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ESPN Insider's Craig Custance probed a little further on the market for Columbus Blue Jackets winger Rick Nash with a post on his blog Tuesday afternoon detailing the top five destinations for the star . Earlier today, Katie Strang wrote how the Rangers are rumored to be among the teams interested in acquiring Nash, but they are clearly not alone.

According to Custance, the Rangers might be the second-most likely landing spot, behind the goal-starved Los Angeles Kings who are seeking the final piece for a Stanley Cup run.

Acquiring Nash would certainly come at a steep price, with names like Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon, Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller and Dylan McIlrath being thrown around. After building for so long from within -- and seeing the immense dividends on the ice this season -- would the Rangers really alter their course to snap up the biggest prize of the trade deadline? I suppose we'll find out soon enough. The trade deadline looms Feb. 27.

The number-crunching minds of Hockey Prospectus produced an article Wednesday (Insider) that seems to indicate that New York Rangers owner James Dolan may want to pump his brakes before he starts claiming the Cup is within the Blueshirts' grasp.

Author Rob Vollman produced a list of four teams whose success seems unsustainable given their past production levels. The team at the top of the list? Your New York Rangers.

Vollman cites higher-than-usual shooting percentages from several Rangers snipers -- including Brad Richards -- a statistic that tends to regress toward a player's career average over the course of a season. Additionally, the author notes puck-possession problems and the over-the-moon seasons of Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Biron, which are likely to come back to Earth during the second half.

Defensively, the Rangers are being boosted by Henrik Lundqvist's absurd .937 save percentage -- 14 points higher than his already impressive career high. He's also stopped almost 91 percent of shots while down a man. Unless he's this season's Tim Thomas, the Rangers will have a tougher second half when he and backup Martin Biron, who is also setting a career high, begin to regress from .935 to last season's more typical .922.

Vollman still projects a 104-point season for coach John Tortorella's team, which would certainly keep the Blueshirts in the conversation for the East's top seed. Still, it raises an interesting question about what the Rangers might be missing that could push them over the top.

According to CapGeek, the Rangers should have just under $5.5 million in cap space come the trade deadline. If GM Glen Sather were to make a move, how would that space best be spent? A few possibilities based on Vollman's article:

Defense

The Rangers' black-and-blue line has been battered since Day 1 this season. Michael Sauer remains out with a concussion. Steve Eminger (shoulder) is just now getting back onto the ice. Jeff Woywitka (foot) is still sporting a non-contact jersey in practice. And if Sidney Crosby has taught us anything, it's that a relapse by the post-concussed Marc Staal wouldn't be a total shock. The Canucks may have boasted the deepest D corps of any team in the NHL last season, and their run to the Cup was crushed by injuries to their back line. Adding an affordable high-end veteran (Tim Gleason, who is approaching free agency with last-place Carolina) or an affordable youngster in the doghouse who is signed beyond this season (Jeff Schultz in D.C.) could be a good investment.

Scoring

New York is third in the NHL in scoring differential but is averaging just 2.8 goals per game. What's that mean? Well, it means that Vollman may be on to something when he suggests that Lundqvist and Biron are the difference between a very good team and an elite Cup contender. To that end, the Rangers may want to add a little bit of cushioning to their scoring margin if the netminders shed their Superman capes in the second half. According to ESPN's Rumor Central, Buffalo could be looking for a shake-up, and (this is just speculation now) may be inclined to ditch underperforming forward Brad Boyes for cheap. In the three seasons prior to this one, Boyes has averaged 55-plus points. He's seen his ice time seriously shrink in Buffalo and could be one of those players who benefits from a change in scenery.

Again, a caution that those names are just based on circumstances that make me think they could be dealt and could help the Blueshirts. It's by no means an exhaustive list. In fact, what are your thoughts on late-season additions you'd like to see?

This morning ESPN Insider's Craig Custance posted a comprehensive look at the top 10 names who could be traded before the end of the season. The name topping the list? The Devils' Zach Parise.

Here's a snippet from the full breakdown:

"Being named the captain is a nice first step in keeping Parise in New Jersey long term, but it doesn't guarantee anything. Parise is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after this season, and if he doesn't sign an extension before the trade deadline, Lou Lamoriello will get calls for the talented winger. That still doesn't mean a trade is probable."

One NHL source doubts the Devils would deal their captain, stating, "When was the last time a franchise player was traded?"

Well, if you're asking, perhaps Mike Richards and Jeff Carter have an answer. Ilya Kovalchuk seems to be raising his hand as well.

Unlike the source, Custance appears to have this one in the proper context though. There's no way the Devils want to part ways with Parise. But ... there's a reason he tops this top-10 list.

