Rangers consider adding defenseman

The Rangers Monday staged their annual casino night to benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation. The front office, meanwhile, continued to ponder whether to roll the dice on adding a seasoned defenseman before the March 3 trade deadline.

General manager Glen Sather has kicked the tires with other clubs, according to executives with two teams who asked to not be identified.

Still on the cusp of a playoff spot, the Rangers have tightrope-walked through the season, carrying six defensemen. They have called up a replacement from Hartford (Bobby Sanguinetti for five games, Ilkka Heikkinen for seven) only when a blue-liner is injured.

Sanguinetti and Heikkinen remain in the mix and the Rangers - who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday - currently don't have enormous cap room. But the players in which the Rangers apparently have interest will be unrestricted free agents in June with salaries who would be affordable rentals: Florida's Dennis Seidenberg, Atlanta's Christoph Schubert, Minnesota's Shane Hnidy, Toronto's Garnet Exelby and Nashville's Francis Bouillon.

Seidenberg, 27, a former Hurricane, will play for Germany in the Vancouver Olympics. The Rangers reportedly made him an offer before the season, but the Panthers' deal ($2.25 million) was more lucrative. Bouillon ($750,000) is stocky and feisty. Schubert (6-3, 230, 63 penalty minutes, $900,000), Hnidy (33, 6-2, 204, a tough former Bruin, $750,000) and Exelby (6-1, 215, cap hit of $1.39 million) would help fill the need for muscle.

Another possibility is Columbus' Milan Jurcina. The 6-4, 245-pound defenseman was traded to the Blue Jackets by the Capitals and earns $1.375 million.