SportsLine wire reports

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers did not get their man Tuesday, but they still became the first NHL team to dip into the free agent market by signing left wing Valeri Kamensky and defenseman Stephane Quintal.

Terms of the deals were undisclosed.

Kamensky, 33, collected $1.9 million from the Colorado Avalanche last season and likely received considerably more from the free-spending Rangers. In 1998-99, he averaged .68 points per game, which would have ranked third on his new team.

Quintal earned $900,000 last season with the Montreal Canadiens. He played in all 82 games but had a poor plus-minus rating (minus-24) on a team that finished 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 32-39-11 record, two points behind the Rangers. The 30-year-old totaled eight goals and 19 assists.

NEW YORK REPORTEDLY IS A frontrunner for one of the league's most prized unrestricted free agents -- Colorado right wing Theo Fleury. The asking price could be in the neighborhood of $8 million a season.

The Rangers missed the playoffs for the second consecutive campaign, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference with 77 points, and lost the NHL's greatest player -- Wayne Gretzky -- to retirement.

Like many NHL teams, New York struggled to score last season and now looks for help from Kamensky. The Russian averaged 27 goals from 1995-1998 before suffering from injuries last season.

He missed the last 15 games of the regular season with a broken forearm, finishing with 14 goals and 30 assists in 65 contests, but provided an offensive spark upon returning in the Western Conference semifinals.

Kamensky finished with four goals and five assists in 10 postseason games as the Avalanche suffered a seven-game conference final loss to Dallas. He has 60 career points in 65 playoff games, helping Colorado to the 1996 Stanley Cup.

Kamensky, who spent his first eight seasons with the Colorado-Quebec Nordiques franchise, has 166 goals and 248 assists in 460 regular season games.

Quintal, 6-foot-3, 228 pounds, gives the Rangers a much needed presence on the blue line. Brian Leetch is one of the best defensemen in the league but the team lacks other steadying influences.

Peter Popovic posted five points and a minus-14 rating in 68 games and fellow veteran Jeff Beukeboom was plagued by a devastating concussion, which could force him into early retirement.

Leetch, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, and Mathieu Schneider, a restricted free agent, would provide the team with a quality 1-2 punch on the power play. Quintal's 27 points were seven fewer than Schneider's total.

Fleury, who had 40 goals and 93 assists last season for Colorado and Calgary, remains New York's top target. With Gretzky's retirement, the Rangers lack a superstar scoring attraction.

The NHL's free agency period began July 1.