Reigning Art Ross Trophy winner and Canadian gold medal winner Martin St. Louis’ name has been in and out of play with the Rangers since Jan. 7, when he was bypassed by Team Canada (and Tampa Bay) general manager Steve Yzerman for his country’s Olympic roster, but no trade is pending that would bring the 38-year-old winger to New York, sources have told The Post.
Blueshirts’ general manager Glen Sather has inquired about a potential swap of team captains in which pending free agent Ryan Callahan would go to the Lightning in exchange for St. Louis, but Yzerman’s absolute lack of interest in dealing his leading scorer in exchange for a rental property has been made clear to the Rangers.
The Rangers have made no progress whatsoever in bridging the gap regarding a contract extension with Callahan, who is due in New York on Monday on his return trip from Sochi. His asking price of seven years at approximately $6.75 million per year is believed well beyond what the Lightning would be willing to pay to keep him from hitting the open market.
Sather, who has thus far been willing to go five years for approximately $6 million per (perhaps a tad more) to keep Callahan in New York, appears committed to dealing the 28-year-old, two-time USA Olympian to the highest bidder rather than allowing him to escape scot-free on July 1.
But the Rangers are not amenable to sending the required young pros, prospects and/or draft picks to the Lightning with Callahan in order to acquire St. Louis, who has a full no-move clause in his contract that expires after next season.
St. Louis, who carries a cap hit of $5.625 million, is believed to have met separately and a few weeks apart with club owner Jeff Vinik and Yzerman in the wake of being bypassed by his own GM for Team Canada.
The NHL roster freeze that went into effect at 3 p.m. on Feb. 7 will be lifted once the calendar page turns to Monday. That leaves 10 days for deals before the March 5, 3 p.m. trade deadline.
Callahan, who has repeatedly said his priority is to remain a Ranger (but who hasn’t yet been willing to move off his asking price), is expected to provoke a great amount of interest around the league that Sather should be able to leverage. The same holds regarding similarly pending free agents Dan Girardi and Brian Boyle.
St. Louis, who was named to the Canadian Olympic team on Feb. 6 as an injury replacement for Steven Stamkos and who played sparingly during the tournament, is 12th in the NHL with 25 goals and tied for 12th in scoring with 56 points. He led the league a year ago with 60 points (17 goals, 43 assists) in the 48-game season.
Rick Nash leads the Rangers with 18 goals while Mats Zuccarello, who will be sidelined for up to two weeks with a broken hand he sustained playing for Norway at the Olympics, leads the club with 43 points.
The Blueshirts, meanwhile, appear to be at an impasse with first-pair, right defenseman Girardi. This negotiating stalemate is a tough one to figure given Girardi’s believed asking price of six years at approximately $5.75 million per is widely perceived throughout the industry as a fair-market sticker price.
Sather, who is believed to have offered no more than a five-year extension at a somewhat lower average cost, has informed executives on other clubs the Rangers would deal Girardi rather than get nothing in return should he flee in July.
The Rangers, off on Sunday, resume skating on Monday though Callahan, Team USA mates Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan, Canadian gold medalist Nash, and Swedish silver medalists Henrik Lundqvist and Carl Hagelin aren’t due in from Sochi until Monday afternoon and have been excused from practice until Wednesday.
The Blueshirts’ first game back is Thursday against the Blackhawks at the Garden.