Blueshirt Boggle

Hossa Re-Ups for One More Year

Marcel Hossa re-signed with the Rangers today, avoiding his upcoming arbitration hearing. Steve Zipay says in Blue Notes that the terms appear to be one year at $850,000 -- a modest raise from his $600,000 salary last season. Still no word on Avery's arbitration ruling.

Avery Shocked -- Shocked!

Sean Avery is shocked -- shocked! -- that Glen Sather is saying bad things about him in an arbitration hearing. And Larry Brooks of the New York Post, who is reporting everything that Avery is telling him about the process, is equally shocked that the Rangers would employ such tactics with a player as important as Avery was to their late season playoff run. We're not shocked at any of this -- this is the route Avery and his agent chose and that's how it plays out in the best of cases, let alone with the notoriously adversarial Sather.

Yesterday, in an article headlined "Slats Not Fair!" Avery and Brooks plucked out the phrase "a reasonably effective player as well as a detriment to the team" from the Rangers' arbitration brief, in which a case was made for paying Avery $1.3 million (obviously a lowball starting point) rather than the $2.6 he asked for (obviously too much for a player like him). Today, they give us a whole paragraph in an article titled "Rangers Rip Avery" that excoriates Sather's tactics: "Avery is not a mature player. He plays, at times, like an individual rather than a member of a team. This is sometimes referred to as an inability to see the ice, and in Avery's case this seems to fit with his overall approach to the game."

Oh, the humanity! From the brief, we get one phrase taken out of context, half of which is even complimentary to Avery (albeit in muted tones), that makes it seem as if the Rangers are calling Avery a "detriment to the team." But what came after that? I could say that "fuel-efficient cars cause air pollution" and technically be correct, but if I leave out the fact that they cause less pollution than gas guzzlers, I haven't told the whole story, and you'd laugh at me for making such an absurd claim. From the Post article, we glean that the Rangers were actually arguing that while being an effective player, Avery's penalties were a detriment to the team, hardly an arguable point in general and hardly a mortal insult to the player.

The paragraph from today's article is a lot more pointed. Still, questioning Avery's maturity as a player and his inability to see the ice, in a process that everyone knows is adversarial by nature (as Brooks states right up front), is hardly cause for tearing up your season tickets for next year. The burden of proof is still upon Avery to show that he has in fact matured as a player and (even though the Rangers do not apear to have brought this up) a person, despite all he did last season. He still has to demonstrate that he will be a team-first player all the time and for all time, which he clearly has not been in the past. That he leaked this to the press and expressed his outrage over the comments can easily be viewed as demonstration of his lack of maturity, except that one has to give him the same latitude as Sather gets for being part of an adversarial process.

Avery knows full well what is happening here, and he knows full well what he is doing by taking this story to the Post as opposed to, say, the New York Times. He knows that he filed for arbitration after turning away pretty quickly from the negotiation process for a long-term deal, with his agent making explicit threats of playing out a one-year contract and testing the free agent waters. That's his pregrogative, of course. But he (or at least his agent) knows full well how Sather reacts to such actions and threats. And it precludes him from being so disingenuously outraged at relatively mild statements about him by the team as it is trying to get him under contract at a reasonable salary -- except in a paper that is part of a news organization for which "fair and balanced reporting" is little more than a slogan.

Avery was about 20% better statistically last season compared to the season before. But he is asking for more than 120% of a raise. The Rangers are offering a little less than 20% (we don't know what Avery or Sather discussed in terms of a multi-year contract). He surely deserves more than that for his intangible contributions to the team's playoff run, but there remains legitimate skepticism about his ability to do that in the long run. But he cannot possibly believe that he as a player is in the $2.6 million range. There are approximately 175 NHL players making that much or more, an average of six per team. That covers your three best forwards, your two best defensemen, your goalie, and one other player. Fewer than fifty of those players got their contracts as Group 2 RFAs, like Avery. Five were defensemen, five were goalies (including Henrik Lundqvist), and the rest were almost all high scoring forwards with names like Crosby, Gaborik, Lecavalier, and the like (a small handful are successful longtime two-way forwards).

