Sheldon Souray declined a four-year, $22M offer sheet from the Canadiens and is reportedly interested in playing for the Rangers.
The Blueshirts, though, have little room under the salary cap to accommodate Souray’s asking price. Without making moves to allot for Souray’s desired salary, the signings of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez don’t allow for another big name player with a big contract to take the Garden ice. Add to the equation that Henrik Lundqvist is still unsigned, as is Brendan Shanahan, and that Sean Avery has filed for salary arbitration, and the Rangers have some loose ends to untangle if they’re going to shore up their fall line-up in the near future.
As far as I’ve seen, no clubs have come courting Avery. Both Lundqvist and Shanahan have said they’re not interested in other clubs. However, at some point it may be necessary to stoke the fire.
Whether something will happen as a result of club-induced arbitration for Hank, or an offer being tendered by another team, the pace of contract talks for the Rangers biggest remaining free agents has been languid compared to the big bang on July 1st.