No Urgency to Re-Sign Prospal

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Recently we have heard a lot about Rangers free agents Marc Staal, Jody Shelley, Brandon Prust and Erik Christensen. A name that has not been mentioned much has been forward Vinny Prospal, who was signed last August for one year at $1.1 million after being bought out by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Coming off of an impressive season on Broadway, the 35-year-old Czech native is due to become an unrestricted free agent come July 1st and the Rangers have showed no sign of extending his contract just yet.

In 75 games played this season, Prospal notched 20 goals and 38 assists for a total of 58 points, which was good for second on the team in scoring behind winger Marian Gaborik. Speaking of Gabby, Prospal was the only player other than Erik Christensen that really seemed to "click" with Marian and that alone should tell Glen Sather that he should be brought back for at least one more season in New York. But it does not end there - Vinny brought a lot more to the ice than just chemistry with Gaborik.

I didn't label him "Mr. Intensity" for no reason this past year. Prospal takes the game personally so he leaves everything out on the ice. He may be on the older side, but that doesn't bar Prospal from being one of the hardest workers in the entire National Hockey League. For that reason he became the club's alternate captain along with Ryan Callahan. That was also partly due to head coach John Tortorella's pre-existing knowledge of Prospal's attitude from his years with the Bolts back during their cup year.

The team has tremendous respect for Vinny and his work ethic and you could tell that rubbed off on some of the youngsters in the lineup such as Brandon Dubinsky and even Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy. I would even go as far as to say Prospal has become a better leader through example than captain Chris Drury, but again, I am not aware of what goes on in the locker room.

At such a cheap price, and the fact that you are really getting bang for your buck, you would think that Vaclav would be at the top of Sather's list when it came to re-signing free agents before Thursday. Apparently that is not the case since we have not heard his name since the season ended in early April. I know he's up there in years, but he was one of the very few consistent players on the team this year and one of only three who scored 20 goals or more on the season.

Finally we shall take a look at the terms in which Prospal should receive. He should get no more than a 1-year offer, so let's get that out of the way right off the bat. Secondly, I would offer him a price of about $1.5 million. That is an increase of $400,000, which I think is sufficient for what Prospal was able to accomplish in his first year with the Rangers. So the final deal would be one year at $1.5 million, which is something I would think Prospal would seriously consider.