Free-agent center Mats Sundin has declared his interest in playing for the Rangers this season, well-connected sources have told The Post.
J.P. Barry, who represents the elite, 37-year-old former Toronto pivot, has been in constant communication with Rangers front-office personnel this week, The Post has learned, though the conversations have not reached the stage of a contract negotiation.
There have been no numbers exchanged between Sundin and the Rangers, who have approximately $2 million of cap space to spend on the 2008-09 roster.
We’re told Sundin, who recorded 78 points (32-46) last season, has no interest in returning to the Maple Leafs, who have offered him a one-year, $7M contract to re-up. Sundin apparently has negligible interest in joining Montreal, which has been chasing him since February, or Vancouver, which has offered a two-year, $20M deal.
Indeed, sources report that No. 13’s second choice is Philadelphia, whose GM, Paul Holmgren, has been aggressive in his pursuit of the first-line center who could swing the balance of power in the East.
The Rangers would love to have Sundin, there is no question about that. He could team with Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev while Chris Drury shifts to left wing to play with Scott Gomez and perhaps Ryan Callahan.
But GM Glen Sather faces a daunting challenge in reconstructing the roster in order to fit Sundin under the cap, and would almost certainly have to dilute his defense in order to do so.
Assuming Sundin would be willing to play for between $5-7M, the Blueshirts would almost certainly have to move defenseman Michal Rozsival, who re-signed on July 1 for $5M per for four years.
The problem, however, is that the Rangers have only six NHL defensemen on their roster – including Rozsival.