Summarizing Rangers rumors as free agency approaches

Free agency begins tomorrow, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I have no idea what direction the Rangers are leaning towards. They’ve dealt Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta and bought out Dan Girardi, all in an effort to “rebuild on the fly.” But now there are rumblings that they are interested in Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. They don’t want to spend big, but have a ton of cap space.

It’s almost impossible to try to figure out what Jeff Gorton is thinking. However a bunch of rumors have at least been made public by the likes of Bob McKenzie, Elliotte Friedman, Larry Brooks, etc. So let’s consolidate them all.

• The Rangers have some interest in Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. Marleau is mulling a two-year offer from San Jose, and Thornton wants three years. Thornton is waiting on Marleau to figure out what to do.
• The Rangers are in on Nick Bonino. That’s a hard pass from me. Big contract for what amounts to a 3C.
• The Rangers have interest in Kevin Shattenkirk, but don’t want to spend the money. I honestly don’t know what to make of that. According to some, there is more than just interest. According to others, it’s mild interest based on contract. So….shrug.
• The Panthers need to shed salary, according to ownership. Rumors have it that they are trying desperately to move Jason Demers. Gorton should be all over that.
• The Ilya Kovalchuk stuff isn’t going away.
• Update: Darren Dreger is reporting that the Rangers are targeting Ondrej Pavelec as their backup goalie.

That’s all we have so far on the rumor front, all from Brooks/McKenzie/Friedman. If it’s just pure free agency, I say go with Thornton/Shatty and find a 4C. There’s a lockout coming, and likely a compliance buyout. Plus, Shatty’s type of player ages just fine until the late 30s (think Dan Boyle with San Jose).