THE best-case scenario is that either Henrik Lundqvist or Dan Blackburn – or both – will be ready for a starting NHL job in two or three years. Which means the Rangers need a goaltender to get them from here to there, need a veteran goaltender to provide support and confidence to a young, emerging nucleus of developing skaters.

Mike Dunham, who either buckled under the pressure of attempting to carry the team or foolishly rushed back from his November groin-related issues and played injured the rest of the way, is not that individual. Jason Muzzatti will play again for the Rangers before Dunham ever gets back in their nets. So Glen Sather, whose first priority is to hire a coach, will be looking hard this summer.

Some of the usual suspects will be available. Tommy Salo, who fits the GM’s MO, will be out there, and so likely will Chris Osgood. Oh, joy. Johan Hedberg will be there; Manny Fernandez, too. Lots of guys like that. Goaltenders who are obviously professionals, but hardly inspire, and who won’t be good enough at this embryonic stage of the team’s do-over.

If Sather wants to give his team a chance to compete while undergoing this extreme makeover – and you know what; he has that obligation after these last four/seven seasons of misery foisted upon the public – then Dan Cloutier is the goaltender he should get.

Cloutier, who turned 28 three days ago, is coming off a year in which he earned $2.5 million while posting a .917 save percentage, a 2.27 goals-against and 33 wins for the Canucks. Arbitration-eligible, he’s poised to win an award of between $3.5-4M, too rich for Vancouver. The Canucks will probably qualify Cloutier, the Rangers’ 1994 first-rounder who went to Tampa in the unfortunate 1999 Draft Day deal for Pavel Brendl, and then walk away from the award, thus making Cloutier essentially an unrestricted free agent.

The Rangers could wait for that, and then sign Cloutier, but that won’t take place until the second half of August. In the interim, the Canucks could hypothetically trade his rights. Or, Cloutier as a free agent might sign somewhere else. What the Rangers should do is trade for Cloutier right now, send one of their five-second rounders to the Canucks in order to get him. Indeed, they should send RJ Umberger’s rights back to Vancouver, so the Canucks regain that compensatory 46th-overall pick in the draft. It would mean the Rangers having sent Martin Rucinsky to Vancouver for Cloutier and Martin Grenier.

It would mean that the Rangers would have an accomplished-if-not-quite-elite goaltender who competes as hard as anyone in the league, who has an unassailable work ethic, who has proven that he can play in New York; they’d have Cloutier to provide a bridge to the young guys coming in nets and to provide confidence for the young guys who would be playing in front of him.

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Most interesting scenario we’ve heard regarding the situation in Ottawa has Scotty Bowman coaching the Senators next season for his pal John Muckler – owner Eugene Melnyk has the cash – while Dominik Hasek plays nets for his old pal, Muck. Don’t discount it.

If, as expected, Brian Burke loses his job as GM in Vancouver, ramifications could under a specific scenario affect the Rangers. A source with ties to the Canucks suggests that it’s entirely possible that Marc Crawford would be promoted to GM with the intention of hiring Blueshirt coaching candidate Joel Quenneville to run the club. Quenneville, of course, was Crawford’s assistant behind the bench in Colorado for the 1996 Cup victory. Jacques Martin was also an assistant for the club that season, but left in January to take over the Senators.

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It’s gratifying to see the league’s hardest working player, Martin St. Louis, emerge as its best player, too. Well, not counting Jarome Iginla. St. Louis, meanwhile, the likely winner of the Hart, just happens to be coming off a contract under which he earned $1.5M this season. Can you spell “arbitration?”

Kind of odd, isn’t it, that of all the players the Rangers traded around the deadline, Greg de Vries in Ottawa struggled the most? Oilers have told Petr Nedved they’d like to have him back next year if the money can be worked out. And it’s nice to see the smile return to Alex Kovalev‘s face, isn’t it?

Let’s see, down to eight teams, probably all in the Top 10 of league payrolls, right? What? Montreal went into the season with the 14th-highest payroll, Calgary with the 19th, San Jose with the 20th and Tampa Bay with the 21st? Hmm, well don’t worry; a hard cap will allow everyone to compete.

Speaking of which. Those teams – and there are supposed to be lots – that will lose less money next year if there’s no season than they would playing it out, could they please identify themselves now so that their office employees and support staff know they won’t be facing lockout-layoffs?

That is the way it’s going to go, right?

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THE GONE RANGERS

Here’s a look at how Alexei Kovalev (left), Brian Leetch (above) and five other veteran Rangers who were sent packing at the trade deadline have fared thus far in the playoffs.

PLAYER TEAM G A P

Alexei Kovalev Montreal 5 3 8

Brian Leetch Toronto 0 5 5

Chris Simon Calgary 2 1 3

Martin Rucinsky Vancouver 1 1 2

Vladimir Malakhov Philadelphia 0 2 2

Matthew Barnaby Colorado 0 1 1

Greg de Vries Ottawa 0 1 1