So what’s Glen Sather to do?

Make a trade, of course.

After inking Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival on Tuesday, Sather delt some of his blue line strength for some high powered scoring yesterday when he acquitted forwards Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman.

“Zherdev is a player we have targeted for several years,” said Sather in a conference call. “We looked at making a deal with them last year before they made the management change and we were in Columbus a couple times to look at Zherdev and Fritsche and the situation just came about today. We had a little discussion about it yesterday.

“I wasn’t necessarily trying to move Tyutin but Backman we picked up last year because we needed protection on defense and this deal sort of fell in our laps. But it’s something that’s been in the works for a while, although we never really got down to the players we were willing to move.”

The fourth overall pick in 2003, Zherdev had a career year in 2007-09 with 26 goals and 35 assists. Although very talented, he also can be considered very lazy and will need Ranger veterans like Scott Gomez, who he is expected to line with and Chris Drury to keep the 23 year-old on track.

Despite that, Sather feels the Russian wing makes the Rangers more talented, while shedding some age.

“As we’re progressing through this, we’re trying to get younger, and we’re trying to get more talented and we’re trying to get faster,” Sather said. “If you look around the league, that’s the way the league is going. It’s not necessarily going with guys that are 35 and up. There’s a certain chemistry inside the team that we’re trying to get to and we’re gradually getting there.”

Also coming to Broadway is the 22 year-old Fritsche, who will compete on the lower lines for a job. Last season he scored 10 goals with 12 assists in 69 games.

What’s more important is the money the Rangers are able save on the cap for the coming season. Tyutin and Backman’s contacts would have hit the Rangers for almost $5.2 million, while the two new players will come in at about $3.2 million depending on what Fritsche comes in at in his qualifying contract.

So Sather will have money to play with and he does plan on getting some veterans to fill out the roster and that may include Jagr, but the general manager didn’t seem optimistic.

“I still think it’s necessary,” Sather stated, “to have experienced, talented people in your lineup to help these guys develop and Jaromir certainly has been a great player for this organization and I’m not ready to say goodbye to him. He may be ready to say goodbye to us. I can’t say that for sure.”

One thing’s for sure though, with Avery gone and Jagr probably moving on as well, it will be a very different Ranger team next season.

Now 365 days later, the Blueshirts are a work in progress, complete on defense, but still short on the forward end.

Taking care of blue line business on the first day of free agency, general manager Glen Sather signed puck moving defenseman Wade Redden to a six year, $39 million contract right after re-upping Michal Rozsival to a four year, $20 million deal.

“We weighed out all the options,” said Redden in a conference call. “At the end of the day, this is a great opportunity for me. We did our due diligence on the Rangers. I know what the Rangers are all about. I’d been with Perry Pearn in Ottawa.

“I talked to a few players around the league about what a great place New York is to be, what a great goalie they have. When I look at the Rangers and their coaching staff, they’re very thorough and experienced. Their approach is bang on, and they’re a team on the rise.”

The 31 year-old defenseman may have to temper his comments if the Rangers don’t complete their spending spree with only around $10 million in cap room left. Jaromir Jagr is still unsigned and reportedly has a contract offer to return to Pittsburgh, while Mats Sundin has a $20 million offer for two years in Vancouver on the table. Let’s not forget the prize of them all, Marian Hossa, who is expected to earn a record contract themselves.

Yes, the insanity has returned to the NHL and Sather may not be able to buy his way out of it this time. Looking to fill three spaces on the top six, with Brendan Shanahan considering a move to Newark and Sean Avery’s agent not returning Sather’s calls, the GM did feel confident, the Blueshirts will get one big ticket item over the next few days.

But is this a case of Steinbrenner syndrome? Instead of trying harder to retain his assets, Sather seems happier going after the other prizes out there, much like The Boss did with the Yankees over the years. And it already seems like he alienated Avery and Shanahan, will Jagr be too far behind?

If Jagr does move back on and Hossa and Sundin take the crazy money out there, where does that leave the Rangers? Sure a Markus Naslund could step in, but doesn’t that become the booby prize, much like an aging Bill Guerin was little consolation to Islander fans after Ryan Smyth signed in Colorado?

Those are the questions Sather has to consider today when he continues to go a forward. On the bright side, Sather was able to get into a negotiation with No. 68’s people yesterday, which means they are still in play for the Ranger captain.

As for cap space, the Ranger can try to move Christian Backman and his $2.3 million cap hit if things get out of hand.

Notes: The Rangers also made some minor signings earlier in the day with three agitators being inked. Andreas Jamtin, Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros all give the Rangers toughness and will help ease the Avery departure…The team also re-signed backup netminder Stephen Valiquette.

It’s interesting because all season, I don’t remember the Devils taking an early lead like that.

I will have more as it comes in…. 

When asked, Tom Renney stated it was an “internal matter” and as of right now, he’s still a Ranger.

Ok, but that doesn’t mean Malik will be a Ranger later today or after the All-Star break. The much maligned defenseman has been rumored in trade talks and may be moved, if someone will take his $2.5 million salary which expires at the end of the year.

More on this as it comes in.

In other news, Ilya Kovalchuk won’t be at the game either due to a one game suspension for his boarding hit on Michal Rozsival on Tuesday.

Oh, and there’s the matter of No. 2 going to the rafters as well. The ceremony starts at 6:30 and the game will begin at 8:08 with the Rangers fined if it’s late.

Marcel Hossa is out and will be replaced by Nigel Dawes. Greg Moore will be on the third line replacing the demoted Ryan Callahan and Jason Strudwick is on the fourth line replacing Ryan Hollweg.

That means Marek Malik is back with Michal Rozsival and Marc Staal will be with Paul Mara.