The Rangers already have eight players making more than that -- second most in the league along with several other teams behind Philadelphia's nine. The salary cap is a zero-sum game -- the more one player gets, the less another gets. Petr Prucha chose to negotiate, said the money was not important, and he got a good deal. Lundqvist chose to negotiate, took a one-year deal to help keep the Rangers under the cap, and still got a very good deal with the promise of more to come. Brendan Shanahan, Avery's mentor, will make every penny of his incentive-laden contract, but there is a little risk there, and he chose to take it to help the Rangers manage their cap situation, without ever fielding any competing offers as a free agent. The guys who played it Sather's way all made out handsomely.

Avery has the opportunity to earn better pay than most players of his kind, better than all players with his checkered past. He chose to turn that down in a long-term deal. He chose to take the Rangers to arbitration and ask for far more than he knows they can pay him and far more than players in his situation command, threatening to play out the year and walk away. He forced them to go into the hearing and make a case for paying him less than he thinks he deserves. And on top of all that, no matter what the outcome, considering how well the Rangers are positioned going into this coming season, he has the opportunity to prove himself and reap the rewards a year from now. Don't weep for Sean Avery because of a couple of incendiary articles that take reasonable statements out of context and blow them out of all proportion. He's like a cat -- he'll land on his feet.

More on Avery from Newsday and Rangers Report. In other Ranger news, defenseman Hannu Pikkarainen, under contract with the Rangers, has opted to return to Finland this season rather than play in Hartford. The free agent signee missed most of last season with a shoulder injury sustained at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament last September. A number of former Rangers will also be playing in Europe next season, most of them little more than footnotes or curiosities in the Rangers' all-time register, courtesy of Sather's desperate pre-lockout search for anyone who could skate with a puck -- most notably Jamie Lundmark, who will play in Russia after failing as top ten Ranger draftee (see Hockey Rodent's rant). Also going back to his native Finland is Jussi Markkanen. Also going to Russia are Andreas Johansson and Jamie McLennan. Off to Sweden are Richard Lintner and Burke Henry, Josh Green will play in Austria, and Mike Green and Rory Rawlyk will skate in Germany. Pierre Dorion leaves the Rangers' scouting staff to follow Tim Murray to Ottawa, according to the Sun.

Avery Arbitration Favors Rangers

Unless the Rangers reach an eleventh hour agreement with Sean Avery, the fiery winger who helped catalyze their late season playoff run will have his arbitration hearing today. Briefs having already been filed with the arbitrator, and Avery is unhappy with the way the Rangers played hardball in theirs -- see today's article by Larry Brooks in the New York Post. So it's a virtual lock that the 27 year old agitator will duke it out with GM Glen Sather in front of a third party today, making good on his agent's threat to take a one-year contract and test the free agent waters a year from now (the Post reports that Avery is asking for $2.6 million with the Rangers offering $1.3). It will be a tough hearing for both Avery and the Rangers -- for Avery because there are very few comparable players whom he will be allowed to present, according to the rules of evidence in the CBA, and for the Rangers because the crux of Avery's case will be the intangible impact he had on the club after his acquisition, which makes him a far more valuable player than his personal statistics can measure.

Unfortunately for Avery, he cannot use Scott Hartnell, the player he most closely matches statistically, as a point of comparison. Hartnell is two years younger and a little bigger than Avery, but he has scored exactly the same number of points since the lockout, has played in exactly the same number of playoff games in that time with similar stats, and boasts big penalty numbers that reflect his feisty level of play (though not nearly as big as Avery, which the Rangers are using to diminish Avery's stature). But the contract he signed with the Flyers that will pay him an average of $4.2 million a year and $5.2 million this year cannot be brought into evidence by Avery, according to the CBA, because Hartnell was not a Group 2 player when it was signed -- he was going to be a Group 3 free agent when Philadelphia traded for him.

