On the deadline for players to file, the two Rangers RFAs opted for arbitration.
Zherdev was qualified at $3.25 million; Callahan at $660,000.

Here's how it works. A player and team can continue to negotiate until the date of a hearing, scheduled between July 20 and Aug. 4. If there's no agreement, the player and team each propose a salary for the upcoming season and argue their cases at a hearing. A third- party arbitrator weighs the arguments and sets the player's salary. Within 48 hours, the team can decline the salary, and the player becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Among the evidence that can be presented: Statistics in all previous seasons;
injuries, illnesses and the number of games played, length of service with the team and in the NHL, the player's "overall contribution" to the team's success or failure, the player's "special qualities of leadership or public appeal". Salaries and performance can be compared to other players, but not an unrestricted free agent who signed a contract. The team's finances and the cap situation are not permitted as evidence.

Prediction: Zherdev goes to arbitration and is awarded a raise and the Rangers might walk, given the fact that he didn't accept the QO. Callahan will have a deal before the hearing.

Bourque said he'd been speaking with his dad, Ray, on the phone every night. "He just told me to have fun," Ryan said.

John Tortorella's conditioning camp, he said, was "tougher than I expected, but I guess what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The Rangers third pick in last weekend's draft will be at home the rest of July, then report for World Juniors camp in Lake Placid and then Quebec for Remparts camp on Aug. 15.

***

Evgeny Grachev didn't skate today. A Rangers spokesman said he was "a little banged-up, but he's fine." Grachev, it should be pointed out, hadn't skated since May 8, when Brampton was eliminated from the playoffs. Every time his missed a shot during the week, he banged his stick or waved it in frustration.

****

Two other notable goals in the scrimmage: A nice Matt Gilroy drop pass at the top of the right circle to Ilkka Heikkinen, who scored on a wrister. The 24-year-old Finn has opened some eyes with his shots in camp. Heikkinen, 6-2, 200, also collected an assist on Justin Soryal's jam-in.

****

Scott Stajcer, the Owen Sound goalie who was selected in the fifth round, was wearing Steve Valiquette's mask. Didn't get a chance to ask why. I do know that in a breakaway drill, all three of the Rangers' top picks (Chris Kreider, Ethan Werek and Bourque) scored consecutively on him.

****

Just musing here, but I figure at least seven of the attendees will be at camp: Ds Gilroy, Del Zotto, Heikkinen and Kundratek and forwards Grachev, Soryal and Chris Chappell

****

Tomorrow, we'll sketch out some lines, but for today, so long....

From X: (The LA band's version of Alvin/Keen was rolling through my head)

Whatever happened,
I apologize
So dry your tears, baby
And take a walk outside
It's the Fourth of July...

On the stairs I smoke a cigarette alone
Mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July....

No fireworks on the other two.

Corey Locke was a PP specialist in AHL.

PA Parenteau is a mainstay scorer in Hartford.

More later...

From Slovakia, he said he was glad that he chose to have hip surgery in January and now, "I feel great. I played the last 11 games of the year and I took time off after and tried to get to 100 percent. Now, I'm in full training, getting ready for the season. I'm very excited. I don't see any problems down the road."

Gaborik, who has a limited no-trade clause, said the Rangers sent a scout to his house in Slovakia with a video presentation. It was unbelievable. I felt right away they were interested in me. A few other teams were interested, but it was coming down to the Rangers in every aspect, the term, whatever." His former team, the Wild, did not make an offer.

Chris Drury made a call right after the market opened, and Gabby---who grew up with the Hossas---spoke with them and fellow countryman Martin Rucinsky as well as former teammate Aaron Voros. "They had nothing but good things to say about New York, everybody was impressed."

Sitting out with the injuries "just made me stronger. You see your teammates out there battling hard and workign hard and you can't help. It was tough times. I'm gonna do all that I have to do to take care of my body, so hopefully everything's behind me."

You may remember this from a noon post yesterday. "Forward Chris Chappell, (6-4, 209) wearing No. 59, 38-38-76 in OHL Saginaw will be signed today, I'm told..." It's official. He is headed to Hartford.

He made $4.75 mil last season and at 34, averaged 17 minutes a game...

Said Higgins: "I haven't talked to him in a little bit...July 1st just came and went, so...his game is still really strong, that guy plays with a lot of heart, competes every night, he's a winner and he's a leader, have not one bad thing to say about him."

Not a lot of UFA centers (Marleau or Richards in a trade is possible, I guess, but one's earning $6 mil and the other $7 plus), there's Sundin, Morrison, LaRose (who I like but not as a No. 1), Perrin, J. Williams....

UPDATE/MORE THOUGHTS

Sorry, just don't see Dubinsky as a No. 1 play-making, get the puck to Gaborik, center in 2009-10. Down the road, maybe. Even Torts has said he had a lot of maturing to do. But sure, they may give Dubi a op with Gaborik.
I still believe he would be more effective as a winger down the road. Drury doesn't have the wheels to play with Gaborik. Anisimov still green. Not Korpi. And certainly not Boyle.

And there might be some chemistry with Higgins on a PP unit.
If not the first, the second. Just sayin'.

Speaking to Gaborik in about 5 minutes....stay tuned

Brian Boyle, the middle child (No. 7) in a family of 13 kids, had a funny line. Asked him how that was growing up, and he said, "Not bad, really. There was a birthday party every three weeks."

Christopher (which he prefers) Higgins said the media in New York won't be anywhere near as pervasive as in Montreal, when cameramen follow the players around at night and home and all over the city. Although an a MSG crew did corral him in his Huntington home on Wednesday...

