The trade deadline-driven contract negotiations with Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan were instructive to Marc Staal, who could be in the very same position as an impending free agent next year but sure isn’t savoring the possibility.
“I saw those two guys go through it with the negotiations and all of the rumors that are impossible to avoid if you’re on the last year of your contract, and it’s not something I really want to go through,” Staal told The Post on Sunday following the Rangers’ buttoned-down 3-0 victory over the Red Wings at the Garden.
“You can say all you want that it’s not on your mind and it’s not a distraction, but it’s something that has to weigh on you,” No. 18 said. “I know my brother, Jordan, went through a lot of that early on in a season when he was in Pittsburgh and basically said, ‘Enough of that.’
“For me, the contract situation is definitely something I would like to take care of over the summer. That’s the goal, but that also has to be the way management looks at it, too, in order to get it done.”
General manager Glen Sather sure didn’t make it a priority to take care of business last summer, allowing talks to bleed into and through the season with not only Girardi and Callahan, but also with Henrik Lundqvist, whose extension was not completed until early December.
It is bad business, fraught with peril. The Rangers are to be commended as a team for not allowing the talk with and surrounding Blueblood cornerstones Girardi and Callahan to derail them. They stuck to it, even with a month’s worth of rumors circulating around them before Girardi signed a six-year extension and Callahan was dealt to Tampa Bay as part of the package for Martin St. Louis.
Sather must make Staal Priority 1 of the offseason. Everyone understands the pull of Carolina, where Staal’s brothers Eric and Jordan play. The Rangers must find out as quickly as possible if Marc, in his seventh year in New York, wants to become a lifer or instead has his sights on joining his siblings upon reaching free agency in 2015.
If it is the former, if Marc wants to stay, then Sather must act on completing a long-term contract for this franchise cornerstone — and, perhaps, next captain — that will all but certainly be in the $5.5-$6 million range per season, no ifs, ands or buts about it because that is his worth in the marketplace.
If it is the latter, if Marc intends to skedaddle, then Sather must act on completing an offseason trade with Carolina for a price as equitable as possible, given the circumstances.
“There’s the rest of the season and then the playoffs to go, so now’s not a time to focus on anything other than playing, or a time to talk about anything beyond that,” the alternate captain said. “But like I said, my preference is not to have to deal with all that stuff during [next] season.”
Staal was outstanding in 21:56 of ice in Sunday’s victory, in strong position throughout, and moving the puck cleanly and crisply in a match the Rangers dominated territorially throughout Henrik Lundqvist’s 49th career shutout (tying Ed Giacomin’s franchise record) and 300th career victory. Indeed, the Blueshirts were nearly pristine in their work away from the puck on the entire 200 x 85.
“I thought we cleaned up some areas from the last couple of games and were very solid in our own end,” Staal said. “We were solid and confident all game and were able to get Hanky a nice little shutout.”
It was Staal’s best game in the five matches since the Olympic break. The shame of it is, there should have been no break for Staal. He should have been in Sochi with Team Canada. There is little doubt he would have been there had he not sustained that Dec. 7 concussion that sidelined him for 10 games just when team management was making its final judgments. Staal had only been back in the lineup for four games when Team Canada was selected.
“It sucked,” said Staal, who became an alternate, on stand-by in case of injury. “I have to be honest — [not making the team] really sucked.
“And then I was off for a few weeks and blew out my back in our first practice. This game was the best I felt by far with my legs and my energy.
“Hopefully it’s just going to keep getting better and better.”
Hopefully from the Rangers’ perspective, Sather will make it a priority to act on Staal sooner rather than later. Much sooner than the usual.