Does Anton Stralman have a future in NY?

As fantastic of a season that the Rangers are currently experiencing, its never too early to start thinking into the short term future with regards to the Ranger blueline and all the draft picks that they acquired through the draft. Most of the Ranger blue-chip prospects on the blueline have already graduated to the Rangers with the exception of Dylan McIlrath, the Rangers first round pick in 2010. Most of the bloggers/experts that follow Ranger prospects in the junior leagues in Canada have all indictated that McIlrath is realistically about 2 years away from getting his shot on Broadway. In the mean time, one begs the question, does Anton Stralman have a future in NY keeping the seat warm until McIlrath is ready?

Anton Stralman signed with the Rangers back on Nov. 5 after a couple weeks of rumors of his impending arrival to New York. With Marc Staal already out with concussion symptoms and Mike Sauer out with a concussion following a check from Dion Phaneuf, the Rangers needed yet another body to step in and fill a role. As Dave Lozo of NHL.com found out in a recent interview with John Tortorella, the coach wasn't too fond of the way Stralman played hockey. An offensive defenseman in his own right, Stralman was labeled as soft by many, unable to play physical hockey and lost in his own end. After a few practices with the Rangers, Stralman has bought into the system that Tortorella preaches and has been rewarded with more and more ice time paired with Del Zotto on the Rangers top 4.

Stralman is signed through the remainder of the year. In addition to Stralman, Del Zotto, Eminger and Woywitka all have expiring contracts. Del Zotto is likely the only one with a guarantee that he'll be back on Broadway next year. While I don't think Woywitka will be back and Eminger will be iffy although Torts does like him as we've seen on 24/7. It would not surprise me to see Stralman stick around going into 2012-13 to compete for the final two spots on the Rangers blueline.