People have been on tenderhooks all day long waiting for Unrestricted Free Agent shoes to start dropping. For a while, rumors had the “big 3″ free agent centers signing everywhere but Broadway. But, as the sun sets on this Canada Day, the Rangers find themselves, quite unbelievably, with hefty contracts retaining the services of the 2 of those “big 3″ centers, Chris Drury AND Scott Gomez.

While some people are yelling jackpot, others are cursing the length of these contracts and the amounts being paid to both of these players. Before I comment on that, I want to make something abundantly clear. Glen Sather’s hand was forced by the length and amount of the contract Daniel Briere signed with the Flyers earlier this afternoon. Anyone who points to the New York Rangers and Glen Sather as the villians for driving up player prices had better just shut their mouths.

As for Ranger fans who are displeased with these signings, all I have to say to them is be careful what you wish for. You got it! The gloom and doomers in the fan base and in the Ranger media were expecting Glen Sather to come up empty handed. Mock UFA modelers had us signing none of the “Big Three” and losing Nylander to boot. Ding Dong, they couldn’t have been more wrong.

Drury, it seems, did not bend from the supposed pressure by his wife to go West. Gomez had to have his arm twisted for 7 years at $7+ million per year to share the spotlight with Jaromir Jagr. I will grant that these contracts are huge hits but in the grand scheme of things Sather has bought the personnel the Rangers need to make a cup run next year. As a subscriber, I applaud that. 

The lynch mob that is forming to hang Sather should put down the rope. Gomez’ contract isn’t DiPietro-esque. It is half that. Is it too much? Probably. Was it necessary? Apparently. Will it come back to bite us in the ass? Most assuredly.

I wonder how much is left over for the puck moving defensemen? ;)