Wade Redden

The New Jersey Devils are one of the most respected professional sports franchises in North America.

They have solid ownership, own their own arena and a dedicated fan base that stretches pass the state limits of New Jersey.

They have quality people who run the day-to-day affairs of the the hockey club, they also have some great athletes who preform on one of North Americas biggest sports stages.

Another off-season has passed us Rangers' fans by, and we got to bear witness to another logic-defying Glen Sather contract (known henceforth as the Brashear Blue Plate Special), the acquisition of yet another forward that can be associated with the word "enigmatic", an almost hold-out, and the shuffling of a mistake under the proverbial rug.

It seems like just another day in Rangers country.

The New York Rangers are divided, but only one side really recognizes the division.

Fans of the team are clamoring for a youth movement. They see the young guys up front (Mats Zuccarello, Evgeny Grachev, and Derek Stepan) and the on the blueline (Ryan McDonagh, Mike Sauer, and Pavel Valentenko) and they get excited. They want them to see NHL time; They want them to succeed.

That's because, if the kids succeed, the Rangers will succeed.

Want to know how not to start a season? Look at the Montreal Canadiens for a perfect example. Booing your starting goaltender 15 minutes into his first preseason game? Classy. While letting in 4 goals in 8 shots isn't great you can't exactly blame him for 3 of them. Does Montreal want another Patrick Roy situation on there hands because that is where things are headed if they don't let up. How hard would it be to be Price in this situation?

We knew this was going to happen. The Rangers are strapped for cap space, and two seasons of underperforming have left the Rangers no choice but to waive Wade Redden.

Obviously, no team will claim him and his $6 million contract that still has four seasons remaining on it, thus sending him to either Hartford or Europe.

For those who do not already know, the NHL will be re-opening the waiver wire today.

So what does this mean for the Rangers?

In the summer of 2008, the New York Rangers signed defenseman Wade Redden to a ludicrous six-year deal for $6.5 million.

Sheldon Souray will not be dealt to Columbus for the Mike Commodore straight up, the Oilers will have to throw in a pick, or possibly a prospect. This seems logical but since Commodore has more years left on his contract this would be a bad trade for Edmonton unless the draft pick is really low. However, I do not expect Columbus to accept a low draft pick so this deal will probably not be done.

Rangers Weekly Report: No. 1

Welcome to the first edition of Ranger Weekly Report! Each week a new one will be posted, usually Sundays, giving a review of the past week, and a preview of the week in progress. 

Here is the information you need to know regarding the article set-up:

Well hockey fans, it is officially 2010-11, as training camps around the league, including the New York Rangers, are open for business.

Of course I'm not at the practice facility each day with the team, but I have been reading blog posts and tweets from several beat writers in attendance, and will bring you a bit of a collection of thoughts each day.

There are yearly trends for what teams need, and many times they get into bidding wars with other teams for that player’s services.  Understandably, this often leads to inflated contracts worth way more than the player’s actual value.

Usually, this intensity leads to mistakes that haunt the team for years to come by giving them a contract that they aren’t necessarily prepared to handle.