The same holds true for other players who fit Avery's statistical profile -- Darcy Tucker, who as much as Avery disdains him is exactly who Avery is and will be, but whose $4 million salary was signed in his Group 3 year; Keith Tkachuk, who is at this point in time a similar player statistically and just re-signed as an impending UFA for an average of $4 million; or Dustin Penner, whose 29 goals and Stanley Cup ring may make him an inappropriate comparable to begin with, but whose $4+ million offer sheet from Edmonton cannot be entered as evidence -- unless the contract is filed by the time Avery's hearing takes place. Even former teammate Matt Cullen's $2.68 million salary cannot be used despite Avery outperforming him because it was a UFA contract. The CBA was carefully written to keep teams from having to suffer via arbitration for the foolish UFA contracts handed out by others -- only contracts signed under comparable circumstances can be considered comparable. The Rangers are in the same boat in some cases -- Tomas Holstrom, Gary Roberts, and other players who resemble Avery are now making in the $1.5-2 million range that the Rangers would like to keep Avery in, but those were UFA deals and are therefore inadmissable.

But the Rangers can submit as comparables a number of players who recently signed less lucrative Group 2 contracts who are statistically in the same ballpark as Avery -- Mike Fisher got an RFA deal at $1.5 million a year, and Avery would have a hard time arguing that he is more valuable to the Rangers than Fisher has been for a much longer time to Ottawa; Matt Lombardi got $1.8 milion from Calgary, although he has had only one good season under his belt and lacks Avery's intangibles; Alexei Ponikarovsky will average slightly north of $2 million over three years but will get less than $1.6 this year. There are numerous additional examples, including the Rangers' own Petr Prucha, who has the exact same number of points the past two seasons in fewer games, without the physical presence (at least statistically) but with many more goals, but who is only going to get $1.6 million this year.

The best thing Avery has going for him is a category of evidence that is often difficult to quantify -- "the overall contribution of the Player to the competitive success or failure of his Club in the preceding season," as the CBA puts it. Although the CBA prohibits him from using as evidence testimonials, newspaper reports, and the like, many of which can readily be found attesting to his impact on the Rangers after his acquisition last season, Avery will be able to unequivocably quantify the change in the Rangers' fortunes simply by laying out the team's record before and after he came over -- they were treading water at 25-24-4 when he arrived, out of playoff position, and went 17-6-6 the rest of the way to qualify. The hard part for him will be to then locate a Group 2 contract for a player with similar personal statistics who commanded more money for similar intangible reasons -- Penner would be the one, but as we have seen, his contract cannot be used unless it is signed immediately (it may already be too late).

Avery is sure to get a raise from the $1.1 million he earned last year, probably more than the Rangers' current offer of $1.3. His agent is sure to have performed a more exhaustive search (i.e. is willing to stretch farther) for comparable contracts with which to get him as rich a deal as possible. But the Rangers will have done an equally exhaustive search, will have the benefit of a CBA that still favors the team in arbitration hearings due to rules of evidence that limit the presentation of comparables favorable to the player, and (as Brooks has demonstrated) are willing to play hardball. That is why we expect him to get a nice raise like Prucha did, but not obviously at the level he wants -- he will probably come in around $2 million, whether he goes through the arbitration process or reaches a last minute agreement. And as we've said before, a one-year arbitration award would be a win-win situation for both Avery and the Rangers if it keeps Avery motivated as he plays for a UFA contract while helping maintain cap flexibility for the Rangers. And if Avery for some reason cannot accomplish that, a one-year deal will still be a win for the Rangers, who will not have committed too deeply to a player who in the past has had difficulty being a positive influence for his team in the long term.

Rangers Rebuild While Winning

A funny thing happened on the way to the long-term rebuilding program the Rangers promised fans when they came out of the lockout two years ago. The league-wide roster churn caused by the lockout and by the reduced age of free agency turned them into contenders quicker than anyone, including team management, anticipated. With players still in their prime becoming available on the open market and with the salary cap forcing the team to look inward to fill out the roster rather than going overboard on veterans, the Rangers were able to put together a contender with a combination of youth, experience, and talent.

