As the 2nd half of the season has begun, it seems like the Rangers are having a tough time putting their foot back on the gas to get going. Granted that they have started against two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference in the Islanders and Canadiens, but the offense can't seem to buy one right now and are out of sinc. It is well known that the Rangers are scouting Toronto, Carolina, and Arizona as the key targets to get the piece or pieces needed to make a long playoff run.  It is clear to anyone following the Rangers that their #1 need is a faceoff specialist--this a must! The Rangers have been chasing the puck all season off the faceoff cirlce and is the only place on the ice that they are outplayed on a nightly basis. The other area of need is a defenseman that neither  John Moore nor Matt Hunwick can seem to lock down the spot.

Now that the Rangers have extended Marc Staal with a 6 year extension to lock in the top 5 defensemen for the future, the Rangers need to address who else they extend and who they don't see in the future. An interesting player to watch how negotiations goes with is Carl Hagelin. He is home grown Ranger and could be dangled this summer to either agree to a multi-year extension at the most $3.3 mil per year and if another team offer sheets him for more than that $3.3 mil per year....if the Rangers don't match they would recieve at least a 1st round and 3rd round draft picks in the 2016 nhl draft. Mats Zuccarello is a totally different case, he will be an Unrestricted Free Agent this summer. If Zucc was happy with only $3.5 mil per year, he would have signed a multi-year contract last summer. Is Zuccarello worth a $4 million cap hit on a multi-year deal?  It would seem that the Rangers need to make that decision before they can figure out who they will bring in as it would be expected that one or the other would be used as a chip in bringing in a missing piece. Then again, the Rangers could use Zuccarello as their own "rental player" if they feel like they have someone that can fill his shoes next season, some like Anthony Duclair at a much better cap hit of less than a million at only $772,500 for two years after this.