AT Tonight's Game The Rangers face-off against the Anaheim Ducks tonight at the Honda Center (10:00 p.m. EST), in the first game of a three-game, West Coast road trip. T...

I’m so sorry to hear that it’s cold and rainy on the West Coast. Really, I am. It breaks me up.

In the meantime, some notes from the cozy confines of Blog Headquarters:

The real trading deadline isn’t for another few months, but the Rangers are confronting their own of sorts given the whole Mats Sundin situation. In fact, here’s my new question:

If Sundin says he’ll decide by the end of the week where he wants to play, and the Rangers have until Friday before the NHL’s week-long roster freeze, does the team make a move to clear roster space without a commitment from Sundin that he wants to play for them? In other words, is there a scenario in which the team trades or waives a player but then sees Sundin go to Vancouver anyway?

Of course, if that does happen, we’re not necessarily talking about a devastating loss but a player the team might have been looking to move regardless. The only scenario in which the Rangers confound themselves if they completely restructure their roster to make room for Sundin—i.e. moving one of their core players—but as of now, that doesn’t seem likely.

Completely unrelated to big Mats is my story in today’s paper on the Rangers’ shootout prowess, in which players and coaches divulge some of their, ahem, strategies (starting with, “OK, Henrik, you’re in net”).

I did note the irony that Tom Renney is coach benefiting most from the shootout these days. Don’t forget that  it was Renney who was behind the bench as coach of Canada in the 1994 Olympics gold medal game, when Peter Forsberg clinched the shootout win with the greatest move in history (later celebrated on a stamp)

I remember exactly where I was watching that game, in some dorm common area at Colby College, shaking off the cobwebs from a particularly late night out and preparing for the drive south back to UNH. A few days later I remember trying the move in a pickup game. Let’s just say there was no stamp to commemorate my effort.

And speaking of my endlessly fascinating hockey career, I’m off to WSA in a bit for a midday skate. If I see Sundin there, then we’ll know he’s serious about picking the Rangers…

Check out highlights from the Rangers' 15th annual Holiday Toy Drive on Dec. 11, 2009, at The Pond in Bryant Park.

J.P. Barry, the agent for Mats Sundin, disputed a report that says Mats Sundin has already settled on the Rangers, saying the center hasn’t yet made a final decision on where he’ll play this season.

But Barry also said the Rangers have made clear they want Sundin, and have even indicated what they’d be willing to pay him.

“Whether a formal offer has been submitted or not is semantics,” Barry wrote in an e-mail. “They have provided a framework of what could be made available to Mats if he selected the Rangers.”

Updated, 7:10 p.m.: In other words, the Rangers have offered Sundin a salary range based on what they can accomplish in unloading salary.

I imagine that range is pretty wide.

In the unlikely event Glen Sather can trade Michal Rozsival or Wade Redden, it’s Sundin’s lucky week. If the Rangers merely send down Lauri Korpikoski, they better hope Sundin really likes Manhattan.

Naturally, I asked Barry what that range was but he we wouldn’t say. As for Sundin’s time frame, the agent said by the end of this week.

Bob McKenzie checks in with the latest on Mats Sundin, saying that the Rangers haven’t made a formal offer to the center, which we can all agree is kind of hard when the team doesn’t yet have much money to offer.

Once a four-team race, McKenzie now says the competition is squarely between the Rangers and Vancouver, making this the most heated battle between the two teams since the 1994 Cup finals.

Sundin’s agent, J.P. Barry is set to meet with the Canucks over a variety of topics tomorrow. The player, meanwhile, is headed home to Sweden until after Christmas.

Where exactly he’s headed once he returns West is the question…

We know most of you are sick of Sean Avery by now. We've kept you abreast of his situation because we know some of you think there is a chance he might come back to New York. Well, we're going to stretch this whole Avery thing one more day to bring you a piece of work that should put to rest any remaining notions that Avery will ever again wear a Broadway Blueshirt. That piece of work can be found at Blueshirt Bulletin+, along with a caveat about its authenticity. Click here to see the posting, which includes today's links and reader feedback, if you subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin and have registered for BB+ access. Current subscribers who need instructions on how to access BB+ should write us at Blueshirt@mindspring.com.

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Lacking plenty in the way of passion and smarts throughout much of the night, the Rangers were trounced by the Devils, 8-5, in Newark - a loss that hurts even more because they wasted a rally from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game in the third.

Want to beat the Sharks in the playoffs? Put a call in to Edmonton about Dwayne Roloson. The Oilers netminder stopped another Shark streak, this one at nine wins, but the OT loss is San Jose's only defeat in the last month.

Mats Sundin wound up getting his money's worth Saturday night. Now it's time to see whether the Rangers will seek their money's worth from him. The Rangers showed him exactly how they like to operate - nurse a low-scoring game into a shootout, then win the thing.