Trade Deadline: Prelude

The trade deadline looms just over the horizon. In 24 hours we will finally know what NHL rosters will look like for the remainder of the season, barring any waiver moves of course. So as far as the New York Rangers go, what should we expect. Not much, in my opinion.

There are a few reasons why I don't think anything major will happen, some linked together, some legitimate roadblocks on their own.

1. Parity in the NHL: With the standings, particularly in the Eastern Conference, being so bunched up, leaving so many teams with realistic playoff aspirations the amount of NHL general managers willing to give up quality players are few and far between.

Four teams fall into the "Put a fork in them" category, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Los Angeles and, Edmonton.

A few other teams are nearing that stage, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta and, Florida all probably fall into the "Seller" group that those below them in the standings are in.

Other than those eight teams, there are 20 teams looking to improve themselves between now and 3pm tomorrow February 26th. This means it's a sellers market and teams looking to make a big impact on their roster will be paying through the nose to do so.

2. Cap space: The Rangers have $2.3 Million in cap space to work with, not a whole lot when considering any player that would be a significant addition would likely cost quite a bit more than that. Of course you have to factor in the salary of whatever player is leaving and adding that amount to the cap space. Cap space at this point for THIS season is not really an issue. With the 2.3 million and whatever goes the other way it is enough to add just about any player in the NHL. But it what needs to be considered is, if a high priced guy is acquired, and reasonably thinking that a significant ransom was sent the other way, that player would have to be re-signed, and at what price, could end up hurting the team's cap effect in the long run.

3. Chips to deal with: With Paul Mara now injured, Glen Sather has one less chip to trade with. The only defensemen that I could see as being a part of a trade would be Thomas Pock and Marek Malik. Forwards that could be part of a deal, Martin Straka, Petr Prucha, Marcel Hossa.

These players are not going to be enough to bring in a player or players that will have enough of an impact to make trading them worthwhile. Which means then you come to prospects and draft picks. The hot commodities for the Rangers are Artem Anisimov and Bobby Sanguinetti. Now I'm not going to get into the many reasons why I don't want to see them traded, that's another issue. Plain and simple, Do Not Trade These Players.

Part of the reason why Sather has done a fairly decent job at building this organization is that he has acquired a lot of players through the draft. Sather and his staff have done a pretty good job of stockpiling 2nd 3rd and 4th line wingers, and a pretty impresive corps of defensemen through the draft. My point is, draft picks are valuable, proceed with extreme caution when giving them up.

Overall I don't think the Rangers have chips, that they could justify giving up, to acquire the type of player it would require to push this team over the top. Again the sellers market may push the Rangers out of the running for impact players.