The Devils absolutely cannot allow him to hit the market. There are just too many teams out there (cough, Los Angeles, cough) who would love to add a former 45-goal scorer to their arsenal. Cap space is no longer an issue for the Devils, not with a mere $39 million projected for next season's roster. Instead, the biggest factor is likely Parise's willingness to stay on in New Jersey. If the Devils turn in another season like 2010-11, a rebuild may be necessary before they make another run at the Cup. Would Parise want to wait if he has other attractive offers dangled in front of him?

If you're Lamoriello you can't afford to let Parise walk away in the offseason for nothing, certainly not when you have needs to address -- and a trade involving a player of Parise's caliber could address a lot of them. An NHL-ready player, a pick and a prospect is probably the starting point for any offer. And the Devils could use all three of those things.

It all makes for some early-season intrigue, but keep in mind this is little more than speculation at this time. Of course, that speculation will likely linger until Parise signs on the dotted line.

With the offseason rapidly ramping up and contract rumors starting to fly, it marks a good time to look at some of the most intriguing deals to be dealt with this summer. Here are the five most interesting in my humble opinion.

5. Brandon Dubinsky, LW, Age 24 - Based on Dubinsky's comments to the Daily News, it sounds like an extension could get done pretty quickly. The fit is good and the desire for both sides to make a deal seems strong. The only hiccup could be if Dubinsky is looking for a megadeal of some kind. I would think he’s not looking to hold up the bank though, especially since he should see a nice raise on his $1.85M salary from this past season anyway.

4. Brian Boyle, C, 26 - Boyle presents a very interesting case as a restricted free agent. He will absolutely get a raise off his $525K contract from a season ago. But how big will that raise be? With 21 goals and 14 assists this season, Boyle produced one of the biggest breakout seasons in the NHL. And while he didn’t put up a point in the Rangers’ playoff series against the Washington Capitals, he was arguably the team’s most consistent forward over the course of the series. Now … were the 21 goals a fluke or something he can reproduce in future seasons? His shooting percentage of 9.6 percent, right around the league average, suggests that he wasn’t just lucky. Couple that with the fact he does most of his work around the opponent’s crease and it seems like 20-goal seasons are not unrealistic expectations, even though Boyle’s previous career best for goals was four.

3. Ryan Callahan, RW, 26 - Callahan has been described many times as the Rangers’ captain in waiting. He plays exactly the style of hockey endorsed by head coach John Tortorella and contributes in all aspects of the game. Players like that are rare and highly coveted in today’s NHL. So, how big a bump will Callahan, a restricted free agent, get from his $2.3M salary of 2010-11? He produced career bests in both goals and assists in just 60 games this season. If I had to guess, I would think that Callahan could see a long-term deal to help keep his cap hit manageable but still get him the bucks he deserves.

2. Derek Boogaard, LW/Penalty Box, 28 - Boogaard won’t be a free agent until 2014-15 ... which is precisely why I’m putting him and his $1.65M per-season deal on this list. Tortorella dressed Boogaard in 22 games during an injury-shortened season that ended after he sustained a concussion on Dec. 9. His recovery from that concussion is still in question. But also, when he's not dropping the gloves his contributions are limited, at best, on the ice. There have been rumors connecting him to the KHL, but it seems very possible the Rangers will try to offload Boogaard in some way, shape or form. I certainly don’t fault Boogaard for signing the deal and taking the money, but Wade Redden and Co. might need to make room for the Boogie Man on the Connecticut Whale team bus. And that could be the best-case scenario for the banged-up brawler.

1. Chris Drury, C, 34 - Faceoffs. Right now, it seems that winning draws is Drury’s biggest on-ice contribution to the Rangers. That’s a rather short list considering the team’s current captain is set to draw a salary of $7.05M next season. Tortorella’s comments Monday seem to indicate that the team will seriously consider buying out Drury’s contract after he battled a string of injuries and averaged about 7:30 of ice time in the playoffs. With a no-movement clause in his contract, Drury won’t face the same fate as Redden, but the Rangers probably value the $3.5M-plus of cap space they can free up by buying him out more than a fourth-line and situational center, the role Drury mainly filled this season.

There’s a perception issue as well though. Will future free agents look at the Rangers’ offers skeptically if the players accepting their lucrative money -- Redden and perhaps Drury and Boogaard -- don’t get to reach the end of their deals in New York? Will they start to demand no-movement clauses -- which have severely hindered the Devils across the Hudson -- limiting the Rangers’ options when it comes to roster management?

So, if you’re the Rangers, do you try to buy out Drury, knowing he’d count just $3.3M against the cap next season and $1.67M against the 2012-13 cap, thereby freeing up space for a high-skill scorer the Blueshirts badly need? Or do you ride it out knowing you have a high character guy to help lead a young roster and hope that he can rebound in the production department as he returns to good health?

Thanks for the great comments to yesterday's blog post on whether the Islanders should play to win or play for a better draft pick. The overwhelming majority of posters said they should play to win the game. You now have Herm Edwards' approval. Well done.

