On Jul. 2, 2007, the Rangers appeared to be a finished product, marked by the signings of both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez.

Now 365 days later, the Blueshirts are a work in progress, complete on defense, but still short on the forward end.

Taking care of blue line business on the first day of free agency, general manager Glen Sather signed puck moving defenseman Wade Redden to a six year, $39 million contract right after re-upping Michal Rozsival to a four year, $20 million deal.

“We weighed out all the options,” said Redden in a conference call. “At the end of the day, this is a great opportunity for me. We did our due diligence on the Rangers. I know what the Rangers are all about. I'd been with Perry Pearn in Ottawa.

“I talked to a few players around the league about what a great place New York is to be, what a great goalie they have. When I look at the Rangers and their coaching staff, they're very thorough and experienced. Their approach is bang on, and they're a team on the rise.”

The 31 year-old defenseman may have to temper his comments if the Rangers don’t complete their spending spree with only around $10 million in cap room left. Jaromir Jagr is still unsigned and reportedly has a contract offer to return to Pittsburgh, while Mats Sundin has a $20 million offer for two years in Vancouver on the table. Let’s not forget the prize of them all, Marian Hossa, who is expected to earn a record contract themselves.

Yes, the insanity has returned to the NHL and Sather may not be able to buy his way out of it this time. Looking to fill three spaces on the top six, with Brendan Shanahan considering a move to Newark and Sean Avery’s agent not returning Sather’s calls, the GM did feel confident, the Blueshirts will get one big ticket item over the next few days.

But is this a case of Steinbrenner syndrome? Instead of trying harder to retain his assets, Sather seems happier going after the other prizes out there, much like The Boss did with the Yankees over the years. And it already seems like he alienated Avery and Shanahan, will Jagr be too far behind?

If Jagr does move back on and Hossa and Sundin take the crazy money out there, where does that leave the Rangers? Sure a Markus Naslund could step in, but doesn’t that become the booby prize, much like an aging Bill Guerin was little consolation to Islander fans after Ryan Smyth signed in Colorado?

Those are the questions Sather has to consider today when he continues to go a forward. On the bright side, Sather was able to get into a negotiation with No. 68’s people yesterday, which means they are still in play for the Ranger captain.

As for cap space, the Ranger can try to move Christian Backman and his $2.3 million cap hit if things get out of hand.

Notes: The Rangers also made some minor signings earlier in the day with three agitators being inked. Andreas Jamtin, Patrick Rissmiller and Aaron Voros all give the Rangers toughness and will help ease the Avery departure…The team also re-signed backup netminder Stephen Valiquette.

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