Chat begins shortly …

Trying to make this one look spiffier …

Click below to launch the live chat.

Click below to enter a chat about today’s free agency news.

While you continue to fret over the Rangers most recent performance, a somewhat unrelated update:

A number of you have contacted me about tickets for the Rangers’ two-game set in Prague next fall. Thanks to Zdenek Janda, a reporter from the Daily Sport in Prague who was kind enough to get back to me on this, we know that tickets for the two games will go on sale in mid-April.

They’ll run between $124-$550, and there’ll be about 8,500 available to the generabl public (with the other half going to NHL execs, VIPs and others).

Of course the next big question is how people go about buying those tickets. More on that when I have it, but I figured I’d pass along what I have.

OK, you officially have reason to be throwing your shoes at the TV scratching your head.

Because other than a couple of Swedes—sorry Christian Backman, but we’re talking about Fred Sjostrom and Henrik Lundqvist—the Rangers pulled a complete no-show tonight in Tampa, and now are just four points ahead of ninth place Buffalo.

Maybe it’s just a two-game hiccup, or maybe it’s worse than that. But like it or not, this Florida misstep has added an extra layer of tension to these final 10 games.

And you thought this would be easy…

Ah, sarcasm. It is the air I breathe.

No, I don’t think you should be overly concerned about your Rangers after last night’s streak-snapping loss to a Panthers team that has now won six straight.

But a little bit of concern? Sure. After all, nothing is yet a given with 11 games remaining.

Truth is, the Rangers haven’t been airtight for a few games now, and the last thing you want is to drop two straight to two teams on the outside of the playoff picture. This time of year is all about momentum. The Rangers had it going one way for more than a month. They can’t afford to now have it swing back in the other direction.

Tom Renney has again opted against tinkering with his lineup, other than Marek Malik missing his second consecutive game with what is now a slight shoulder sprain.

This also means Henrik Lundqvist is back in net, which makes sense: Florida has won five straight, so the Rangers are better off having their No. 1 guy tonight.

All this courtesy of my fantasy league co-owner Zipay (under whose stewardship we are losing ground in the standings. And to Dellapina, no less!). Sadly I am not in Florida, which would be even more painful if not for the first signs of spring appearing here. Instead, it will be Sam and Joe on the TV and my 2 1/2 year-old bouncing on the couch wondering why the Rangers are wearing white (he refers to them as the “Blue Rangers,” so this is all very confusing).

In other news, my colleague Rick Carpiniello chimes in with a buzzkill observation here.

If Jaromir Jagr has any desire to be a Ranger next season, why wouldn’t he just say so when we asked him about it yesterday?

That was one reaction I took away from a conversation in which the captain was otherwise perfectly vague. It appears the only other person present for it had the same take

Again, there is the chance that Jagr simply doesn’t want his contract status to be a distraction at such a pivotal time, which is understandable and even admirable. But the other side to consider is the issue loses steam the moment Jagr declares he wants to be back.

Stay tuned…

In other news, I got this e-mail from the NHL this morning:

The National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) today announced a new global multi-year partnership with Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC (BFNT) and Bridgestone Firestone Canada Inc. (BFCA) in which the Bridgestone brand will serve as the “Official Tire of the NHL, NHLPA and the Hockey Hall of Fame.”

Oh, thank heavens at least that’s been resolved. The lack of an Official Tire for the league has been gnawing at me for months….

As if my post from before didn’t already hint at as much, Jaromir Jagr was predictably noncommital when it came to the subject of his plans for next season.

“I think we should worry about that a little later after the season,” Jagr said. “How to explain it? There was still a chance I was going to hit the numbers (84 points for him and and appearance in the second round for the Rangers) and I was going to be here for sure. Now I’m not going to hit it and I’m totally OK with free agency. But I still have a contract here and I’m going to try to play my best, so whatever happens, happens. I don’t know.”

This all comes in the wake of Glen Sather’s comments in Prague that he wants to re-sign the captain before he becomes a free agent July 1.Jagr said he hadn’t heard that—“I was in Buffalo,” he said—but now that he did, he sounded skeptical.

“I know how people react when there’s pressure from media,” he cracked. “You cannot say the truth, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just want to have a great playoffs. That’s all I worry about.”

Naturally, Jagr has been thinking about this more than he let on today, but it’s clear it’s not something he wants out for public consumption while the Rangers are still playing. As far as he’s concerned, the only certainty about his future is where he’ll finish his career. It probably won’t be next year, or even the year after that, but eventually he wants to finish playing in Kladno, where he started as a junior a near quarter century ago.

“I know that for sure because at least it’s not the NHL and I can play there,” Jagr said. “That’s what I know for sure. If nothing bad happens, I’m going to finish my hockey career in Kladno.”