Phil,

You make a good point; but here’s my thinking. Like in baseball you can never have enough pitching, in hockey you can never have enough strong defensemen. This would afford Nashville the ability to make other trades as well. I would agree that talk would start with Dubinsky or Staal, but neither of them are going to be dealt.

Others have pointed out other names up front that might make a difference to the Preds. One thing the Rangers are going to have to do is move some money with it, so that means that Girardi for certain has to go and Wolski is a must. A strong prospect package could be dealt but you can’t wipe out the cupboard as I’ve said before.

So who would you think that the Rangers would trade that Nashville would take?

Yes Andrew, Redden’s cap hit is extinguished at the start of the season when he gets sent down to Hartford. He still has three seasons left including this one. It will be interesting to see what happens when the CBA is redone. My guess is there will be another get out of jail free card that the Rangers will get to play to buy out the rest of Red’s contract. Will be a shame too because he’s a terrific guy and a great influence on the young kids…

They can ask for it, doesn’t mean they’d get it. I still think that what I’m offering makes an awful lot of sense. You want to throw Zuc in there and take either Sauer or McDonagh off the table then I’d do that. Remember, you can’t go too crazy. I think you’re offering WAY too much. You don’t want to empty the cupboard for one player. You want to give them some quality in areas that they could use it and where the team has depth. They have excellent depth in D-men so they can afford to give more from that. They’re not so deep up front so the thinking would usually be to try and hold as much of that back as possible. You also don’t want to give up too many draft picks because then the well can run dry. But as I said, I’d be willing to overpay a little because I think Weber would get the Rangers to the Stanley Cup.

The Rangers would need to clear space to make that happen so Girardi and Wolski would be a must. That would cover the bulk of it. Then you have to give them something that they are going to want. Throwing them three NHL ready D, that are young and inexpensive would get them off the snide.

A deal, if it’s going to be done needs to improve both teams or it won’t get done. While what I’m offering MIGHT be too much, you might have to pay too much to get a D-man who’s scored 16-16 & 23 goals over the past three years.

IMHO, if the Rangers could pull off that deal as I listed, with a little luck and a couple of breaks, I think they’re shining Stanley silver next summer. They’d easily be the best team in the East.

Me, I’d rather find a way to pry Matt Greene from LA as a big vet Righty D, (the eventual Doughty contract may squeeze them) and build from within.

We have 2 imported all-stars. Now let’s just get on with Torts’ ‘process’