The Rangers will have the Greenville Road Warriors as their ECHL affiliate for at least one more season. The Greenville website posted that they have renewed their agreement with the Rangers for the 2012-2013 season, which will be their third season with the Rangers. The Rangers initially agreed to have the Greenville club as their ECHL affiliate when the Charlotte Checkers left to be the Carolina Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate.

Aaron Portzline, who did a fantastic job covering the Rick Nash trade, has an inside scoop that as many as eight owners might be willing to accept the NHLPA’s proposal as is. While this is not the unanimous approval that many are hoping for, it’s at least hope that the owners are divided. We don’t know the exact details of the NHLPA proposal, but we do know that it had some sort of revenue sharing system in place, and it kept the salary cap in place. My guess is that some of the lower-funded teams would readily accept more revenue sharing, as they are the ones that need the money to stay afloat.

The Connecticut Whale released their schedule this week as well. It would be really cool if MSG airs the Whale games if there’s an NHL lockout.

The last bit for today is that the Rangers and RFA Michael Del Zotto appear to be far off on negotiations. Larry Brooks noted that the Rangers are rumored to have offered the young defenseman between $2 million – $2.5 million:

The Blueshirts are believed to be offering a multi-year deal in the neighborhood  of $2.2 million to $2.5 million per season to Del Zotto, who faces some urgency  given the looming Sept. 15 shutdown of business and the possibility that less  will be available under the cap under the next CBA.

It’s not surprising that Del Zotto wants to try to cash in on a little more money, as the new CBA might mean he won’t be able to earn as much on this contract or future contracts. Considering his inconsistent seasons (solid rookie year, awful sophomore year, great third year), the upper end of that offer might be reasonable for a two-year deal. If the Rangers are going to try to lock him up for longer, then they will need to probably up that to $3 million or higher, just based on market value.

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