It’s still weird adjusting to life with no Jagr, but then again, it’s been easy adjusting to the Zherdev era, at least as a fan, as he is clearly not rolling at full tilt yet.

However, despite what someone’s dog apparently told them at some point, Henrik Lundqvist seems fine, and didn’t really look like a player who was ever sore, much less injured.

I still believe it would be more productive to sign Shanahan than Sundin, although it seems neither of them get much mention in the NYR press these days, other than to report that nothing has changed. Realistically, I think the top forward lines are set with Gomez, Drury, Zherdev, and Naslund serving as the core of the offence. Brandon Dubinsky will hope to continue progressing his career, as will Dan Fritsche and Aaron Voros. I think Nigel Dawes will be a fun player to watch this season, as he is turning into a Mike Fisher style player who is all out all the time, and has just enough raw talent to net himself a few 25 goals seasons if he earns a spot in the top lines. A wild card is Ryan Callahan, who like Dawes is a player who thrives on his relentless effort. He’s great on the forecheck, and generates a lot of scoring chances from down low that might be converted on a more potent offensive line.

Defensively, Wade Redden has a lot to live up to in my books – and I live in Ottawa… If Ottawa didn’t think he was worth more than $3.5M per season, then what the hell was Sather thinking by offering $6.5M? Sure, the Rangers needed a puck-moving defenceman… I totally disagreed with that back during the offseason, and I still do. With Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal, you have the foundations of a very good set of powerplay lines, provided you split those guys up. Then you sign Brendan Shanahan, and play him with one of those units, and hope that someone like Dmitri Kalinin can step up to play on the point. Let’s face it, our scoring will mainly come from up front!

Finally, “King” Henrik “Henke” Lundqvist. The dude looked sharp in Europe, save for the goal in the second game, which trickled through the back of his pads after a very nicely designed faceoff play by the Lightning, that was capped off by Adam Hall. He doesn’t appear to have had more than a single cortizone shot over the offseason for his ailing knee, and that is a good sign. I’m hoping the Rangers play him a little less, maybe about 65 games maximum, and give Valiquette some starts against the weaker teams they face over the course of the season. He needs to be sharp for what appears to be a playoff berth that is the Rangers’ to lose…

My prediction? Rangers finish first in the division, third in the conference.

In the Western Conference you will see the Dallas Stars against the San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red-Wings against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stars, Sharks: Evegeni Nabokov against Marty Turco. Nabokov is the better goalie this year by far, but Turco has played really well, and didn’t play as many games during the regular season as Nabokov, one would have to think that Nabokov will get tired eventually. Nabokov has the edge as long as he doesn’t get tired. The Stars still don’t have Sergei Zubov, which could hurt them in this series. If the Stars hope to defeat the Sharks they will have to do the same thing as they did against the Anaheim Ducks, as the Sharks are also a physical team, however they might be a little bruised after their last series against the Calgary Flames. Technically the Sharks should win, but then again, everyone had the Ducks winning too, as the Stars had a bad end of the season, and look what happened.

Avalanche, Red-Wings: As much as it pains me to say it, with the recent play of the almost extinct Dominik Hasek, Jose Theodore is the better goalie so far, Chris Osgood is a good goalie, unfortunately Theodore has been standing on his head in the play-offs, the edge to starting goalie goes to the Avalanche. Ian Laperriere, he has got a target on his back after smashing Niklas Lidstrom into cloud nine at the end of the season. The scorers for both teams are about even, the defence however goes to the Red-Wings. This series should go to the Red-Wings, but they didn’t impress too many people in their last series, are they too old? The Avalanche have some speed, but will it be enough to win? Colorado could upset.