For seven long years, the Rangers tried to "win now" without success. At first, the mandate was to capitalize on the remaining core from the 1994 Stanley Cup team. That didn't last, especially with coach Colin Campbell favoring anonymous interchangeable parts over talented young Europeans like Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Zubov, and Petr Nedved. The disastrous trade of Mattias Norstrom (among other young assets) for Jari Kurri (and other retirement-bound veterans) caused the team to shift to a hybrid plan of trying to rebuild a homegrown core while continuing to sign free agents to win now.

Some good young players were brought along, like Marc Savard, Kim Johnsson, Mike York, Niklas Sundstrom, Dan Cloutier, Jan Hlavac, Radek Dvorak, and others. But they were the exception rather than the rule, the Rangers otherwise undermined by poor drafting (top picks Manny Malhotra, Pavel Brendl, Jamie Lundmark, Jeff Brown, Daniel Goneau, and Christian Dube, as well as myriad lower picks) and a string of disastrous veteran acquisitions (Mike Keane and Brian Skrudland one year, Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky, Sylvain Lefebvre, and Stephane Quintal another year, Igor Ulanov, Dave Karpa, and Zdeno Cigar -- you know the drill).

But since the lockout, despite being shackled by a salary cap -- indeed, as we all expected, because of the discipline imposed by the salary cap -- the Rangers have miraculously been able to win now, and have even been able to win incrementally each season, with more expected next season, while still bringing along a strong group of young players bred as Rangers. This article is not about the inspired decision to build the 2005-06 team around Jaromir Jagr and his friends, a time-biding move that proved to be a stroke of genius. Nor is it about the upgrades that have been made to that core last season and heading into this season, as indispensible as those moves have been in creating a team that is competitive. It is about young players who have been just as indispensible, even as they are being brought along cautiously by a brain trust that does not want to repeat the mistakes of the past, whether they be force-feeding players into the NHL with inflated expectations or letting promising prospects wither on the vine while useless veterans parachute their way into lucrative retirement packages.

Jaromir Jagr was the first to point a finger (a good one) across the room during 2005-06, praising rookies Dominic Moore and Ryan Hollweg, second year man Jed Ortmeyer, virtual rookie Blair Betts, and virtual second year man Jason Ward for their unsung contributions injecting energy and providing a defensive conscience for him and his European compatriots on the top two lines. He also personally mentored Petr Prucha, a surprise 30-goal scorer as a rookie who played his way onto the team in training camp and was placed on the first line even before Martin Rucinsky was hurt. And this season, Brendan Shanahan sounded the importance of enforcer Colton Orr, a rookie added to the team in the fall of 2005 when he was 23.

On defense, everyone thought the presence of non-roster invitee Anders Eriksson at training camp meant the Rangers were hedging their bets on a youth movement. But Eriksson was dispatched to Hartford while the Russian rookie tandem of Fedor Tyutin and Maxim Kondratiev got their chance to play in the NHL. Tyutin established himself as an everyday defenseman before wearing out when the defensive corps was decimated by injury. The following year he established himself as a workhorse who got stronger as the season wore on. With that under his belt, and with his prime still ahead of him, having just turned 24, he can perhaps locate the offensive portion of his game this coming season, especially if he ever finds a home on the power play. Kondratiev wasn't as successful, traded for second line offense (Petr Sykora) and still not an NHL player.

And of course, in net, Henrik Lundqvist quickly emerged as one of the league's top keepers. It didn't take head coach Tom Renney long to stop insisting that Kevin Weekes was his number one goaltender, with Lundqvist conquering the Garden faithful as well as NHL snipers in short order. Renney's initial concerns about overusing a player used to a shorter European season were somewhat borne out when Lundqvist returned from the 2006 Olympics with a gold medal and a slight case of fatigue. But with Lundqvist en route to a second straight Vezina Trophy nomination this past season (and that in spite of a sputtering start), Renney stopped dressing Weekes altogether, and heads into this coming season without a true NHL back-up, expecting Brodeur-like work from the 25-year-old Swede.

