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The Rangers salary problems with Wade Redden and Marc Staal

Wade Redden

New York Rangers’ Wade Redden (6) helps deflect a shot as goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30), of Sweden, looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, Oct. 12, 2009, in New York. Redden had a goal and two assists as the Rangers won 7-2 for their fifth straight victory. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

AP

This summer for the New York Rangers has been a relatively quiet one. With Glen Sather in charge and always in the mix on free agents and trades, the lack of big moves out of Manhattan for a team that missed the playoffs last year is a bit curious. The team brought back Vinny Prospal and Erik Christensen, they traded Aaron Voros away for defenseman Steve Eminger, acquired Todd White from Atlanta for high-priced spare parts and signed free agent wingers Alexander Frolov and Derek Boogaard.

In the meantime, they’ve taken their time in re-signing restricted free agent defenseman Marc Staal and boosted the team’s payroll to over $61 million, an amount they’ll have to knock down before the season begins. One way they can quickly alleviate their salary cap woes is to demote struggling, high-priced defenseman Wade Redden to the AHL. Redden comes with a cap hit of $6.5 million a year for the next four years. By ditching that money in the AHL, the cash would likely be readily available to get Staal signed and still be under the cap. There’s a catch here though, what if Wade Redden has an outstanding training camp? Larry Brooks of the New York Post wonders about that aloud in today’s edition.

But what if Marc Staal remains unsigned through camp, certainly a possibility given the utter lack of progress in the talks with the unsigned Group II free agent who may not be as antsy to get in as Brandon Dubinsky was last year?

What if Steve Eminger, too expensive at $1.125 million to be a seventh, is no stiffer than he was for Anaheim last season when he was a healthy scratch 18 times for a team that didn’t make the playoffs?

What if John Tortorella is no more impressed by Matt Gilroy’s work in his own end than he was last year, when the coach sat the rookie the final eight games of the year in favor of Anders Eriksson?

And what if Redden, who knows his NHL career is on the line here, who knows that if he is waived through the league in September he will never get back, what if Redden plays assertive, sharp hockey beginning with the first scrimmage and maintains his level? What if Redden outplays just about every defenseman in camp?

Then the Rangers will be in a state of severe stress. Then, incorporating that $6.5 million onto the season cap would mean that Sather would have to slash the roster in order to leave enough space to match on Staal, who at that point would become a very inviting target for an offer sheet.

The longer things drag out with Marc Staal, the more things get to be uncomfortable for the Rangers and Brooks is right to worry. With the Rangers payroll being over the cap as it is now, the Rangers matching any offer to Staal cuts into whatever they’re looking to do with the rest of their roster.

As Brooks notes, having Redden coming to training camp motivated and ready to play and looking like the guy that dominated his earlier years in Ottawa, while helpful to the Rangers on the ice, would nuke their immediate plans of cleaning up their salary cap crunch. After all, if you can have Redden actually playing like a guy earning $6.5 million a year, you keep him around. If it comes at the expense of a young potential stud defenseman like Marc Staal, however, that’s not a risk anyone takes. Everyone will always take the new hotness over the old and busted.