In the Eastern Conference you will see the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers, and the Montreal Canadiens against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Penguins, Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, enough said. Lundqvist is superior to Ty Conklin, and Marc Andre Fleury, by far. Pittsburgh’s offence is better than the Rangers, but, Jaromir Jagr has come out of his shell, that could hurt the Pens. The Pens are all offence, and didn’t have much trouble sweeping the Ottawa Senators in their last series, but the Rangers are not the Sens. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, to shut down either the Sidney Crosby line, or the Evgeni Malkin line. But will the Pens be able to defend against the re-appearance of Jagr the great, Brendan Shanahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Martin Straka? Fleury, or Conklin will have their hands full in this series. The only factor that will not be one is Sean Avery, yes he can score some nice goals, which he just might, but his intimidation antics will not work in Pittsburgh with big George Laraque on the ice, Avery better hope that those two don’t meet, or else Avery can book his hospital room right now. Besides goal-tending which the Blue Shirts hold the advantage, the Pens have more explosive talent up front, question is, will they be able to explode on the Rangers, the Rangers aren’t the Sens. Keep the Pens in their own zone. I believe that the Rangers could win this one, if they are able to slow down the Pens, if not, the Pens take it.

Canadiens, Flyers: Where to start, well to keep it short, Carey Price is better than Martin Biron. The Flyers defence is slow, and Derian Hatcher has seen better days. These two teams were no.1, and no.2 in the regular season on the power-play, with the Habs being no.1. The Habs had a hard time against the Bruins on the p.p., but if they can manage to bring it back now that Saku Koivu is back then they will do well as the Flyers are an undisciplined team. Daniel Briere will be deaf when he leaves the Bell Centre, and may have to work on his confidence as well as the Montreal fans will let him have it big time. Montreal has the edge in coaching staff, and defence, as well as in between the pipes. With Mike Knuble, and Simon Gagne out, for sure the Habs have the edge in offence as well, question is, will Philly be able to contain it for seven games if necessary? Montreal should win this one, as the Flyers only impressed themselves by winning, but you never know, still the Habs should prevail if their power-play clicks, and they play their game, and don’t play the Flyers way, yes the Flyers have Steve Downie, but the Habs have Steve Begin, Tom Kostopoulos, Francis Bouillon, and Maxim Lapierre to a lesser extent. The Habs two best players in Alex Kovalev, and Carey Price, are better than the two best players of the Flyers in Mike Richards, and Daniel Briere. Should be a good one to watch.

Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche, Phil Kessel of the Boston Bruins, Alexander Radulov of the Nashville Predators, Drew Stafford of the Buffalo Sabres, Jiri Hudler of the Detroit Red Wings, David Booth of the Florida Panthers, Brandon Dubinsky of the New York Rangers, and Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils.

While not all are expected to receive long-term deals such as the one signed by Philadelphia Flyers forward Mike Richards last December (12 years totaling $69 million), it’s possible that some of the top tier players may.

Looks like we were on to something: the NHL’s CBA prohibits teams from buying out injured players at two-thirds of their salaries, as Luke DeCock of The News & Observer suggested the Carolina Hurricanes may do with defenseman David Tanabe this summer.

DeCock reports today that for the Hurricanes to be allowed to buy out his contract for 2/3, Tanabe would have be declared fit to play by July 1.

Otherwise, the Hurricanes would be on the hook for Tanabe’s entire $900,000 salary. The good news is that it wouldn’t count against the salary cap.

Look for the St. Louis Blues to bolster their inconsistent offense during the off-season.

St. Louis Post Dispatch President John Davidson tells Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch that while he’s well aware of his club’s shortcomings, the organization still needs to pinpoint where their troubles stem from.

“For whatever reason, we haven’t scored and we have to figure out why,” Davidson said Sunday, one day after the Blues’ 4-2 loss to Vancouver.

“… there’s a lot of variables that we’ll have to sift through.”

- For the love of god, and myself, Nigel Dawes proved once again why he cannot be replaced by Prucha in the lineup. Two assists, including a goregous pass across zone to Shanahan for the goal to put the game on ice, gives him four points in three games. This offense, which is finally looking threatening and potent, needs him in the lineup. The only viable option to get prucha in the lineup is to take out Callahan, who has been playing solid Defensive hockey along with providing good forechecking and hitting. If Prucha gets another crack at the lineup, he better get his money’s worth, because he’s not touching the ice in playoffs if this team keeps rolling.