With all the friends and relatives in the area, I asked if season-ticket sales at the Garden were getting a boost. He laughed: "I'm playing for free next season." FYI, he's unsigned yet, but doesn't anticipate a problem.

MIA: John Tortorella. Back in Tampa. He and the family will be moving up here in mid-August.

Martin Havlat confirmed to Minny, six years, $30 mi
Fredrik Sjostrom, Calgary, 2 years, $1.5 mil (Good luck, Freddy)
John Madden, Chicago, 1 year $2.75

And someone just mentioned: Les Smurfs.
Could this be a Montreal line? Gionta-Gomez-Cammalleri
The big Bruins might be drooling

In other news: Neil sticks with Ottawa, $8 mil for 4 years. Havlat close to deal with Wild.

A day after the Rangers created some salary-cap space by trading Scott Gomez and the remaining five years on his $51.5-million contract to Montreal, general manager Glen Sather used the dough to land Gabori, the legitimate sniper that the offensively-challenged team desperately needed.

Gaborik, a 27-year-old Slovakian right wing who played his entire career with Minnesota and was considered one of the top free agents available, agreed to a five-year, $37.5 million contract.

“He’s certainly in the top ten” among elite forwards in the league, Sather said of Gaborik, who has scored 30 goals five times in eight seasons, including 42 in 2007-08. In contrast to the Wild’s defense-first philosophy, Sather said, “We’re going to have a very up-tempo speed game and this guy fits the bill to a T.”

I can attest to that. I was in St. Paul the night he torched Henrik for five goals. Dec, 21, 2007.

At 6-foot-1, 200, Gaborik is not as imposing as the last right wing on Broadway of this stature: Jaromir Jagr. “Gaborik gets by with smarts and quick,” said Sather. “Great shot, has tremendous acceleration. Jagr in the late stages, slowed the game down. But I think Gaborik is quicker than Jaromir was when he was young.”

One glitch in the picture could be Gaborik’s health. In four of the last five years, he has played 65 games or less. But Sather said the team’s doctors had evaluated him and spoke to the surgeons who performed hip surgery last season.

“The first game he played against us, he was dangerous anytime he was on the ice,” said Sather. “We looked at medical reports, he’s very healthy.” Mario Lemieux and Michal Rozsival had the same surgery,” Sather said. “We don’t expect any problems.”

In the early afternoon, the Rangers were in discussions with Ottawa for disgrunted winger Dany Heatley, who had requested a trade but only to certain teams. So when the Senators brokered a swap with Edmonton, he refused to waive his no-trade clause, and the talks with the Rangers continued.

Although reports indicated that the discussions ended when Ottawa insisted on including Brandon Dubinsky in the deal, Sather asserted that the talks “didn’t fall apart. We ha d to have more than one ball in the air and we had to wait until today to talk to Gaborik, I had a pretty good idea that he was interested in coming to New York, Gaborik was the guy we had targeted from the beginning… I’m not gonna get into what they were asking for, we didn’t have to give up anybody in our lineup, the money’s the same, the term is the same,”

Earlier in the day, knowing that unrestricted free agent Colton Orr wouldn’t be back (he signed a four-year, $4-million deal with Toronto) the Rangers dropped $2.8 million over two years on veteran enforcer Donald Brashear, who last played for Washington and blindsided Blair Betts in the playoffs and broke a bone near his eye. Sather said he had “no concerns. I think our players will be excited to have him in the room, they know he’s gonna be the man…He’s quicker (than Orr), he can get in on the puck a little faster, and under the style of the game we’re gonna be playing, we just think he’s gonna be a little more effective for us.”

Among the other players whom the Rangers contacted were Ottawa forward Chris Neil and Nik Antropov, who finished the season in New York after being acquired from the Leafs at the trade deadline. The Rangers avoided Marian Hossa, who persuaded Chicago to give him $62.4 million over 12 years.

--Steve Zipay

These five are in play....

...that Mike Komisarek and Exelby are headed to the Leafs, they will be tougher:

Feel free to add your own...

Still lots of quality out there: Komisarek, Gaborik, Heatley, Cammilleri, Havlat, Tanguay, Neil, Kotalik....Oops, things starting to roll again. Forget Cammy, he's a HAB.

Jaroslav Spacek: Winner
Habs: Loser. $11.5 for three?

Mike Knuble: Winner
Caps: Winner; a good fit for that young club.
Rangers: Loser. He might've helped, depending on how this all plays out.

Florida: Winner
Scott Clemmensen: Winner. One of best backups out there.

Hurricanes: Winner
Eric Cole: Winner. Again, good fit.

The last time Rangers fans saw Donald Brashear was skating away after blindsiding Blair Betts and cracking his orbital bone in the playoffs against Washington. Brashear, 37, received a six-game suspension.

Now they will see the left wing who wears No. 87 for two years, but probably not every game. In his sketchy career, 935 NHL games, Brashear scored 85 goals and added 119 assists. But the big number is 2,561 penalty minutes.

Head coach John Tortorella wants the Rangers to be tougher to play against, well....

Clearly, by letting UFA Colton Orr go, the signing of Brashear underscores
the need for a player like Orr, who occasionally had been skating at the practice facility in Westchester.

So, the Rangers needed to muscle up to protect players from division beasts such as Philly's Chris Pronger. Brashear can throw with the best, see his You Tube catalogue.

To be sure, Brashear has baggage, starting with his abused childhood.

Perhaps his highest profile moment came on Feb. 21, 2000 with the Vancouver Canucks. Marty McSorley, then of the Bruins, whacked Brashear in the head with his stick, giving him a concussion when he head hit the ice.

The government pressed charges and I covered that trial in Vancouver, when a jury found McSorley guilty of assault with a weapon eight months later.