Pavel Buchnevich
Photo: Andreas Hillergren/AFP/Getty Images

With the Blueshirts’ ridiculous stretch of winning 13 games in 14 now concluded, the Rangers will soon be faced with a decision perhaps as difficult as the one they had to make at the trade deadline a year ago.

Then, the club reached a contract negotiation stalemate with Ryan Callahan and shipped its beloved captain, along with two top draft choices, to Tampa Bay in exchange for then 38-year-old winger Marty St. Louis. It paid off – St. Louis was an integral part of the team that came within three games of the Cup.

The trade deadline is again quickly approaching, and by March 5 GM Glen Sather must decide how all-in he really is.

Forget last night’s game, the team was long overdue for a stinker. The stunning win streak validated hopes that the Rangers could be as good as last year’s squad (pending the severity of Derek Stepan’s injury). But to feel comfortable in the team’s chances of getting over that final hump, the temptation will be there to swing an expensive trade for another solid D-man like Carolina’s Andrej Sekera or Edmonton’s Jeff Petry. Given Sather’s trade wizardry, other big game could be on the table as well.

But to acquire that kind if piece, Sather may be required to deal another first-round pick or a coveted prospect. A Pavel Buchnevich, Brady Skjei, J.T. Miller, or Anthony Duclair.

Those are the young pieces that carry real weight, and they are what it will take to land a quality player in a very shallow market. They are also the beacons of hope for continued success in a world after Henrik Lundqvist, as well as potentially terrific reinforcements as soon as next year.

That is, unless Sather believes he can swap a different key veteran cog like Carl Hagelin or Marc Staal. Given their impending free agencies, that will be a temptation, but it would also create as many holes as it fills.

So, is it time to mortgage the future, again? That’s a question that the front offices of annual contenders face. It’s a question that will leave fans divided as much as team executives, and it’s a very good question to have to answer.

At no point last year would I have said I thought the Rangers were the best team in the league. Over the last month, I’ve been pretty sure of if. A lot can change between now and the start of the postseason, but if I was Sather, I’d think about that, and think about last June, and go for that final piece.

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