- Lundqvist stopped 26 shots, and really only got beat once, the first goal, which was a nice tip in. The second goal was an unlucky bounce by a good poke-check by Blair Betts that happened to bounce in. The King is looking extremely solid as of late. Which begs the question…. Does Vally play at all this month? The only opportunity I see him playing is March 14th or 15th, when the Rangers take a spring break down in Florida to visit the Panthers and Lightning, respectively. After that its all Hank.

- Many are wondering why Drury is playing on the 3rd line. The way I look at it, the Rangers have finally found their match ups for lines. I don’t expect many changes for the rest of the year. It really is a perfect setup because Renney can now roll 3 lines and be very very effective. The only liability is Shanny, if he gets run down. But Sjostrom showed that he can sub in for any line at any time and keep up with their pace. What a great move by Sather. ANY WHO, Drury got the Game-Winner, his 21st. He now as 9 goals in his last 13 games, along with a 7 game point scoring streak, tying his career high. Hopefully he can get one Sunday. Captain Clutch is getting hot at the right time.

- Shanahan notched the goal which stopped Carolina’s momentum. It was a HUGE goal to me because it seemed Carolina was having its way for a while. Shanny will be a huge part of this teams playoff quest and run. He might get run-down, but he’s got the experience, and he can finish. He had 3 good chances last night which Ward either made good saves on or the puck was deflected. Shanny also has a 6 game point scoring streak as well.

- What can you say about Sean “heart of the team” Avery? My boy has 6 goals in 7 games and is flying out there. His talking to the press embargo has slightly lifted, but lets hope he can shut Riley Cote and the Flyers up.

- After watching Brandon Dubinksy absolutely undress Cam Ward, I decided for my birthday this summer I’m getting Jersey #2: Brandon Dubinky – 17. His first goal was a beaut. If he had put up points like this all year, its no doubt he would have gotten Calder consideration. He has 31 total points, 7 in the last 5 games. Here is the game highlights with the goal: http://www.nhl.tv/team/console?hlg=20072008,2,966

- The two newbies played well. Freddy Sjostrom showed great speed breaking into the zone and cutting to the net, with Drury almost putting home the rebound. He also showed his physical play, and had some great puck control with the 4th line. He’s a good addition and it will be interesting to see what Renney does when Orr is back healthy. Backman played ok as well. Many are upset with his multiple penalties, but I think its ok. He knows he took too many, but a little physical presence on the blue line doesn’t hurt. Isn’t that what we all wanted the Rangers to pick up anyways?

- One thing that worried me as I was watching was the amount of time Carolina could control and retain the puck in our zone. Numerous times it looked like a Penalty Kill in our zone when it was 5v5. Another scary thing was our wingers constantly just tried to throw the puck out without looking, and got caught doing it. A team with better puck-moving defense than Carolina will kill the Rangers if they continue that charade.

So the Rangers go back to the Garden and wait for Sunday. They are playing solid hockey right now, and that’s all we can ask for. I guess I want to give a warning to Ranger fans: we will not win-out the rest of the season, we will lose at least once. So be prepared. Yea its great to see us 5-0-2 in our last 7, but when we lose don’t act like the sky is falling. We are putting ourselves in great shape here, and our record versus Atlantic teams makes March and April very, very appealing. Have a good day and look for another post between now and Sunday. – Rob

Rumors had it that he was going to the Blackhawks (made up by certain sources) and others said he would be waived. Truth to the matter is that Malik didn’t shake coach Tom Renney’s hand after a huge win against the Atlanta Thrashers. Scott Gomez went after Malik about this as it was totally disrespectful to the coach and the organization. Renney sat down with Malik the morning of Brian Leetch day to resolve the matter but the defenseman wanted no part of it. He was punished, sent home and his locker was cleaned out. Keep your eyes open for this.

What will the New Jersey Devils do?

