Finding a puck moving defenseman and a stay at home, rugged blue liner before Tuesday's trade deadline were already at the head of the wish list for the New York Rangers before tonight's game at Buffalo. By the end of the first period that wish list may have grown into a full blown need list.

Paul Mara, who incidentally is neither a puck moving defenseman nor a rugged stay at home defenseman, left the game with what is being described cryptically as a "head injury." In the world of sports parlance a head injury is not a good thing. If he they had a memory left Pat LaFontaine and Eric Lindros would tell you how many of their concussions were reported as head injuries.

On its face, the loss of Paul Mara is not a big deal since Mara is...well he's Paul Mara, you're a Ranger fan, you know what I'm talking about. The problem with a Mara injury is that it now forces the Rangers to play both Marek Malik and Jason Strudwick. I like Strudwick, I really do, he's the gritty, gutty type of guy that every good team should have, but from a talent standpoint he's slightly better than Glen Featherstone was (extra points for anyone who actually remembers Glen Featherstone's tenure with the Rangers, and who they eventually traded him for - here's a hint, they sent him to the Hartford Whalers during the 1995 season). As for Malik, well if Mara is going to miss time then dumping Malik for the sake of dumping Malik is no longer an option, which is sad since Marek Malik might be up there with Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph in terms of big stiffs collecting paychecks from the Garden.

If Mara is going to miss significant time and the Rangers can't swing a trade, there are in-house options at Hartford:

Andrew Hutchinson - 14 goals, 34 assists
The 28-year old journeyman was traded to the Rangers by the Hurricanes for Matt Cullen. He's a fairly big guy but not terribly physical - think Paul Mara with a better offensive game.

Dave Liffiton - 0 goals, 2 assists, 52 PIM
Liffiton had a cup of coffee with the Rangers last season, he's a very physical player but has had trouble keeping that physicality from translating into trips to the penalty box. He also is not exactly fleet of foot which, in today's NHL, is a big problem.

Tomas Pock - 7 goals, 24 assists
We all know Pock from last season. He would have to clear re-entry waivers and there is almost no chance that would happen without some team snatching him up.

Jake Taylor - 3 goals, 6 assists, 113 PIM
I have never seen Taylor play so I can't speak to his game, but at 6'5" 225lbs he may just be the sort of nasty, physical defenseman the Rangers are looking for. Though the penalty minutes (built up over 55 games) strike me as a little Dale Purinton-esque.

The trade targets remain the same (Dan Boyle, Adam Foote, Brian Campbell) but the cost of each of them is already on the rise. Recent reports have said that the Lightning are looking for a quality young player, a top prospect and a draft pick for Boyle - think of a package of Callahan, Artem Anisimov, and a first round pick - that's a little rich for a player who has been hurt much of this season and is going to cost a small fortune to keep beyond the last 19 games of the season.

Ah Paul Mara, thus far the best thing that can be said about him is that at least he is not Aaron Ward...