Confused yet?

Outside of Lundqvist none of these moves are too earth shattering as they take on the Phoenix Great Ones – I mean the Coyotes.

Speaking of the Great One. Wayne Gretzky has laryngitis and can’t address to the media.

BTW, a good friend is back. Hockeybird, who has been very helpful to me has returned and Bird is posting his daily posts again. He went offline back in October and now is back.

Towards the end of practice, some of the Rangers were hitting pucks off a piece of wood in front of the net to practice rebounds, which is something Chris Drury brought from Buffalo as part of his routine.

Tom Renney put Marek Malik back on the top pairing with Michal Rozsival, while Marc Staal skated with Jason Strudwick.

I asked the coach if these next two games, against division leaders Ottawa and Carolina, were a test and he said that they were and if they can compete with these teams, we may have better insight on how good the team is.

Now, he will be coming back, so expect No. 8 to be back there over the weekend. The question is where he will play.

Expect Jason Strudwick to get scratched as Malik filters back into the lineup, but it’s questionable if he will be lining up with Michal Rozsival. Marc Stall fits very nicely at the top and deserves to stay up there, while Malik, who at times can be the Garden pariah, makes some mistakes which cost the Blueshirts.

Breaking up Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin doesn’t make sense, so that leaves Paul Mara. Now, Mara has played much better as of late and seems to be getting his stride on. Both he and Strudwick have chemistry together and will that translate with Malik? Or does Renney put Marc Staal back with Mara and Malik with Rozsival, so they can work together.

Believe it or not, the Malik – Rozsival pair worked well together over the past few years and Malik, who has a greak reach does make up for his speed deficiencies.

Also by showcasing Malik, the Rangers may look to trade him towards the deadline and let Strudick play or even bring up someone like Ivan Baranka, who played well last week against Tampa.

The bottom line, no matter how much the fans don’t like him, Malik is here for now.

And I will be at practice tomorrow, so there will be an update from there on this blog.

“The idea behind an optional skate is that guys use that time to workout and rest,” Renney said. “Most guys feel they have to be out there. One of the reasons why I don’t go out there is that guys will be there because I am out there. But it tells you what guys you have.”

Not skating today were:

Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery, Michael Nylander, Fedor Tyutin, Ryan Callahan, Matt Cullen and Game 3 hero Michal Rozsival, who could use the rest.

But the Rangers need to hand it to themselves, they did what they needed to do yesterday, playing in front of a Garden crowd totally on their side.

It’s interesting to see that, because the Blueshirts totally turned around their home record from a pedestrian 12-14-4 on Feb.24 to a 12-1-1 mark since then.

So what has changed?

“We changed our style of play at home,” said Henrik Lundqvist, one of the key reasons why they have an eight game home streak. “We do the small things and take some pride at home, like we do on the road. I think we realize we will get chances from that. We stay back and play a control game, and we will get chances.”

That’s good because the Rangers need to win tomorrow’s game and then a Game 6 at the Garden if they are going to have any chance in this series, because they will have to win a game in Buffalo and maybe two games is too much to ask.

Some other notes from Greenburgh: Jaromir Jagr was asked if there was a defenseman who could contain him. He quipped about him not being born yet.

The mood overall was lighthearted, yet confident and who can blame them, the Rangers looked good not just yesterday, but also for most of Game 2, as well. Now they know there is still a lot of work to do, but this series is not over by any means.

Later on, I will have a report on NY Sports Day from Greenburgh and check out last night’s game story as well.

Unless he’s hurt, you have to wonder why Isbister was dressed over Ortmeyer. On Brian Campbell’s power play goal, that’s a shot Ortmeyer usually blocks. Unless he’s hurt, there’s little reason.

Now onto the good things. If they can keep up this pace, Buffalo will have a tough time keeping up with the Blueshirts. They just look like they have fresher legs.

Now at the end of the period, Michal Rozsival took a check into the boards, so you wonder if he re-injured that leg. That would be a key loss.

Stay Tuned for more….

“That’s the question,” Renney said. “He felt to me that he felt good this morning. He’s an important guy for us, but do you sacrifice a guy now for later?”

Either way, the Rangers will play a game tonight, much to the chagrin of the Canadian media, who seem to feel they should just forfeit. The key tonight is not only the Matt Cullen line, but also the Blair Betts fourth line. 

Since Buffalo can score from with any of their forwards, it’s key for Betts, with Ryan Hollweg and Jed Ortmeyer, to generate some sort of offensive threat.

The coach is hoping for the effort. “It depends on how you qualify offense?” Renney said. “In terms of getting pucks deep and in from a territorial position, they are critical. Those guys can score too. It’s not going to be a pretty goal but it’s the type of goal that pumps up your bench because of the role they play. I would like to see them among other play the type of game they can.”

Added Blair Betts: “The more we can be out there and bang the body to create energy for our team the better.”

All three of those fourth liners can score and if they do, the rest of the team usually follows suit. Earlier in the season against Tampa Bay, when Colton Orr and Hollweg lit the lamp, Jagr compared it to when a lineman scores a touchdown in football. Smiles usually happen all around.

This is not to say the Betts line needs to score, but if they can keep the puck on the offensive end, it will make it easier for the other three lines to do their jobs.

Other notes: Sean Avery was asked by Sam Rosen if he had to behave because his mother will be in the attendance. Avery answered: “She likes it when I am behaving poorly; she’s used to it by now.”

I know everyone in New York was concerned about this: Tonight’s Sabres rally outside of HSBC Arena will have beer served. So maybe they will get more of a crowd.

Stay tuned to The Blueshirt Scene for live updates during the game.