12:31- Rangers re-sign Erik Christensen two year 900-950K per year.  

Well, its the first day of shopping for the NHL. Lots of trades have already gone down, plenty of players on the move, but the Rangers have been eerily quiet thus far, except for a few non-surprising waiver moves.

Use this as your open thread for the day, and we'll be updating with any moves that get made.

Happy Canada Day to our friends up north!

Don't forget we will recap everything that did or didn't go on tonight on Blueshirt Banter Radio at 9 PM EST

With the signings of Patrick Marleau and Tomas Plekanec, the UFA market for 2010 went from thin to bare.  There are very few big time UFA's available, and each will certainly be overpaid this summer as a result.  The summer of 2010 will be the summer to be a UFA, big contracts from teams with oodles of cap room await those who hit the market.

Maybe it is a blessing in disguise that the Rangers have no cap room to work with this summer.  I found myself looking ahead to 2011, and I must say, it is one of the best free agent classes I have ever seen.  The list includes Brad Richards, Chara, Jovanovski, Thornton, Lidstrom, Giguere, Semin, Markov, McCabe, Vokoun, Gagne, St. Louis, Patrice Bergeron, Connolly, Brewer, Kaberle, Bryzgalov, Mikko Koivu, Ehrhoff, Hejduk, and Backes.

That is one hell of a list.  Currently, the Rangers have just 8 players committed to contract when the summer of 2011 hits, and $22 million in cap space to work with.  With that many UFAs set to hit the free agency, it would be the ultimate buyers market, thus bringing prices way down.  The top notch guys will get their money, but the aging veterans who put up consistent numbers will see their salary demands take a big hit.  This class is comparable to the 2009 MLB free agent class, which featured Sabathia, Teixeira, etc.

According to Bruce Garrioch, the Rangers are one of the teams showing interest in soon to be unrestricted free agent Anton Volchenkov. Volchenkov has been a hot topic so far this offseason, after turning down a reported five-year $20 million deal after the Olympics from the Senators, ensuring that the highly sought after defenseman will hit the open market. Volchenkov has been linked to the Washington Capitals, but those rumors have been refuted.

Let’s play a game of which defenseman would you take.

Player A: 6′1, 226 lbs. 28 years old, 7 year veteran. Physical, shot blocker, stay at home defenseman. Averages 15 points per season, GVT of 4.7 (4.2 DGVT). Averages 65 GP/season. Will command at least $5 million/season for five years.

Player B: 6′1, 210 lbs. 28 years old, 6 year veteran. Physical, shot blocker, stay at home defenseman with a little offense. Averages 22 points per season, GVT of 4.3 (5.1 DGVT). Played a full 82 games for four of six seasons. Will command roughly $500,000-$1 million less than Player A for one or two fewer seasons.

Which defenseman do you want?

I think we can agree that Player B brings more value for the dollar, which is what the salary cap era is all about. If you said Player A, you said Anton Volchenkov. If you said Player B, you said Zbynek Michalek. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, when looking for bang for your buck, Zbynek Michalek makes more sense than Anton Volchenkov. They have the same style of play, Michalek contributes more on the blue line, and is much more durable. The slight difference in GVT is negligible, but it’s worth noting that again Michalek has the better defensive GVT.

So the Rangers can be interested in Anton Volchenkov all they want, but they will not have the cap room for him. On the other hand, Michalek should certainly be an intriguing option, and worth more than just a kicking of the tires. Of course, Dan Girardi is an even cheaper option with almost identical numbers (6.8 GVT, 5.0 DGVT), but he isn’t as physical as the other two. Girardi, of course, will cost significantly less than both Michalek and Volchenkov.

