The Rangers Monday announced that they have signed Tampa Bay castoff Vinny Propsal to a deal that will pay him $1.1 million for the 2009-10 season and will reunite him with his fiery former bench boss John Tortorella.

The Captain is back with the Rangers. Mark Messier, who in 1994 led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup title in 54 years, is returning to the club as a special assistant to general manager Glen Sather, the club said Sunday.

Christopher Higgins, the kid from Smithtown, L.I., who took his first hockey steps at the Suffolk Police Athletic League, the son of an NYC fireman and the brother of an NYC cop - is coming home to play for the Rangers.

Federal prosecutors ruled last month that team doctors were not to blame for Alexei Cherepanov’s death and would face no criminal charges. But on Monday they reopened the case and ordered that new medical tests be carried out.

It has been 20 years since Chris Drury’s title-game gem in South Williamsport, Pa. On Aug. 26, 1989, Drury twirled a five-hitter and knocked in a pair of runs to lift Trumbull National to a 5-2 upset of a powerhouse team from Taiwan.

The Rangers have walked - no, run - away from the $3.9 million an arbiter awarded Nikolai Zherdev, granting the Ukrainian winger unrestricted free agency and freeing the Rangers to devote that money toward other positions of need - like, say, center.

Welcome to the big league, John Tavares. The Islanders No. 1 overall draft pick will make his NHL debut at the Coliseum against none other than Sid (the Kid) Crosby and the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Both Ryan Callahan and Lauri Korpikoski said after the season that Broadway was the place they wanted to be and that they foresaw no obstacles toward a new deal with the Rangers. Only one of them was proven right Monday.

Hello, Ales Kotalik. So long, Nik Zherdev. The Rangers Thursday signed Kotalik, the longtime Sabres right wing, to a three-year, $9 million contract that all but slams the door on Zherdev’s short run on Broadway.

Marian Gaborik, the Rangers’ big free-agent score, brings speed, scoring expertise and a bag of questions about his durability. His first duty on his first full day as a Blueshirt was to try to reassure everyone that his fragile days are behind him.