If No Nash, Parise, Semin or Ryan...

From all the speculation I've been hearing...

I'm hearing Parise doesn't want to sign in New York.

Bobby Ryan rather play in Philly than New York, so therefore I don't want him.

Nash is costing too much to acquire and Rangers can't afford to break up their core.

As for Semin, I'm just not a huge fan of. I want a player that makes his teammates better, sure he can shoot the puck (one of the best shots) but I rather a player who can win battles in the boards and can play make. Also Rangers played Capitals 3 times in the playoffs in the past few years and Semin was never a player I feared or hurt us too much in any of those series. I'd pass on Semin for the money he would want.

So if no Nash, Parise, Semin or Ryan... Here are 5 possible options Sather would most likely have to go to...


1. Sign a defenseman (Wideman, Suter, Schultz, or Carle) and trade Del Zotto for a scorer. As much as I'm a huge fan of Del Zotto, there's many teams who would take Del Zotto straight up for a talented forward (forwards we aren't even thinking of who are not even on the block.) If we can sign one of those following defenseman, this is definitely a good option worth doing for the Rangers to find scoring.


2. Trade 2 power forwards. Perhaps teams lacking size and grit would move a talented forward to acquire it. Rangers have Dubinsky and Anisimov they can package in a deal. Maybe to a team like Oilers? (Sam Gagner, Ales Hemsky, Paajarvi) or Colorado Avalanche (Peter Mueller, Paul Stastny) are options forsure. Rangers can then replace the loss of size and grit through a signing like Paul Gaustad who's near the top of league in faceoffs and a top penalty killer, a very useful player. Other option replacements are Jason Arnott and or Dustin Penner.


3. Free agency...Jagr, Whitney, Doan, and Ryan Smyth. These are the next best on the list through free agency. Either one of these players can fit well with the Rangers for a short term deal. This is Rangers probably safest bet without hurting chemistry.


4. Tier 3 free agents. Jiri Hudler, Andrei Kosistyn, Kristian Huselius, Brad Boyes, Olli Jokinen, Samuelsson and Stempniak. Lesser name free agents with offensive talents. Sure, these aren't players that would control the game, but they all have offensive upside and can all be game breakers.


5. Last option. Back to the start of how our off season started. Alexander Radulov. But to me, this is no safer than Alex Semin and I would rather avoid.


To finalize, Rangers need to add scoring and it's obvious they will. It's been clear that its their biggest concern going into the off season and that they will address it. Soo me, if no Nash, Parise, Semin or Bobby Ryan those would be their top 5 options without making any huge drastic changes.

If it were me and I couldn't get Bobby Ryan or Rick Nash through a fair trade or if I'm not signing Semin or Parise, then I would probably go safe and bring back Jaromir Jagr while also signing a tier 3 free agent. This way, we don't have to break up the core, yet still add needed offense. Some of the players are already comfortable with Jaromir Jagr on the team. (Dubinsky, Callahan, Girardi, Staal, Lundqvist, Not Tortorella.) Jagr would have a smaller roll than what he had years ago, but yet have a huge roll on our powerplay. I love what this team did last year, every player wants to be back, so therefore to me, its best to avoid a major trade but if the right trade did happen to come along I'd be willing to move one or two players off the roster, but no more.