While the Devils are always very quiet on the trade front and especially at the trade deadline I see this trend ending this season. Brent Sutter is known to constantly look for upgrades for his team and he has not been at all happy with the Devils defense. Sutter has said he would love to have a Rob Blake like player so why not bring in Blake? I believe they will try.

Are the Blue Jackets and Rangers still talking?

Sources have said that the Rangers and Blue Jackets were close several times recently on a deal that would move Petr Prucha and Brandon Dubinsky to Columbus. This deal has been held up and is basically dead due to a few reasons. Mainly Dubinsky’s strong play recently and the Jackets unwillingness to unload defenseman Adam Foote, the man the Rangers covet.

“[We've received] four or five inquiries from Stanley Cup contending clubs looking to solidify their back-up position.”

Meehan would not divulge which teams have come calling, but did say that the New York Rangers were not among them. Neither were the Ottawa Senators, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.

Meehan, who also represents Rangers pending restricted free agent goalie Henrik Lundqvist, said Lundqvist’s new contract will be “of the conventional variety,” rather than the double-digit monster deals other players have received.

Garrioch also reports that the Senators have started to shop controversial goaltender Ray Emery, though not many teams are biting at the moment.

While the Tampa bay Lightning were interested at one point in the season, they club is currently being hampered to deal due to the fact they are for sale. The Penguins could use an upgrade in net, but they may wait for closer to the February 26 trade deadline to make a move.

Now that the Anaheim Ducks have traded defenseman Shane Hnidy and cleared the $760,000 he was supposed to make next season, Garrioch points out that the club can start negotiating a contract extension with pending RFA forward Corey Perry.

Lastly from Garrioch, he reports that the Colorado Avalanche are looking to acquire a front-line forward to replace the injured Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth. Word is that the Avalanche would be willing to part with pending UFA defenseman John-Michael Liles in exchange.

Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont reports that recent trade talks halted between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Rangers when the Blue Jackets asked for forward Brandon Dubinsky in exchange for forward David Vyborny.

While a deal is not imminent, word is that the two sides are talking.

An “NHL source” tells Reed that the Rangers are interested in Blue Jackets impending unrestricted free agent forward David Vyborny. Supporting that claim, is the fact that the Rangers sent three scouts, including player personnel director Gordie Clark, to watch the Blue Jackets play on Sunday.

Vyborny, who is a good friend and former teammate (on Czech Republic national teams) of Rangers forward Jaromir Jagr, says he has heard the rumors but isn’t too concerned about what may or may not happen.

“It’s part of the game,” he said. “If it happens, it happens. It’s only hockey.”

The Blue Jackets appear to covet Rangers forward Petr Prucha, “but only as part of a package deal.” It’s believed that any deal made by these two clubs “likely would involve multiple players.” Forwards Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes might also interest the Blue Jackets.

And despite reports to the contrary, the names of Blue Jackets defensemen Adam Foote and Rostislav Klesla have not popped up in any conversations with the Rangers.

On their current roster, the Rangers have 10 players 26 years of age or younger including defensemen forwards Brandon Dubinsky (21), Ryan Callahan (22) and Petr Prucha (25), Fedor Tyutin (24), Dan Girardi (23) and Marc Staal (20).

Playing at different level within their organization, there are about “half-dozen apparent blue-chippers” 23 years old or younger like forwards Alexei Cherepanov (18), Nigel Dawes (22), and Artem Anisimov (19), and defensemen Ivan Baranka (22) and Bobby Sanguinetti (19). And then there’s Alex Bourret, Greg Moore, Brodie Dupont and Al Montoya, too.

But with 35-year-old Jaromir Jagr and 38-year-old Brendan Shanahan, the Rangers’ line-up is “built to win now.”

So, should the Rangers come by “veteran difference-makers” like Mats Sundin, Vincent Lecavalier, Marian Hossa, Sergei Fedorov, or Rob Blake they have plenty of assets to entice the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning, Atlanta Thrashers, Columbus Blue Jackets, or the Los Angeles Kings to make a deal.

Of course, the Rangers will first have to decide which young players are expandable.