Once upon a time, in the bad old days before the salary cap, the NY Rangers had a reputation for making expensive, questionable signings of older unrestricted free agents.

After spending the first three years under a salary cap spending wisely (more or less), Rangers GM Glen Sather has returned to his team’s old free-spending ways on aging talent, signing Wade Redden to a six year contract worth $6.5 million per season.

That’s right, Redden, whose last two seasons in Ottawa merely highlighted he was a defenseman in decline, will not only earn the same salary per season as he did under his old contract, he’ll keep earning it…for the next…six….years!

I’m sorry, no offense, Rangers fans, but your front office has taken a collective leave of its senses.

And they’re apparently still in the hunt for Marian Hossa and Mats Sundin and haven’t ruled out re-signing Jaromir Jagr, but as TSN’s Bob McKenzie noted, they’ll have to dump some salary because they have about $8-$9 million in available cap space, which won’t leave enough to land one of those aforementioned big fish and still have enough cap room to flesh out the roster.

They were in good shape before taking on Redden, heck, I could’ve even understood their signing him for two years at that salary, but not at six years. They’ve saddled themselves with a declining asset that could prove to be a cap headache down the road.

Of course, in the words of Dennis Miller (when he used to be funny), that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong. For your sake, Rangers fans, I sure hope so.

The list of potential targets for offer sheets next summer grew smaller on Friday when the Ottawa Senators announced the signing of center Jason Spezza to a contract extension.

Spezza, who was eligible for restricted free agent status in July, received a seven-year contract worth $49 million, or $7 million per season against the Senators salary cap.

TSN.ca breaks down the deal as follows:

For the first three seasons (2008-09 to 2010-11) Spezza receives $4 million in base salary with a $4 million signing bonus.

For the next two seasons (2011-12 to 2012-13) he’ll receive $6 million in base salary with a $2 million signing bonus.

He’ll receive $5 million in 2013-14 and $4 million in 2014-15.

The site also reports that, like linemate Dany Heatley, Spezza’s new contract also comes with provisions for a no-trade clause.

Some might question if Spezza is worthy of this contract, as the deal is close in dollars per season to Heatley’s new $7.5 million per season contract, but Spezza’s numbers over the past two seasons are comparable to Heatley’s. Indeed, they might’ve been similar had Spezza not missed an average of 15 games per season in that period to injury.

The bottom line is the Senators weren’t going to break up one of the best offensive “one-two punches” in the NHL. Spezza and Heatley power the Sens offensive attack and with both now in their prime should continue to do so over the next five or six years.

With this signing the Senators have now committed over $41 million in salaries for next season for 12 players. Assuming the salary cap increases to $52 million for 2008-09 that’ll leave just over $10 million to fill out the rest of their roster.

Three key players to re-sign will be defenseman Wade Redden and checking forward Chris Kelly, both eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2008, and defenseman Andrej Meszaros, like Spezza eligible for RFA status.

Kelly might accept a raise from his current $1.262 million to between $2-$2.5 million per, while Meszaros could be in line for around $3 million per, a figure a rival team might be willing to pay via offer sheet should the Senators balk.

The big question is Redden, who’s earning $6.5 million this season. Senators GM Bryan Murray claims he wants to retain Redden but unless he’s willing to accept a pay cut that doesn’t seem possible. Even if Murray were to trade Martin Gerber and his $3.7 million per season salary between now and next July that still might not free up enough to retain Redden, re-sign Kelly and Meszaros and still flesh out the roster for 2009-10. 

The Ottawa Senators took it to the wire but ultimately emerged with a long-term contract extension for Dany Heatley.

Various sources reported Wednesday the Senators had re-signed Heatley to a six-year contract believed worth between $7.5-$8 million per season, and the deal is apparently heavily front-loaded much like the one Daniel Briere signed this summer with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Heatley was the only player to have two consecutive 50+ goal, 100+ point seasons, and with linemate Jason Spezza form one of the NHL’s most lethal offensive one-two punches. The pair along with Daniel Alfredsson powered the Senators drive to last year’s Stanley Cup finals.

While Senators owner Eugene Melnyk last week expressed salary cap concerns regarding an extension for Heatley, in the end the club had little choice but to reach a deal with him if they hope to remain a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in the coming years.

Heatley had set a deadline of the puck drop of the Senators opening game of the season (October 3rd) for the Senators to reach a deal, otherwise he refused to negotiate during the season. That would’ve forced the Sens to negotiate with him at season’s end, and if the club should make a return to the Cup finals would leave them little time to hammer out a deal before July 1st, when he would’ve become eligible for UFA status.

Another fifty-goal, 100-point season might’ve also pushed Heatley’s asking price even higher, as it’s safe to assume he would’ve receive offers worth between $9-$10 million per season if he opted to test the UFA market.

With Heatley now signed the Senators will turn their attention toward re-signing Spezza, who’s a restricted free agent next summer, to prevent him from getting an offer sheet from a rival club. They also have to consider signing Wade Redden and Chris Kelly (both UFAs in July) and RFAs Antoine Vermette, Patrick Eaves, Andrej Meszaros and Brian McGratton.