Brooks: Go Get St. Louis

Larry Brooks of the NY Post, in a recent article, thinks the Rangers should go after Marty St. Louis. St. Louis, 34, would be the go-to scorer that this team, and Tortorella, desperately needs to stand a chance in the playoffs. His cap hit is $5.25 million for the next two years, so the Rangers would have to move some salary over to Tampa for St. Louis.

Let’s run through this a bit. Tampa would want some solid prospects/young players in return for St. Louis. So they will definitely ask for Staal, which the Rangers will say no to. Next down the line is a combination (2 or 3) of the following: Dubinsky, Callahan, Girardi, Grachev, Del Zotto. Now, knowing Glen Sather, he would consider this. The deal would likely be Dubinsky, Del Zotto and Rozsival (the only movable contract to make room), and probably a draft pick (2nd-4th rounder) for St. Louis.

Three words come to mind when I think of that deal: GOOD GOD NO!!!!!! St. Louis is thirty-freakin-four! I could understand this deal if he were much younger. But trading away two or three solid young players, players that are under 25 and will probably be on the team for a long time to come, for two years of St. Louis is blasphemy. Yes, he would be the go-to guy for putting the puck in the net, but plugging that hole and opening up others with the departure of whoever goes to Tampa will probably put the Rangers in a worse-off spot. The thing with the Rangers is that they need the high profile scorer IN ADDITION TO the current team. Like it or not, this is not a Stanley Cup contending team, nor will it be next year, with St. Louis (and subsequently without whichever roster players are dealt). I will put into question Sather’s ability (well, further put into question) as a GM if he makes that kind of deal.

Side note: To all of you who want a major shakeup of the team, yes I agree. But the shakeup should be of the big name “stars” with the bloated contracts, not the young guys who we have all enjoyed watching develop before our eyes this year, or the guys that the Rangers have seen grow up in the minors/juniors.

Now, the article did mention something else that was worth noting, about the possibility of acquiring Alexander Radulov, bringing him back to the NHL after his one-year hiatus in the KHL:

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More Rumor Mongoring

The Fourth Period is reporting on a rumor that the Pens are targeting Lightning winger Martin St. Louis as a trade target, and are willing to part with D Ryan Whitney in return for a top offensive threat.

Breaking down the numbers, Whitney is a $4 million cap hit and is signed through the 2012-2013 season, and St. Louis is a $5.25 million cap hit, signed through the 2010-2011 season. This deal makes sense for both sides really. The Pens have Goligoski in the system, and Letang on the roster. Either can fill the “void” left by Whitney. Meanwhile, the Lightning, probably regretting letting Boyle go, need defense in front of Mike Smith, who has played extremely well considering the circumstances.

The Pens would have to throw in more for St. Louis, probably a 2nd rounder and a mid level prospect, and maybe TB would have to accept a little more salary coming their way, maybe in the form of Pascal Dupis ($1.4 million hit for the next 2 seasons), or Satan (side note: when going to Yahoo Player Profiles, Satan’s ID is #666. Someone had fun with that), who is a $3.5 million hit, but a UFA at the end of the year.

This deal scares me a little. The Rangers, excluding last night, are in free fall, and the Pens are getting Gonchar back this week. A line of St. Louis-Crosby-Malkin scares pretty much anyone, and could do enough to vault the Pens ahead of the Rangers in the standings come April. While knocking the Rangers out of the playoff picture isn’t really probable, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, keep in mind the Penguins currently sit as the 10 seed, 6 points back of the Rangers. They could be the team to knock the Rangers to the 7 or 8 seed, which means a matchup with either Boston or NJ/Washington.