Patience grasshoppers

(New York Rangers)

Well July 1 has come and gone and Glen Sather did not go hog wild spending every dime he had available. If you're upset because Sather didn't spend a ton of money on Sunday then I don't know what to tell you.

According to TSN, 60 players signed contracts worth over $190 million dollars on Sunday and that my friends is insanity. It's almost hilarious watching NHL teams who used to complain about how much money the Rangers spent now be the ones spending the money unwisely.

40-year-old Ray Whitney gets a two-year contract worth $9 million? Jason Garrison turns one good season into a six-year deal for $27.4 million? Brandon Prust got the Canadians to give him four years $10 million and Sheldon Souray got the Dallas Stars to turn 21 points into a three-year $11 million contract.

If you're complaining about Glen Sather's efforts on Sunday then I'm sorry but you are crazy. I can live with Glen Sather giving Stu Bickel a 2 yr 1.5 million contract since the raise is all of 300K over those 2 years.

Bringing in Arron Asham for two years at 1 million a year is a insurance policy to cover the fourth line with Prust leaving. I for one don't want to see a kid playing 6 minutes a night as the fourth liner when he could be playing 15-20 in Hartford speed up his development.

We all know how little John Tortorella uses his fourth line so I would rather have someone who doesn't have long-term value wasting away as a doorman on the bench and J.T. Miller doing that.

And when a kid is NHL ready then you waive Asham and so what if somebody claims him? At worse it costs you about 500K so give me coupon cutting Glen Sather style over some of the moves we all endured before the lockout.

Haley is a body to cover Hartford who's going to lose 4 (5 if Erixon makes the team) defenders so you need a guy who if you need an emergency call up is there. At worst he stays in the AHL and the Rangers can waive him and cost them just pocket change.

If one looks at it from the dollars point of view then the Rangers can give Del Zotto and Stralman each a minor raise, add Erixon to the roster and you still are over 10 million in cap space to spend elsewhere.

As someone reminded me today that in order for the Rangers to get a long-term Cap Exemption for either Sauer or Gaborik; the Rangers have to have the open cap space to begin with when they go on the long-term injured reserve.

So let everybody else spend their money right now because it will leave the Rangers in a much better position to address team needs later on even if they pursue the trade route.

Or we can just simply list all the bad contracts including the one that's still is in Hartford if you really need a reminder.