With increased expectations heading into last season, and with fewer openings due to the number of jobs already held down by young players, opportunities were scarce for prospects. Consider too that, with a group of rookies aged 22 to 25 having crashed the line-up after the lockout, the remaining prospects were for the most part far younger. Nevertheless, Nigel Dawes made the team out of training camp at age 21, as did Thomas Pock, 24, the last cut on defense a year before who needed more work on the defensive side of his game. As it turned out during his brief early season audition, Dawes needed another year in the AHL, and has now been tagged by Hartford GM Jim Schoenfeld as the one Pack player ready to step up. Renney kept Pock in reserve for much of the season, believing he still needed to shore up his defense while practicing at the NHL level. Pock played well when given the chance, but did not produce offensive defenseman points, except for a two-week stretch in March.

As the Rangers struggled early in the season, little help was available in Hartford, where the the youngest team in the AHL also stumbled out of the gate. Still, when Matt Cullen could not provide consistent offense as second line center, Jarkko Immonen, 24, who had a good NHL debut late in the prior season, got a chance. But he could not take the pressure of playing on a line with the likes of Shanahan, let alone playing against players of that stature. The Rangers are apparently giving up on him, allowing him to return to Finland to play this season rather than re-signing him -- not every prospect can make it, but at least Immonen (like Kondratiev, with whom he came from Toronto in the Brian Leetch deal) got his shot.

During the all-star break, Renney and Don Maloney went to Hartford to see if any member of the resurgent Wolf Pack was ready to move up. They came back with Dan Girardi, an undrafted stay at home defenseman who came out of nowhere at age 22 to claim a spot on the team. Popular veteran Darius Kasparaitis was waived and sent to Hartford to make room for Girardi. Renney and Maloney also determined that Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky were ready. Dubinsky, still only 20 at the time, looked promising in his six games when Martin Straka's injury created an opening. Callahan, shortly before his 22nd birthday, grabbed a spot and held onto it. Renney has served notice that Girardi and Callahan have to demonstrate an ability to play that way over a full season, but both clearly have the inside track on full-time jobs next season. With Cullen gone, Dubinsky is expecting another shot at training camp and is preparing this summer to grab it by the throat and not let it go.

So two years into their rebuilding plan, the Rangers have added a star goalie (Lundqvist), a versatile forward (Prucha) who has scored over 50 goals despite playing a variety of roles, a solid defensive pairing (Tyutin and Girardi), an energetic winger who may be a keeper (Callahan), a trio of valuable role players (Hollweg, Orr, and Betts), and a depth defenseman (Pock) who may yet emerge as a power play specialist. They traded Moore, Ward, and Kondratiev for valuable assets. They have three draftees who will get a real shot at making the team this year -- Dawes, Dubinsky, and hot defensive prospect Marc Staal, the sensible Staal brother. They have a whole new class of promising draftees coming to Hartford, where Mike Sauer, Tommy Pyatt, Artem Anisimov, and Brodie Dupont, plus undrafted Mike Busto, will join Ivan Baranka, Alex Bourret, Al Montoya, Dane Byers, and Lauri Korpikoski. And top picks Alexei Cherepanov and Bobby Sanguinetti will arrive a year from now.

Sure, there have been mystifying flirtations with retreads like Sandis Ozolinsh, Karel Rachunek, Brad Isbister, Jason Krog, Pascal Dupuis, Fedor Fedorov, and in the estimation of some, even Marcel Hossa, though many would argue that he is in fact a developing young player. But even these have been fewer than Ranger fans had become used to in years past, and will always be a fact of life for any team vying for postseason success. At the end of the day, all of these players are gone, except (for the moment) Hossa, while an even greater number of young players are now regular contributors -- with more on the way.

