Is Martin St. Louis a Good Option?
John Tortorella discovered he had no go-to guys he believed he could go to, take it to the bank that the coach's first postseason order of business will be to work with GM Glen Sather to find the way to get Martin St. Louis out of Tampa Bay.
The St. Louis rumors came up at the trade deadline this year, but nothing came of them. Even though I'm a huge fan of St. Louis, I don't think it would be a good move for the Rangers. Now Uncle Larry has put 2 and 2 together and correctly he has come up with 4. Tortorella and St. Louis have a past history and have a mutual admiration for one another. They also have been very successful together in the past, winning a Stanley Cup in 2004 (that's the first "2").
It's been apparent all season long that the Rangers needed a proven scorer. This year's playoffs made it even more glaringly obvious that even the hockey idiots on ESPN have mentioned the Rangers don't have scoring. So the Rangers need a scorer (thats the other "2").
So it's logical that the Rangers could be interested in Martin St. Louis (thats the correct answer of 4). However, I'm not so sure it's going to be the best move for the Rangers. The Lightning are going to want a kings ransom for St. Louis, who has two more years left on his contract with a cap hit of $5.250 million a year. They more than likely will initially ask for Marc Staal, which is a definite no. Then the next step would be to inquire about Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Dan Girardi, and then the very desireable Rangers prospects that include Artem Anisimov, Evgeny Grachev, Bobby Sanguinetti, and Michael Del Zotto. I'm not so sure I'd be willing to sell the future for a 34 year old Martin St. Louis.
Maybe the Rangers could sign and trade Nikolai Zherdev? Even though he's extremely frusterating because he's yet to maximize his talent, he could find some chemistry alongside Vincent Lecavalier and would help to replace the scoring they would lose from St. Louis. The Rangers could sweeten the deal with a draft pick or two. But considering the Rangers received him for Fedor Tyutin and his stock hasn't gone up this season, this scenario is more than likely just a TMR dream.
In addition to the Rangers lack of desire to trade their young players (at least I hope so), there are also salary cap complications to this trade. The Rangers would have to unload one either somewhere else or back to Tampa Bay. Michael Rozsival seems like an option since they could use a veteran blue liner.
Whether it involves St. Louis or another player, Glen Sather is going to have to work some magic this season. I hope he's gone though before it even gets to the point where he's making any real decisions.
