gratchev—wow…he’s good enough a fit for the Anisimov-Cherapanov duo in 2009-10
that its scary…he’s a Right shooting C/LW
that plays a power game but needs to improve his skating before making the jump
his skill/will/ and ability to play in the NHL is not in question its the cost+skating
all in all I was hoping he’d last to round2
getting him in round 3 is awesome

4-Kundratek(don’t judge just from Wjc) he’s not a Rozival clone but he’s pretty solid
looks like a good #2-3 Defender

5-Doyle—basically a #2/3 pivot w/ upside since he’s a solid 193lbs he could easily be 6’2 211 when he’s done filling out

6-M.Gaulton(love this pick)he could be the best player after DelZotto and Gratchev has superb toughness and leadership…don’t fall for the injury worries…he is a solid #4/5 Dman at worst potentially more..good pick

I just don’t feel that high school alone is competitive enough to judge him.

Think we got lucky with Dalton who got hurt this season otherwise would have been taken much higher. Another 200 pounder who hits. The other 3 picks don’t appear that dreadful either. Assume Gordie Clark is doing his job along with his staff.

For those who wanted Carlson, yeah he’s supposed to be a crease clearing defenseman but isn’t projected to be NHL ready this coming season so what do the Rangers do in the meanwhile?

That should be Sather’s immediate problem to address. Get Oprik. If he doesn’t, or get somebody equivalent, then he should be blasted for not taking a guy like Carlson.

If Sather can prevent breaking the bank, Campbell should be on his list also. Sags might be ready but then again, might need another season in Hartford. When DZ is ready, and we have Campbell, between those two and Sags, shouldn’t have any more problems at the point. Plus, might be able to get something significant back by trading one of them. A nice problem to have.

Sather, now be a lion on the UFA front and get us what we need!!

http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=366662