2011 Rangers draft & possible options?

With the Rangers  2011 draft approaching (June 24/25) and UFA/RFA available after July 1. This offseason will be very important in determining the direction of this team. In my previous post, I mentioned that I believe the Rangers are close to becoming legit Stanley Cup contenders. With a solid goaltender (Henry Lundqvist) and a young and cohesive defensemen (Staal, Girardi, Sauer, McDonagh, Gilroy), the Rangers need to solidify and strengthen their offense. With this in mind, the team has several options to achieve this, first through the draft.  The Rangers have the 15th overall pick in the 1st round, two 2nd round picks , a 4th and a 5th round pick in this year’s draft. Still plenty of picks to find quality players to improve this team. In my opinion, this team needs to select offensive minded centers/wingers with at least 2 of the first 3 picks.  There has been much talk about Sven Baertschi (LW) and/or  Mark McNeil (C) being their 1st overall pick. Also, Rocco Grinaldi (LW)  has been mentioned as well. In the 2nd round, two centermen have been associated with the Rangers and they are Daniel Catenacci and Colin Jacobs. As the draft gets closer, I will put together my final draft board. Their 2nd option is through the UFA/RFA, I feel the Rangers must re-sign their RFA (Dubinsky,Callahan, Boyle, Sauer, Anisimov, Gilroy). There two RFA that the Rangers should inquire about and they are Steven Stamkos and Zach Parise, both would require high compensation, but worth a look. On the UFA  front, Brad Richards continues to be headed to New York, which is fine. I would also look at UFA players such as: Jussi Jokinen and Brook Laich as well. Their 3rd option is from their farm system; players like Chris Kreider, Pavel Valentanko, Michael Del Zotto and possibly Christian Thomas will all have the opportunity of making the roster in 2012. Their 4th option is through the trade, players such as Jason Spezza, Jerome Iginla, Phil Kessel and even Evgeni Malkin names have been swirling around the NHL trade winds. Also, there has been much talk of the Rangers buying out Chris Drury’s contract, which will open up another roster spot as well. With nearly $40 million of cap room, the Rangers could be in the best position to put together a powerhouse and make a serious run at the Cup.