Marc Was Not There

As further information comes to light about what went down at Eric Staal's bachelor party, Ranger fans can take solace that our Staal brother, Marc, apparently the smart one in the family, did not attend, choosing to go to bed instead, at least according to their agent, Rick Curran. See reports in Slam! Sports, Raleigh News-Observer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Canada.com, and Thunder Bay Source. Many have wondered why a bachelor party gone awry is a news story -- lucky for the Staal brothers that it did not become a bigger story, with no one getting hurt, which could easily have been the case when you have a situation where over a dozen drunken partygoers, all riled up after being evicted by multiple law enforcement agencies, end up on the main road in town at 4:00 AM harrassing passing motorists.

In other Ranger reading today, NYR.com has a feature on prospect Brodie Dupont as he prepares for his first pro season, Kenny Albert gets excited at MSG.com, Michael Peca tells the CP that the Rangers have expressed interest in signing him, and the Hockey Humorist takes on the Devils. Filip Novak, the first player drafted under Glen Sather's watch (in the second round, 64th overall, in 2000) who was sent to Florida in the trade for Pavel Bure, has gone back to play in his native Czech Republic after appearing in only 17 NHL games, divided between Ottawa and Columbus. Novak's potential was probably damaged irreperably by an ankle injury that cost him the entire 2003-04 season.

Marc Not Among Arrested Staal Brothers

What makes one of four brothers decide to become a steady stay at home defenseman instead of a brash forward like his siblings? Maybe it's the same mindset that kept Ranger prospect Marc Staal from being arrested along with his brothers Eric and Jordan in Minnesota after Eric's bachelor party got out of hand last weekend (little brother Jared was probably deemed too young to attend -- Jordan himself was underage for the drunken party, that being one of the charges laid against him). Whether Marc attended the party is unknown, but he was not among the fourteen family members and friends who were arrested for harrassing motorists at the side of the highway at 4:00 AM Saturday morning -- the Cook County sherriff's office just read me the names of five Staal family members from the list of those detained, and Marc was not one of them (nor was Jared). See news reports in the Raleigh News-Observer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

According the a press release from the Cook County Sherriff's office, the party at the Lutsen Resort was warned prior to 1:00 AM about loud screaming and loud music after numerous complaints were lodged. At 3:00 AM, after repeated warnings, representatives of three law enforcement agencies helped resort staff shut down the Staal party and remove all participants from the property. At 4:00 AM, the group was arrested at the side of the road for disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. Some members of the group fled into the woods and were therefore not detained with the others -- we have no way of knowing at this time whether Marc was among this group, or if he was even at the party at all. Jordan was among four detainees released after booking -- the other ten, including Eric, were held overnight.

Dominoes Fall Into Place in Rangers' Front Office

When Mitch Beck interviewed Jim Schoenfeld at the draft about a month ago, he couldn't come out and say that he was going to be the next Assistant GM of the Rangers, but he sure made it sound as if it was just a matter of time. "Everything is a step by step process," he said. "We've had discussions about a lot of things since season's end. Once the draft is finished we'll move onto other topics. A lot of things have been discussed, but nothing's been finalized. Everything has to fall into its line of sequence. We'll take care of one issue and then move onto the next. It's like a domino effect. In the business end of things, every move you make does affect every move you're going to make. We just have to prioritize and take things one step at a time." [Listen to Mitch's entire interview with Schoenfeld here.]

His presence at the draft in and of itself was a strong hint of things to come, especially since he was still with the Rangers' organization despite rumors of job offers elsewhere (Tampa), and given his long known disposition (as stated to Blueshirt Bulletin on several occasions) to give up the coaching reins in Hartford and concentrate on management. Well, things finally fell into place yesterday, and not just for Schoenfeld but, as he said, an entire "domino effect" of moves. In addition to Schoenfeld being named AGM for Player Personnel while retaining the role of Hartford GM, Ranger capologist Cam Hope was named AGM for Hockey Administration, a promotion in title while retaining the same duties that accentuates his importance to the organization, chief scout Gordie Clark was promoted to Director of Player Personnel, Jim Hammett was brought in from Hockey Canada to replace Clark as Head Amateur Scout, Ken Gernander was promoted to head coach of the Wolf Pack to fill one of Schoenfeld's prior jobs, and John Rosasco, longtime VP of Public Relations, was also given the title of VP of Player Recruitment, a role in which he will manage the process of attracting free agents.

