Thursday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline is fast approaching, and the local teams have very different needs and agendas. On Saturday night, the Rangers and Devils met in what turned out to be a throwback low-scoring affair. The 2-1 Devils victory served as a reminder that both teams have some work to do if they’re going to enjoy an extended playoff run.

The formerly moribund Rangers have surpassed even the most optimistic expectations held for them entering this season, and they must now decide whether their roster has what it takes to compete for the Stanley Cup. Given the team’s 36-16-8 record and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist’s gold medal-winning performance at the Olympics, it’s clear the Blueshirts can’t reasonably be counted out. But to make his team a serious contender, GM Glen Sather must fortify the Rangers’ defense, especially with Marek Malik sidelined indefinitely after suffering a right shoulder injury in Saturday night’s game.

A number of teams are considered “sellers” in the marketplace, and there is no shortage of solid options for Sather to mull over. One possibility is Phoenix, where Derek Morris and Paul Mara – good puck-moving blueliners who are capable of running the point on the power play – are both expected to be available. Morris would probably be the better option: He shoots from the right side and would be the perfect complement to Fedor Tyutin on the points of the Blueshirts’ power play.

The Florida Panthers’ Mike Van Ryn would also fit the Rangers’ bill. Van Ryn has a hard shot from the point, and he has compiled an impressive +13 rating while logging the second-most minutes for a struggling Panthers team. And if the Blueshirts decide that the best choice would be to add another Czech to the roster, the Minnesota Wild’s Filip Kuba would also be a perfectly acceptable choice.

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Across the river, the Devils have completely turned their season around since Patrik Elias returned from his battle with hepatitis A in January. That the Devils were able to shut down Jaromir Jagr in Saturday’s game augurs well for their postseason success. Equally important, they are managing to stifle opposing offenses without violating the league’s rules against obstruction and interference.

Since GM Lou Lamoriello took over behind the bench in mid-December, the Devils have become the league’s most disciplined team. They struggled in the season’s first weeks under Larry Robinson, largely because their blueliners spent exorbitant amounts of time serving penalties for interference. But entering yesterday’s games, the Devils have been shorthanded a total of 264 times in 61 games, while 25 of the NHL’s 29 other teams have been shorthanded 340 or more times thus far this year.

That said, the Devils need some additional scoring depth if they’re to make a Stanley Cup run. The top line of Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, and Elias (currently out with a rib injury) is one of the NHL’s best – Gomez and Gionta combined to score two pretty goals on Saturday – but they won’t be enough come playoff time.

Looking around the league, there are some interesting options available. The St. Louis Blues are in the midst of a fire sale, and might be willing to part with power forward Keith Tkachuk. He demonstrated some decent chemistry playing alongside Gomez and Gionta at the Winter Olympics in Turin, and if the Devils aren’t concerned about the fact that his $3.8 million salary for 2006-07 will count $5.5 million toward the league’s salary cap, the price to acquire Tkachuk shouldn’t be terribly high.

Less likely possibilities include the Florida Panthers’ Olli Jokinen and the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mats Sundin. Jokinen is due to become an unrestricted free agent – and is considered the prize of this week’s expected trading frenzy – but his future salary demands might squelch some interest. The freefalling Leafs should take a page from the Rangers’ book and begin a rebuilding effort, but it’s unclear whether GM John Ferguson has the job security needed to pull off a dramatic trade involving the team’s captain.

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Like the Leafs, the Islanders also have some difficult choices to make. Their team is constructed around Alexei Yashin, whose contract might well be the most onerous in professional sports. It’s unlikely that the Isles will find any suitors for Yashin unless they are willing to absorb a significant portion of the $38 million due him over the next five years. Still, big, talented centers are at a premium, and outgoing GM Mike Milbury could find a way to deal Yashin if the Isles were willing to stomach being charged $3 million to $4 million against the cap.

Two teams that might consider Yashin are the Nashville Predators and the Washington Capitals. In Tennessee, Yashin would enjoy the opportunity to perform in relative anonymity, and could provide the Predators with some valuable scoring depth. And in Washington, Yashin could be reunited with Olympic linemate Alexander Ovechkin, with whom he enjoyed great chemistry in Turin. (The Caps are currently paying half of Jagr’s contract while he delivers an MVP-caliber performance for the Rangers, and they might have some interest in benefiting from a similar deal in reverse.)

Whether the Isles deal Yashin or not, it’s clear they should be sellers at the deadline. Each of their soon-to-be unrestricted free agents must be considered available. Scoring wingers Mark Parrish and Miroslav Satan could command a strong price, as could blueliners Alexei Zhitnik and Brent Sopel. The Vancouver Canucks are without three top defensemen (Ed Jovanovski, Mattias Ohlund, and Sami Salo), and a package of players who could help the Canucks make an extended playoff run might just be enough to extract top defense prospect Luc Bourdon.

Given the plethora of one-year contracts signed last summer, hundreds of soon-to-be unrestricted free agents will be available at cut-rate rental prices as the deadline approaches. And though some have suggested that the salary cap will restrict teams’ flexibility with regard to deadline dealing, as long as high-payroll clubs like the Maple Leafs find themselves on the outside of the playoff picture, the market will be plenty liquid.