Rick DiPietro faced his toughest challenger yesterday, but was still able to overcome Vincent Lecavalier 131-55 in order to move on to the finals. His opponent there will be either the now-bought-out Alexei Yashin or the man who's played in the AHL all year long, Wade Redden. The case for each after the jump.

Alexei Yashin

There isn't a whole lot to say about this deal that hasn't already been said. The Islanders will take a $2.2M cap and cash penalty over the next four seasons, and Alexei Yashin won't come close to playing a game for them. For a team like the Islanders who need to be efficient just to be competitive, that much waste is going to be difficult to overcome.

Wade Redden

With Redden buried in the minors, his contract only provides a cap penalty for the Rangers. The team would ordinarily be permitted to spend up to 10% above the cap by during the summer, but Redden's deal takes care of that and then some, which stifles the Rangers' ability in the off-season. Redden is also going to provide no value to the club over the next three years for a cost of $16.5M. I know we all like to think that some of the clubs in the NHL have unlimited resources, but I guarantee they all have budgets to meet. This deal goes a long way towards blowing one of New York's main advantages over other clubs. Would they rather have a $2.2M cap penalty to gain flexibility over the summer and have less waste? It's a tough call.

The Bracket