Stacked to the Rafters -

Tonight the Rangers will honor long time Ranger great Adam Graves for his role in the 1994 Stanley Cup run as well as his outstanding community service that has endeared him the the City of New York over the past 20 years. Graves scored over thirty goals five times in his ten year career with the Rangers including his memorable 52 tallies in the '94 run to the cup. It wasn't the stat line however that made Graves a revered member of the Blueshirts, rather it was his grit and toughness that the Garden faithful came to expect from the Rangers during those magical runs into the postseason. Graves brought the heart and soul to the once feared ice between 7th and 8th avenue. He helped make the Garden what it is and will always be remembered as a champion on Broadway. 

Unfortunately, the only champions in the Garden tonight will not be wearing skates. Instead they will stand next to Adam and take their rightful place - in history. Hopefully those jerseys can sprinkle some magic on a hapless group of Rangers playing uninspired hockey. Since my last blog post on January 5th the Rangers have played to a 5-5 record including three atrocious losses to the Pittsburgh Penguins and a 1-0 shutout loss to the Bruins giving no-name net-minder Tuukku Rusk his first NHL win. During the Rangers consistent run at mediocrity I have made alot of assertions and predictions but have only come to two incontrovertible facts:

1) A solid team with a speck of offensive consistency would be scary with Henrik Lunqvist

2) The Rangers are stacked to the rafters with more than just legendary jerseys. They are overloaded with expensive contracts that will start to affect more than just this season.

 As the trade deadline approaches the Rangers need to address both of these problems. There are rumors that the front office is looking to unload salary in a deal that would acquire Bill Guerin - WHAT? The only thing worse than having overpriced, underachieving talent is giving it up for talent that can no longer achieve.

Bill Guerin was great, in 1996 -

If the Rangers make any moves at all it should be for equal talent. As hard as that may seem it can be done. There are numerous disgruntled teams and players looking to be shaken up just like the Rangers roster. Players like Jason Spezza or Marian Gaborik have seemed to wear out their welcomes in their respective cities and it is players like this that are always available at the deadline - like Marian Hossa to the Pens last season.

However the Rangers first must find their identity. Do they want to improve their defense by getting younger and tougher at the blue-line thus sureing up their core for the future? Or do they want to shake up the offensive talent now and try to make a run at the finals with a similar roster to the one they have composed?

The Rangers are minutes from a showdown with the Thrashers and a month from the deadline, and a showdown with their future - it will be interesting to see what they do.