The Rangers, who lost for the fifth time in the last six games, failed to pick up ground on the Boston Bruins for the final playoff spot. The Rangers have 17 games to make up 12 points in the standing on two teams. But it's not acceptable to not work. To not put up 100 percent effort can't be accepted. Glen Sather will be at the general managers meetings in La Quinta, Calif., and with the March 13 trade deadline looming, any deal he makes will most likely be made in the context of getting ready for next season.
Cliff needs to make a deal with Tampa.
Then we need to make a deal with Tampa. And neither of those things have happened yet. But Khabibulin has never won a playoff series. But the Rangers, who are also still believed interested in Phoenix's Keith Tkachuk and Buffalo's Michael Peca, would just like to get there first. And the insistence of Khabibulin and Grossman that Khabibulin be compensated for this season's salary if he had resigned with Phoenix is apparently no longer in play if he is dealt to New York.