Are the Rangers in a better position after July 1 than they were before July 1? Absolutely! What GM is their right mind would turn down trading away Scott Gomez and bringing in Marian Gaborik? That is basically what the Rangers did. They got rid of an under performing center and brought in a potential 40+ goal scorer which they desperately need.

I disagree with Gaborik being injury prone. He had one season (last season) where he missed 60+ games and only one other that he missed about 40. That is hardly injury prone, but more unlucky. When he is healthy he is without a doubt a top 5 winger in the league and a deadly scorer which the Rangers are obviously lacking.

You made mention to Crosby, Malkin, etc… If they were available at $9 Million each per season for the next 10 years instead of Gaborik; Yes I would sign them in a heartbeat, but they are not available.

Lets face it, the Rangers are going to spend to the maximum amount they can every season. They are a rich team and can afford to do so. They needed goal scoring and needed to shed some bad contracts (Gomez, Drury, &/or Redden.) Drury is not tradeable so that leaves Gomez and Redden. Gomez is now gone and we brought in Gaborik to replace him which I feel is an enormous upgrade.

Yes Gaborik is a bit of a risk, but obviously the Rangers are risk-takers as weve seen for the past 15 years.

Also, they brought in McDonagh from the Canadiens who supposedly has the potential to be a franchise defenseman and might be better than Marc Staal. Absolutely brilliant in my opinion.

Like you said, they dropped one bad contract for another, but again this is the New York Rangers. They want big names and they are more than willing to spend up to the cap every season. They were going to sign someone big no matter what.

Hossa was out of the running because 12 years is ridiculous. Heatley, the NYR would have to give up a ton of prospects for. Now they were left with Gaborik or Havlat and Havlat is just as risky for injuries with less potential offensive production. NYR made the best possible signing they could this offseason with Gaborik.

I would have preferred less money for Gaborik, but for all we know the Kings were on the other line offering $7.4 Million and the NYR had to either top that offer or let him walk.

Would you be happy as a Ranger fan if they got rid of Gomez and brought noone else in? No way, Rangerland would have gone crazy.