Now What?

Wow. Who saw this coming 5 years ago? The New York Rangers lacked the funds to sign a big free agent name, and had to watch the player they desired sign elsewhere.

Well, it happened. And after watching Mats Sundin take his money and run to Vancouver, the Rangers now find themselves... well.... the same.

However, as a Ranger fan, one must look at the Pros and Cons of the non-signing of the former Maple Leafs Captain.

PROS

• Petr Prucha, Dan Fritsche, and even Brandon Dubinsky will be staying put for now, instead of being traded away- essentially for nothing, in order to sign a player for half a season.
• Chris Drury will not feel undermined by the arrival of another veteran captain (i.e. Gomez, Naslund)
• The Rangers maintain SOME cap flexibility in case of injury or other circumstances.
• There is one less big name star who can fail on the big stage of MSG.

CONS

• The Power Play still stinks. Badly. Very, very badly.
• The Rangers still lack a true power forward and goal scorer.

Now, mind you, that even though there are more Pros to this episode for the Rangers, the Cons are quite concerning if this team is trying to drink from Stanley's Mug this June.

So what does General Manager Glen Sather do from here? What is his Plan B to fix this team that is clearly still in need of a top 6 forward as well as a steady, consistent defenseman?

The problem for Sather is that his team is still right up against the salary cap limit.

-How about $500,000 for half a season of Brenden Shanahan on the PP?

-Ilya Kovalchuk may be available later for the same money Sundin would have demanded. And that's a young player who can be signed for another 8 years after this season.

Or, maybe Scott Gomez and Chris Drury will start to earn $7 million a year. Maybe Nik Zherdev will turn into a superstar. And maybe the defense will stay healty and mistake free.

Don't bet your money on it.

Of course, it does help having the best goalie in the league guarding your net.

It's your move Mr. Sather.