To read more about these moves, see the Hartford Courant and NYR.com press releases here and here. For more Ranger reading today, MSG.com has a pair of entries from Dave Maloney here and here, NHL.com has a feature on Tom Renney, his daughter, and the Memorial Cup, SI.com evaluates the major arbitration hearings (which includes Sean Avery's July 30th date but not Marcel Hossa's August 3rd appointment), and the Hockey News has Scott Gomez and Chris Drury on the cover of its latest issue, proclaiming the Rangers instant Cup favorites.

What We Know and What We Don't Know (Yet)

First line -- What we know: Jaromir Jagr will enter the season healthy, with a full summer's worth of training, and with two years left on his contract and in all likelihood his NHL career, he is on a mission. What we don't know: Who will Jagr's center be, Scott Gomez or Chris Drury, and will they be able to re-create the chemistry Jagr had with his former center? Tom Renney has already said both new signess will be tried there as the season progresses. Gomez, a puck-carrying playmaker, would seem to be the natural in the pivot for Jagr -- he plays the game a lot like Jagr's former center, but he has more speed and will keep the puck moving forward at least until he gains the blue line. But will he and Jagr click? What we also don't know is how Martin Straka's shoulder/upper arm will hold up. Resting it for the summer will certainly have helped, but will he come to camp 100%? And will it hold out over the course of the season? If it doesn't, the Rangers have two fallback positions -- Marcel Hossa and Petr Prucha.

Second line -- What we know: Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery will definitely be back, matched up again on opposite wings. If Avery comes in with a one-year contract and something to prove as he heads toward free agency, then we can expect more of the same from him that we saw after he came to New York. Shanahan will no doubt follow the same pattern of recent years -- hot start, cool winter, resurgent next spring. His injury is a thing of the past. What we don't know: Who will center the line? If Gomez clicks with Jagr, Drury will get the call, and while the trio of Drury between Avery and Shanahan will score more at even strength than they did with Matt Cullen in the middle, expect them to be more of a two-way unit. On the other hand, if Gomez ends up centering the line, he could set up a bushel of goals for Shanahan.

Third line -- What we know: Nothing, really. Which is a shame, because we coul have expected a long-term trial of the dynamic line of Cullen between Prucha and Ryan Callahan had Cullen not been traded. Now, we're not even sure these guys will man the third line. Renney may go back to a third line with a defensive mandate, with Blair Betts at center and with the wings up for grabs in training camp. He is on record as saying that he is not sure what Callahan can do over an 82-game NHL season, and he has yet to use Prucha consistently over his first two seasons. On the other hand, the wingers may remain in place with a center to be named later filling the hole in the middle -- either a free agent acquisition such as the rumored (though longshot) Mike Peca, or someone coming up from Hartford, like Brandon Dubinsky.

Fourth line -- What we know: That the most sensible configuration heading into the season is Betts centering Hossa on the left and a platoon of Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr on the right (using Hollweg for hitting in most cases, with Orr stepping in when a nuclear deterrent is necessary). What we don't know: If Hossa will even be back -- if he gets an arbitration award higher than the Rangers can stomach given their salary cap situation, they may let him walk. But that is a worst-case scenario -- the Rangers will almost certainly keep Hossa as a fourth line insurance policy for Straka in case a hole opens up on Jagr's left wing. In fact, Hossa could end up on a third line with Betts and a right winger to be named later (maybe Callahan) if the Rangers choose to jerk Prucha around like they did last season.

