Not unexpectedly, D Paul Mara inked a $1.95 million, 1-year deal that Sather put in front of him yesterday. On breakup day, Mara---an unrestricted free agent--- said he told the front office and coaches that he wanted to come back.

Did he like the moves that the Rangers made? "Absolutely," he told me earlier during a phone call. "Redden and Rozy are great. They're adding great pieces to the puzzle."

So the top 6 defenseman, as it stands now: Redden, Rozsival, Staal, Girardi, Kalinin, Mara.

Not too shabby, as the Scooter used to say.

UPDATE: Deal was confirmed by Jagr's agent Pat Brisson. "Jaromir signed a letter of intent with the Avangard Omsk Hockey team of the Russian CHL on or about 3am EST this morning. I won't comment on the terms of the agreement at this time," he told TSN. "It was a very difficult but personal decision to make in light of the many NHL teams interested in his services. He is grateful to the NHL and especially the Rangers in recent years."

Moscow, Russia (Sports Network) - The Russian hockey team Avangard Omsk announced it has signed former New York Rangers star Jaromir Jagr on Friday.

The team confirmed the deal on its Web site, but did not disclose financial terms. Local and international media are reporting that Jagr will be paid $35 million for two years. There is also reportedly an option for a third season.

Rangers general manager Glen Sather said Thursday the club could no longer wait for Jagr to decide where he wanted to play and signed former Vancouver captain Markus Naslund to replace him.

Jagr, who tallied 25 goals and 46 assists for the Blueshirts last season, also played for Avangard during the NHL's lockout season in 2004-05.

An eight-time NHL All-Star and 1999 Hart Trophy winner as the league's MVP, Jagr has registered 646 goals and 963 assists in 1,273 NHL games with Pittsburgh, Washington and the Rangers.

The Czech Republic native was also a part of two Stanley Cup winners in 1991 and 1992 with the Penguins.

Love Jagr. one of the classiest and most approachable star athletes I've met on this long journey since I started in the newspaper racket in the mid-1970s. Be grateful for the three years.

The Rangers seem to have had a plan on two players, Jagr and Avery, and held to their convictions. Maybe it won't work this season, maybe it will.

All I know is, it would have been easy to give in.

Now, save money and see if maybe, just maybe, Sundin comes around.

That's pro sports.

Sure there's some loyalty, some soul, which is good, but in the end, it's business.

Things change when you don't win..

The games change.

You adjust. Roll the dice.

Nothing's forever.

So the D would be Redden, Rozsival, Staal, Girardi, Kalinin, Mara, plus youngsters in the wings. Upgrade for sure.

FYI: Naslund deal confirmed $8 mil for two...

Rangers General manager Glen Sather said this afternoon that he spoke with the Czech superstar, who is an unrestricted free agent, and told him that the club was moving in another direction.

"It was a very cordial parting," Sather said, adding that the 36-year-old was seriously considering an offer that his agent was reviewing from Russia.

Click here for the full story.

Swedish left wing Markus Naslund, who played in Vancouver for 12 years is the newest Ranger, inking a two-year deal. They also added defenseman Dmitri Kalinin from Buffalo.

Naslund, who turns 35 on July 30, was 25-30-55 last season, and had four goals in a dozen playoff games for the Canucks. He had been the captain there for eight years. "I wanted to be signing with a Cup contender," he said.

"Right from noon on July 1, my eye was on the Rangers, it took a little longer than I thought," said Naslund, who said he spoke with former coach Tom Renney several times. "Having Henrik back there was a big selling point for me. I think that's where you have to start building a team...."

Rangers have conference call at 4:30...Stay tuned

As we know, he had a handshake deal with Plsen to play one year, then take over as a sports director in his hometown. I would have been floored if he came back over....But listen, good for him. He was a warrior to the last.

"The Hockey News has learned Martin Straka will play overseas in 2008-09.
Reports surfaced last week that Straka would return to play in his native Czech Republic, but those reports were later denied. A source close to the situation has now confirmed Straka will indeed leave the NHL. Straka spent last season with the Rangers, collecting 14 goals and 41 points in 61 games.During his NHL career, the native of Pizen amassed 257 goals and 717 points in 954 games with the Penguins, Senators, Islanders, Panthers, Kings and Rangers."

Some excerpts from the recent Glen Sather conference call:

On Jagr, with whom he didn't speak today: "Nothing new... He was waiting to see what happened with Hossa (who signed with Detroit this afternoon) and I guess we'll see later today or tomorrow."

On Zherdev:
"He's a very talented player, picked fourth overall (in 2003), he's a very shifty, talented winger, he's 23, got upside written all over him. As we're progressing through this, we're trying to get younger, and we're trying to get more talented and we're trying to get faster. If you look around the league. that's the way the league is going. It's not necessarily going with guys that are 35 and up. There's a certain chemistry inside the team that we're trying to get to and we're gradually getting there. That's been our goal for the last five years, to get in a position where we can move in this direction."

Does that lend itself to the possibility of Jagr leaving?
"It may be a reality. I still think it's necessary to have experienced, talented people in your lineup to help these guys develop and Jaromir certainly has been a great player for this organization and I'm not ready to say goodbye to him. He may be ready to say goodbye to us. I can't say that for sure."

How the deal went down: "Zherdev is a player we have targeted for several years. We looked at making a deal with them last year before they made the management change and we were in Columbus a couple times look at Zherdev and Fritsche and the situation just came about today. We had a little discussion about it yesterday. I wasn't necessarily trying to move Tyutin but Backman we picked up last year because we needed protection on defense and this deal sort of fell in our laps. But it's something that's been in the works for a while, although we never really got down to the players we were willing to move."

On the next moves: "We still have plenty of cap room left, we knew that when we signed Redden and Rozsival, we knew there was a possibility that we'd have to move somebody. The four defensemen who are left are all capable of playing 30 minutes each, but we're still going to sign some defensemen and we're still exploring all those routes not just from free agency but from trades. When you sign two players like that, they can both log a lot of ice time, it's just the way the economics of the game work; you can't have a pile of guys making an awful lot of money, but we want to have people who can move the puck and skate with the puck. There's still a lot going on out there."

Probably to discuss Columbus deal and Avery, but there could be more...will update soon