Change for the Range(rs)

[darren]

Over the past several years the Rangers have consistently gone with huge firepower on the top two lines and low cost, low quality third and fourth line checkers. New York has not seen the type of success they want with this as anything short of their first IHL Cup title is a failure. Despite plowing through the regular season as the top team in the league, they came up short in the semi-finals in 7 games to eventual champion Alberta. The regular season certainly won't be so easy this time around, but hey, the Rangers are always better on the road anyway so maybe finishing lower wouldn't be so bad.

There have been pretty significant changes this offseason with the departure of two star vets - Martin St. Louis to trade and Scott Niedermayer to free agency. These are no small shoes to fill but the emergence of some young players like Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green should ease that blow. Management also brought in some veteran fourth liners for leadership and experience since on the whole, it is quite a young team. The newfound cap space also sees room for a significantly better third line and plenty of room to add a key piece, possibly on defence, as the playoffs approach.

The lineup is basically complete, barring some farm depth signings. Here is how it stands now:

J.P. Dumont - Vincent Lecavalier - Marian Hossa
Zach Parise - Nicklas Backstrom - Martin Havlat
Antoine Vermette - Patrice Bergeron - Patrick Sharp
Mathieu Darche - Mike Sillinger - Owen Nolan

Andrej Meszaros - Mike Green
Ryan Suter - Dan Boyle
Shea Weber - Erik Johnson
Chris Chelios

Martin Brodeur
Dwayne Roloson