Defense -- What we know: That there are too many defenseman on the roster right now. We know that Michal Rozsival and Fedor Tyutin will anchor the top two defensive pairs. Marek Malik will return as Rozsival's partner unless he is traded or waived to create cap space. Dan Girardi is a frontrunner to pair up with Tyutin but is, like Callahan, according to Renney, not a lock. Paul Mara will be back, unless he is traded, to help on the power play. Jason Strudwick will be the depth defenseman thanks to his locker room presence. What we don't know: Who the sixth defenseman will be -- Thomas Pock and Andrew Hutchison will be claimed on waivers if they're sent down, and Marc Staal is expected to compete for an NHL job. Unless Malik and/or Mara are shed, there will be at least one odd man out, and that by necessity may be Staal, whom Renney has already said will not be force-fed to the NHL.

Special Teams -- What we know: The Rangers were most successful on the power play when they split Jagr and Shanahan across two units. A first unit of Gomez, Jagr, and Prucha, with Straka dropping to the point along with Rozsival, makes the most sense, with the second line of Drury, Avery, and Shanahan up front on the second unit along with Mara on the point. What we don't know: If Renney will be able to stick with this game plan, especially if the first unit eats up too much power play time. In that case, he might be tempted to move Shanahan up to the first unit and drop Prucha down. On the penalty kill, Blair Betts will again lead the team in shorthanded ice time, Drury will get nearly as much in place of Cullen, and Shanahan, Avery, and Hossa will be used. But who will replace Jed Ortmeyer? Don't count on Gomez -- he has averaged about five seconds a game as a penalty killer over the past five seasons.

Goaltending -- What we know: Henrik Lundqvist will be a workhorse in net, Steve Valiquette will be a lightly-used back-up, and Al Montoya will spend the season in Hartford -- the Rangers will not be able to afford his NHL cap hit even if he's ready to play at that level. All this of course is barring injury and major meltdown by Lundqvist. What we don't know: If Valiquette will be enough of a back-up, especially if, as was the case early last season, Lundqvist needs a few games off to find his game again.

From Russia With Pucks

Ranger prospects Alexei Cherepanov and Artem Anisimov have been named to Russia's Under-20 team that will compete in an eight-game challenge series with their Canadian counterparts later this summer. Former Ranger Sergei Nemchinov, a fixture at Madison Square Garden as a scout in recent years, will coach Team Russia. See NYR.com and TSN for more. Stan Fischler ran into Darius Kasparaitis in Central Park and was amazed at what good shape he was is -- see MSG.com for his full report. Arbitration season starts next week, with Sean Avery scheduled to have his hearing on July 30th and Marcel Hossa on August 2nd -- a CP report has made the rounds of Canadian sites, with the Hockey News using an Avery photo to illustrate it. There is a paragraph on Avery, but not Hossa. Otherwise, all quiet on the Ranger front today -- have a good weekend!

No Nedved, But Is Kaspar Coming Back?

Fears of Petr Nedved's third coming to New York can be laid to rest -- Nedved has signed to play for Sparta in Prague on a one-way one-year contract that he cannot get out of even if he gets an offer from an NHL team (the AP reports the signing, the original Czech report at iDNES.cz mentions the no-out clause). On the other hand, Darius Kasparaitis is plotting his own resurrection, according to Sam Weinman at Rangers Report -- Weinman takes note of the growing glut of NHL defensemen on the Rangers' roster, which stood at eight (including Marc Staal) even before the acquisition of Andrew Hutchison and which would swell even further if Kaspar makes a comeback.

Elsewhere, the Rangers announced their pre-season schedule (NYR.com). More on the Matt Cullen trade from the Canadian Press as well three MSG announcers at MSG.com here, here, and here. At the Hockey News, the Rangers rate higher than the Islanders in fantasy pool potential -- although there are some strange bits in their analysis. Finally, for your viewing pleasure (despite not being Ranger-related), here is a funny video clip sent in by a reader, "Clark, the Canadian Hockey Goalie":