According to Larry Brooks, the Rangers are close to announcing the signing of Mats Zuccarello-Aasen at the conclusion of the World Championship tournament. The Rangers and MZA will be agreeing to a two-year deal that will pay the Swiss Norwegian forward the entry-level deal maximum salary of $900,000. While $900,000 is the maximum base salary a player with an entry-level deal can make, bonuses are not included in that number. It is unknown whether MZA's deal will include bonuses.  If the deal includes bonuses, then MZA's cap hit will be above the $900,000 salary.

ESPN has this chart on their website where you can compare your yearly salary with some of the big free agents that have been signed.

Here is the link to compare your salary with Marian Gaborik's.

It will take me over 150 years to make his salary.

This is from Wednesday, courtesy of Rangers.com, but I thought maybe some of you hadn't heard it.

Someday I hope to be able to sit in on these calls, I'm working on it.

There has been some talk circulating that the Rangers should pursue Saku Koivu to be Marian Gaborik's pivot. Just as it's prudent to 'just say no to Redden(or drugs)' please for love of Wayne leave Koivu out of it. The Rangers do not need to pursue a number one center, just as last year they didn't need to pursue an aged Markus Naslund or even worse, well you know.

Larry Brooks got it right (for once) and one of my favorite Rangers beat writers Steve Zipay got it wrong. He doesn't seem to think Dubisnky is capable of centering Gabs and thinks it's a good idea to look at Koivu. C'mon Zip, I know you're better than that. Just for starters, Dubinsky was by far the Rangers most effective pivot for Jaromir Jagr as a rookie. Even with vets like Drury and Gomez on the roster, Dubinsky flourished with Jagr and complimented him beautifully. Fast forward one year and once again Dubinsky was the Rangers best option in the middle for their most talented winger, Nikolai Zherdev.

Dubinsky is a true power forward in the making. He spent much of last season lost in a horrible slump that lasted as long as it did mostly because he lost confidence and was trying too hard. Dubinsky once again stepped his game up though towards the end of the season and in the playoffs, rockin' the same kind of swagger that he displayed when he centered Jagr. There is no reason to go out and bring Saku Koivu or any other center to play alongside Gabs. It's a waste of cap space and is giving the finger to the Rangers new organizational philosophy of youth=success. Not only that, it's a piss poor waste of cap space (even more so than Brashear's contract). because Gabs doesn't need a play making center to put the pucks in the net. Dubinsky is the Rangers best option to play with Gabs as he can play the role of not only body guard, but he can clear the way and create space for him. Dubinsky is big and just fast enough to keep up with the Slovak Rocket and if any liberties are taken with him, Dubi would be more than willing to jump in and drop 'em. Although he should probably consult with Donald Brashear or possibly Kimbo Slice (same difference, both useless street fighters) over the summer b/c he hasn't quite gotten the fighting thing down yet. It is definitely a must that Gabs has somebody big playing with him, you don't want him breaking the first game of the season.

Sign a depth defenseman or two, trade Rozsival, somehow convince Jimmy Dolan to eat Redden's contract (not going to happen),and let the kids play.

Today could be a semi-busy day in free agency, a few of the big names are expected to make their decisions today, let's take a look at a few of them:

Saku Koivu: The Minnesota Wild have presented him with an offer to play with his brother Mikko, but according to The Fourth Period, the Rangers and Devils have also submitted multi-year deals.

Rusian Fedetenko: The Penguins are hoping to keep him, his decision is expected today.

Alex Kovalev:  Looks like Alex's run in Montreal is over after the Habs added Mike Cammalieri, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta. Kovalev was reportedly read to accept a 2 year deal from the Canadiens on the first day of free agency, but he walked away from the deal. The Kings could be a player for Kovalev. The Rangers still need scoring, would they be interested in Kovalev: Round 3?

Some of the other notable names still out there:

Maxim Afinogenov: RW

Miroslav Satan: RW

Alex Tanguay: LW

Anterio Nittymaki: G

Mikael Samuelsson: C

Petr Sykora: RW

Here is the list of the top ten free agents (by salary) still available at each position, courtesy of Slap Shot at the NY Times.