Michael Obernauer, of the NY Daily News, writes today of the Rangers need for inexpensive scorers.

The salary cap is not expected to change dramatically next season after three straight years of sharp rises. For argument’s sake, if the ceiling remains at $56.7 million, that would give the Rangers just over $14.5 million to spend on the bare minimum of 10 players – which still would leave no space in case of injuries or emergencies.

So you want Marian Hossa? Marian Gaborik? A Sedin twin? Someone to address the Rangers’ most glaring need – a winger who can score? You’ll be going bargain-basement with everybody else. And then what happens when you commit to another long-term deal and Marc Staal is up for a contract after next season?

The best hope the Rangers have of giving themselves some breathing room is to somehow unload one of their mammoth contracts by draft day in late June. Team foundation Henrik Lundqvist is going nowhere. Wade Redden, at $6.5 million per over the next five years, in untradeable. Teams would need some added incentive to take on contracts such as Scott Gomez‘s ($7.357 million against the cap) or Michal Rozsival‘s ($5 million).