Here's my two cents: You have to play to win. Period. Even if you're rebuilding, the second you start treating games like they don't matter I believe your players will start treating the team like it doesn't matter. That's a behavior you'd never want to encourage.

The Islanders' drafted talent is deep, though I think some folks might be overrating it slightly. Hockey's Future currently ranks the Isles' organization 17th overall. If they can ever get Kirill Petrov to come over, that's another step in the right direction. Or if Kirill Kabanov finally gets hit with the sanity stick and comes back (to Earth, not just the Island) that gamble of a pick could pay off.

Still there are at least two up-and-coming studs. Nino Niederreiter is certainly projected to be a star and of the players who have yet to have more than a cup of coffee in the NHL, Calvin de Haan gets into that conversation as well. Could the Islanders use a center like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins? Absolutely. But as one commenter pointed out, Ryan Strome out of Niagara in the OHL isn't too shabby either. And if Adam Larsson slips out of reach, then they may even be able to trade down and hulking Jamieson Oleksiak might provide the Isles a shot at another Zdeno Chara-type defenseman.

Bottom line: the Islanders aren't that far away from being a playoff team. Injuries to Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit probably killed that hope instantly this season. But next season? Hey, as far as I'm concerned, the Isles' 2011-12 season starts now and runs all through this summer as they continue to shape their roster.

Few details have emerged concerning the status of winger Marian Gaborik. To date there’s still no clear cause for the injury -- John Tortorella initially said he didn’t think Gaborik sustained the concussion during Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers -- and his return is not yet known.

To fill the void in the Rangers forward corps, the team recalled C Kris Newbury from Hartford. Newbury has been up and down throughout the season, posting one assist in eight games with the Blueshirts.

The Deadline Cometh

Once rumored to have interest in Edmonton Oilers/Hershey Bears D Sheldon Souray, the Rangers did not place a claim on the hulking D with the smoking slap shot by Monday’s noon deadline, nor did any other NHL team.

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun reported yesterday the Rangers were turned off by the extra season remaining on his contract.

That’s not to say the Rangers will continue to sit on their hands before the Feb. 28 league trading deadline. While the talented, but very, very young, blueliners have held their own since the trade of Michal Rozsival for Wojtek Wolski, it was thought GM Glen Sather may attempt to bring in a more veteran D to steady the group come playoff time. According to ESPN’s Rumor Central, Bryan McCabe has had his name mentioned in conjunction with the Rangers.

But now that Gaborik is down and his return is uncertain (see Sidney Crosby for just how iffy concussions can be) it seems more imperative than ever that the Rangers try to improve their offense. The only problem is that it’s seemingly a weak market for forwards and particularly centers.

If made available, and healthy, Brad Richards of the Stars would headline the class -- but also carry a huge price tag. While the Rangers’ system is better stocked than it has been (No. 9 according to Hockey's Future), it doesn’t quite trump the prospects boasted by the Los Angeles Kings and Washington Capitals, two teams also in desperate search for a boost to the front line.

Ales Hemsky, Stephen Weiss (availability unclear) and Tim Connolly have also had their names emerge in trade rumors. Across the Hudson, Jason Arnott’s name has also surfaced.

Time will tell if any of them will be wearing a blue sweater before the start of March, but my bet is the Rangers will try to make a deal of some kind.

The New Jersey Devils finally made a significant move to address their point-starved, cap-crunched roster, placing veteran forward Brian Rolston on waivers Tuesday. And given the reaction of GM Lou Lamoriello, it was not a move he at all wanted to make.

Per Tom Gulitti's Fire and Ice blog, Lamoriello stated the move was necessitated by the financial shackles that have constrained the team since the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk this summer. Neither Rolston's play (four points in 15 games this season) nor his attitude contributed to the decision, according to the GM.

“There is no better person in the room, no one with a more positive attitude,” Lamoriello said. “That’s what makes decisions like this so difficult. But I have to make some decisions. I can’t justify the payroll where we’re at with the results we’ve had and this is one of the decisions.”

With a season and a half remaining on a contract that pays him a little over $5 million per season (according to CapGeek.com), it seems doubtful that any team will claim him at full price. If that's the case, Lamoriello said that Rolston will play with the team Wednesday against Phoenix. However, once Rolston clears waivers, the team will have the option of placing him in the minors and relieve themselves of his $5M cap hit, a huge windfall for a team that has been flush against the cap ceiling all season long. (I forgot Rolston's contract is a 35+ deal, meaning the Devs won't lose his cap hit even in the minors. Thanks to E.J. Hradek for the quick correction.)

