New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with free agent forward Andres Ambuhl.

Andres Ambuhl

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Here’s the question that a few have asked recently, and again yesterday and today with the signing of Mike Del Zotto:

Where does he stand in the organization?

And the feeling I’ve gotten from people inside is that he has a good chance t…

The Rangers signed blue-chip blueliner Michael Del Zotto to a contract on Tuesday, locking down their first-round pick (20th overall) from last summer’s draft.

Unless Del Zotto steals a spot on the big club next season, he’ll go back to juniors - but when we spoke over the phone Tuesday night (around the seventh-inning stretch of Tuesday night’s Mets game, which I was covering), he made clear that he has no desire to return to Ontario.

“My mindset going into camp is, I’m going to make the team,” he said. “I want to show them that I can be counted on in any situation and compete at that level. That’s where I want to be.”

Del Zotto will be only 19 years old by the time training camp rolls around and the Rangers, desperate as they are for a power-play quarterback, may well decide another year in juniors isn’t the worst idea for him. But Del Zotto believes this past season has been one in which he has rounded into a much more total-package player.

“I’ve known all along about the offensive side of my game, but I wanted to prove the defensive side of it and really show that I could be a shut-down defenseman,” he said.

He had that role with the Oshawa Generals to start the season (”Well, we didn’t have the strongest team,” he said a little sheepishly) and kept it when he was dealt to the London Knights, playing shut-down D-man minutes and manning the first units of the power play and penalty kills. (Late in the season with London he was moved onto a pair with John Carlson, a 19-year-old from Colonia, N.J.)

That midseason deal sent both Del Zotto and likely No. 1 pick John Tavares - buddies who lived together for 3 ½ years in Oshawa - south to London, and while he wasn’t trying to bash Oshawa, it was a move Del Zotto said he welcomed mostly because it gave him a chance to compete in the league.

“It definitely was a great opportunity for me,” he said. “We had a great team there and a lot of talent. It’s just unfortunate the way it ended with all those overtimes and everything.”

He’s referring to the semifinal series against the eventual Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires, in which all five games went to overtime and the Knights lost four of them. “It’s something I’ve never been a part of before,” Del Zotto said. “It really was unbelievable and unfortunate. Just a bounce here or there.”

So now, Del Zotto will spend some time around London training and preparing for Camp Tortorella - “because I know that’s not going to be easy,” he said. Del Zotto - who trains with pal Steven Stamkos in the summertime - will head to developmental camp at the end of June, and then on to Westchester in the fall.

He said he was able to keep up with some of the Rangers’ games this season because “where I billeted, they had the NHL Network.” And of course he loved what he saw in John Tortorella’s style of play.

“It definitely benefits me,” he said. “That aggressive style, that’s how I like to play.”

Ilkka Heikkinen, the third-highest scoring defenseman in Finland in 2008-09, will begin his North American pro career in the Rangers organization next season. Heikkinen, 24, agreed to terms with the Blueshirts after a 34-point season for HIFK Helsinki.

This summer’s Rangers Youth Hockey Camp lineup includes a special session for goalies. Held July 27-31 at the MSG Training Center, the Rangers Goaltending Camp features instruction from former Blueshirts goalie Dan Blackburn (lower left).

Four posts in one summer day. Not likely to happen again …

Anyway, in case you missed it, Pat Quinn was named Edmonton coach, and Tom Renney will be one of his assistants.

I wonder if there’s a future for Craig MacTavish or his assistan…

Sad news from the NHLPA. Peter Zezel—whom I remember as a tremendous competitor when he was with the Flyers, a strong skater, a former soccer player as I recall—has passed away. Here’s the release:
FORMER NHL PLAYER PETER ZEZEL PASSES…

The Rangers signed first round draftee Mike Del Zotto to an NHL contract — we reprinted an exclusive Blueshirt Bulletin interview with “DZ” today at Blueshirt Bulletin+ — click here to see it if you subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin and…

Just got this from the NYR:

RANGERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO

First Round Pick from the 2008 NHL Entry Draft 
            New York, May 26, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced t…