The deal is yet to be done, the parties involved have only just begun to keep their mouths shut about it. So what better reason do you need to believe that Eric Lindros really is very close to being traded to New York?

	Eric Lindros hasn't played an NHL game since May 2000.

While various sources confirmed the proposed trade of Lindros for Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson and Pavel Brendl is very real, the primary parties in this would-be transaction have apparently agreed to an en masse silence. This is expected to last for as long as it takes for Rangers president Glen Sather to work out an agreement with Philadelphia's unsigned hockey pariah and parental agent Carl Lindros on a contract.

Best guesses are that the Lindroses are going to try to cash in on the Rangers' four consecutive playoff misses and Sather's own loss of anticipated acquisition Jaromir Jagr last month. Thinking the pressure is on Sather, the Lindroses are speculated in some circles to be seeking five years at $50 million.

Quite a hit, but look at the upside ...

With Radek Dvorak, Sather is keeping a better wing option than Hlavac. With a couple of excellent offensive defensemen prospects coming up, he's deeming Johnsson as expendable. And as for subtracting supposed sniper Brendl, Sather loses an organizational headache.

Sather doesn't see Lindros' head as a problem, either. The doctors keep saying more than a year away from contact has cleared up the effects of six concussions, and the Rangers doctors will simply be asked if they concur.

So assuming Flyers president Bob Clarke doesn't change the personnel pieces at the last minute, which the Maple Leafs claim he's apt to do, all that Sather has to do to complete this gambit is reach a financial agreement with Lindros quietly and efficiently.

The mutually agreeable gag order shielding these negotiations carries a lot farther than 90 miles down the New Jersey Turnpike or 90 air minutes to the Great White North.

Reached all the way out in his summer home in Banff, Alberta, yesterday, Sather calmly informed ESPN.com: "I have nothing to say about anything or anybody. If you want to find out what's going on with this, call J.R. in the office."

That would be Rangers public relations vice president John Rosasco, not just some guy to refer to on all shots in the dark.

If you still don't believe Sather's interest in Lindros is in the best health of his recently sickly club, well, join the club. But remember that Mark Messier is old and Brian Leetch and Theo Fleury aren't looking much younger. And since Mr. Jagr went to Washington instead, Glen Sather has to deal with the reality that fan loyalty is rapidly disappearing before his eyes and New York's radio ears.

The Rangers need a marketable, marquee distraction. Perhaps Lindros perfectly fills that bill.