The threat of playing in the minors, from which Rolston may never emerge given his albatross-like contract, may help convince the forward to waive his no-trade clause though, allowing Lamoriello to get some kind of return for him. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Rolston's name floated in a few trade rumors in the next few days. If he's placed on re-entry waivers, teams will be able to claim him for half-price and the Devils will have to pay the other half of his salary. And for what it's worth, the estimable Hradek believes the Devils wouldn't even hint at sending Rolston to Albany, as treating a well-liked vet in such a way could hurt them with future free-agent signings.

A day after post-game comments from captain Jamie Langenbrunner fueled rumors of a possible coaching change or roster shake-up, Devils GM Lou Lamoriello threw some cold water on such speculation Wednesday.

As reported by the media, including the Star-Ledger's Rich Chere and the Record's Tom Gulitti, Lamoriello stated that the team is "staying the course" despite early-season struggles that have put a potential playoff berth in serious jeopardy. Perhaps in an attempt to alleviate some of the pressure surrounding the team, Lamoriello stepped into the crosshairs himself:

"Right now for anyone to focus in on one aspect, they can focus in on me. I take responsibility for where we're at right now. And it's going to be my responsibility for me to do everything I can to try and get us on the right path."

As reported on Fire and Ice, it's unclear what Lamoriello is willing to do to get his team back on track:

“We’re staying on our course,” Lamoriello said. “You can take that and go whatever way you want to go. We’re here today every one of us. This is our team. Right now what we have to do is look at today. Look at what we can do today to get better and prepared to play against Ottawa. As far as anything else, to me, it’s all speculation.”

The GM went on to say that he didn't feel you could place the blame for the team's poor play on any single aspect, otherwise it would have been addressed all ready. It seems clear that Lamoriello is giving MacLean as much slack as possible at this point, possibly believing lies with an inflexible roster hamstrung by salary-cap issues. Considering the Devils still have not many any trades to clear cap space, it's a safe assumption the market has not picked up for any of the team's tradeable commodities (Dainius Zubrus et al).

Unfortunately for MacLean, he remains the easiest component to change. Even with public support from Lamoriello, speculation about his job status is certain to keep swirling unless the Devils can get back to winning consistently.

While the hockey world waits for the NHL’s verdict on the re-submitted contract for LW Ilya Kovalchuk, the New York Post wonders who goes if Kovalchuk stays. The Dallas Stars are thought to be a possible destination for D Bryce Salvador, with Dainius Zubrus – a target we looked at a little Friday – also mentioned. Other possibilities are far more complicated given no-trade-clauses in their contracts, but one name may cause the faithful to groan at the continually rising cost to keep the Russian sniper.

According to a new blog post from the Post early this morning, C Travis Zajac is rumored to be on the trading block should Kovalchulk’s deal be approved. The center makes $3.89 million per season, which would help solve the Devils’ salary cap concerns, but he also put up 67 points last year as the team’s top pivot.

On one hand, trading Zajac would be a serious hit to this team, as newly acquired C Jason Arnottwould inherit top-line duties and the Devils would likely have to promote their second-line center from within the organization. On the other, the trade market for Zajac would be far more lucrative than for either Salvador or Zubrus, meaning GM Lou Lamoriello could earn some decent low-salary pieces for the future (prospects, draft picks) in return. The Washington Capitals have been searching for a second-line center all summer and would almost certainly be interested in Zajac. The Caps also have one of the deepest farm systems in hockey and could send the Devs some solid value.

But even then it's far from an ideal solution. There is a thought that centers and defensemen are the building blocks of Stanley Cup champions in today’s NHL, with the elite blue line of the Detroit Red Wings (2008 champions) and Chicago Blackhawks (’10), and the three-deep center corps of the Pittsburgh Penguins (’09) often used as examples.

Should the Devils move Zajac, his most likely replacement is Swedish C Jacob Josefson (drafted 20th overall in 2009), ranked as the second-best prospect in New Jersey’s system (behind Mattias Tedenby).

Josefson spent last season playing in his native country (20 points in 43 regular-season games for Djurgardens), but inked an entry-level deal with the Devils in May. Thought to be a heady, two-way player capable of reaching the NHL this season, he may now play a far more pivotal role than expected.

Trading the 25-year-old Zajac just as he enters his prime is certainly not an appealing avenue for the Devils to pursue, but the team will have to do something to clear the necessary space, thought to be at least $3.07M.

The Post's speculation on Zajac is only attributed to rumors, and it's doubtful he's the team's top trade option. But with so many players enjoying no-trade clauses in their contracts (Patrik Elias, Colin White, Brian Rolston, Jamie Langenbrunner and Johan Hedbergamong them), Zajac may not be as far from the top of the list as you might think.

Morning Links

• Lamoriello told Fire and Ice he feels confident about the contract and that it will be approved by the NHL. We could hear as early as today. Wednesday is deadline day. Also, one small detail has emerged: The first year of Kovalchuk’s contract pays $6M.
• In Lou We Trust wonders when Mike Mottau will be signed.