Good Night Nik

Well, as Yogi Berra once said - it's ain't over til it's over - but the Ranger career of Nik Zherdev may have moved another notch closer to it's end.

On Friday morning, while you were at work - Nik and his agent and the New York Rangers were pleading their respective cases in front of an arbitrator. The arbitrator had 48 hours to make his choice - and of course that came due this Sunday morning - when Nugman and many other Blueshirt Brother's readers are busy experiencing their weekly hangovers.

It's just a rumor now - but we're hearing that that Nik was awarded a raise from $3.25 to $3.9 million. This now puts the puck in the Rangers' possession. The Rangers can now do one of the following:

• Sign Nik for $3.9


• Release him


• Sign and look for a trade. In fact - the Rangers may have been working the trade angle for days.

Conventional wisdom (at least the wisdom at the drunken conventions Dave Pucks attends) is that the Rangers have no intention of keeping Zherdev at $3.9 million for the season. So we're expecting to hear something soon.

A few weeks ago I wondered if the Rangers would keep Antropov or Zherdev (both enigmatic Russians named Nik). Nik A. is gone, and Nik Z may not be far behind him.