Core Four charter members Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan are both one day closer to the end of their respective Rangers careers than they were on Wednesday.
For without any progress made toward signing the marquee pair of pending free agents to contract extensions, management is devoting its attention to evaluating personnel who might become available in trades for the first-pair right defenseman and the captain in advance of Wednesday’s deadline.
The uncertainty regarding the immediate and long-term fate of two of the four Rangers (plus Henrik Lundqvist and Marc Staal) who predated John Tortorella’s tour on Broadway represents the elephant in the room at the top of the 23-game stretch that commences Thursday night at the Garden against the Blackhawks.
“For me, having our three New York Rangers going into their final year and having this situation in front of us has been a little bit challenging in the sense that those are the guys I’ve got to work with on a daily basis to make sure that when I’m not around, the right message and right behavior is there,” coach Alain Vigneault said, citing Callahan, Girardi and Lundqvist, whose own extension was not completed until late November.
“They’re the guys setting the tone so far as the culture is concerned,” said the coach, who chose his words carefully. “And having those guys go through this has been a little bit challenging.”
General manager Glen Sather, who waited too long to get down to business on all his pending free agents and presumably will act early in the offseason to address Staal’s potential 2015 free agency, is committed to trading Callahan and Girardi if he can’t sign them to extensions.
The gap is huge between the Rangers and their captain, who is seeking a seven-year deal worth between $45 and $50 million and has been offered a five-year deal worth approximately $30 million. There is widespread belief throughout the industry the Sabres will be willing to meet Callahan’s asking price if the Rochester native does indeed get to the July 1 open market.
The Rangers, who are concerned over contract length, are seeking to get at least one NHL player and one prospect or high draft pick in exchange for Callahan, who turns 29 next month.
The Blueshirts would send Callahan to Tampa Bay in a straight-up exchange for Martin St. Louis, but Lightning GM Steve Yzerman has no interest in such a swap, even if the 38-year-old winger who is under contract through next season at a $5.625 million cap hit told management just prior to the Olympic break he would welcome a trade to the Rangers, and only to the Rangers.
Sather is not willing to add young pieces and draft picks to the exchange. Talks between the Rangers and Lightning have not advanced since the roster freeze lifted on Monday.
But if the gap of nearly $20 million between the Rangers and Callahan makes it easy to understand why the parties are on the verge of a divorce, the same isn’t true regarding Girardi.
The Post has learned the difference between the parties is minimal (at most), with the Blueshirts finally having closed in on Girardi’s original asking price of six years at approximately $5.5 million per that would be a slam-dunk get on the free-agent market.
But Girardi, who is believed to have first proposed this deal in November, has not indicated he’s willing now to sign at those terms. Perhaps the defenseman has changed his mind, or increased his price with the proximity to free agency.
Or perhaps Girardi and Callahan, who were first teammates in 2002-03 for the OHL Guelph Storm and whose wives are close, have decided to hit the open market together and sign with the same team in July if they can’t both get their asking prices to remain in New York.
If Girardi is placed on the trade market by Sather, the defenseman could well become the prize rental of this year’s deadline even if that does little for Vigneault and the 2013-14 Rangers.