The supposed “jewel” of that deal, goaltender Maxime Ouellet, was sent packing to Vancouver for a fifth-rounder. The coveted number one that Washington got? Used on some schmoe who’s been drafted twice before.

George McPhee “fleeced” Clarke?

At least Clarke had the huevos to make a deal at the time. I’m sick of people still bringing this deal up. When Martin Vagner becomes a Hall of Famer and Ouellet nabs a Vezina, then we can have this discussion.

Until then, let this deceased equine lie.

????????????
Malik-Roszival
Poti-Ozolinsh
Tyutin-Kasparitis
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alright that is fine, however, I find this move to have created a lot of interesting scenarios come this offseason. The interest comes from the fact that all these defensemen, except Poti, will be either under contract or restricted next season, while the coming of Marc Staal seems imminent. Not to mention that Pock seems deserving of a long look in the regular season (although I’m not sure how long- maybe min. of 25 games). Furthermore, the Rangers look to have cap space (plus it appears the cap will be raised) to go after one of the elite defensemen that will be an unrestricted free agent.

Rangers D-men:

Malik
Roszival
Ozolinsh
Tyutin
Kasparitis
Staal
Pock

That means there will be 7 defensmen competing for 6 starting positions. Then consider that the Rangers may bring in a free agent defensemen- just as a name I will say it is Zdeno Chara, he would obviously have a position locked . Would the Rangers keep Staal and Pock in the minors for another year or would someone be traded and if so who? Will Poti be resigned? I think this demonstrates the interesting possibilites I had mentioned.

Here’s what I would do:
Offer Poti a contract no more than half a million more than his current salary. If he takes alright he is fairly solid, if not bye bye.

If Poti is not resigned then you go after that big free agent defenseman: Redden, Chara, McCabe, Lidstrom, and any of those other guys. My preference would be Chara or Redden obviously.

If you cannot sign one of those elite defensemen stick with what you have: Malik, Roszival, Tyutin, Kasparitis, Ozolinsh, Staal, and Pock

So taking this to another level there are also a lot of interesting possibilites concerning the forwards, who will be kept and who will be let go? Steve Rucchin, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, and Petr Sykora are all unrestricted free agents and there are a number of restricted players. Clearly to keep the restricted players there will be a cap hit, so how much will be left for resigining these players? Plus it is time for some of the young talent to come up.

I believe the Rangers number one priority for the forwards should be to either trade for an elite center or, which is more likely, sign Marc Savard. If this cannot be achieved I believe Petr Sykora and Martin Straka should be resigned. The rest of the spots should be filled by the top young players in the system.

Here’s the likeliest team:
Straka-Nylander-Jagr
Prucha/Dawes-Prucha/Immonen/Helminen/Giroux/-Sykora
Hossa/Korpikoski-Betts-Ward
Hollweg-Moore-Ortmeyer

Chara/Redden-Ozolinsh
Malik-Roszival
Tyutin-Staal

Lundqvist
Weekes

The point is the Rangers have a lot of options because of their success this season and the fact they are supposed to rebuilding- meaning they have a lot of good prospects