Rumors are just rumors and this is nothing more than that.

1. An interesting communique out of New Jersey lays out a plan in which the Devils would ultimately – or hopefully – wind up signing Igor Shesterkin.

2. Nick Villano wrote the piece with a subhead that read: THERE IS A WORLD WHERE THE DEVILS COULD TARGET FREE AGENT SHESTERKIN.

3. Wasting absolutely no time, The Maven shoppied this bit of quasi-fantasy over to my Chief Devils analyst Noam Kogen who shot it down with logical Salary Cap bullets.

4. “Based on Cap trends,” says Kogen, “the Devils wouldn’t have Cap room to fit Shesterkin and a $12 million per season Cap hit.”

5. Don’t laugh, it’s possible – though not probable – that Shesty could wind up pricing himself out of the NHL and wind up back in Mother Russia warbling “The Song Of The Volga Boatmen.”

6. Still in confounding cases such as this, I must obtain a second opinion. I got one from ex- NJ-1 Emmy Award-winner George Falkowski. He’s covered the Devils for years and chuckled loudly after hearing the report.

7. “I love a good hockey conspiracy theory,” says Gorgeous George, “and this might be the best of all. All it will do is send Rangers fans running straight to their ATM machines!”

8. Kidding aside, Falkowski notes that NJ Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald still has to extend Luke Hughes’ contract. “Fitz also still has Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton all earning more than $8 million.

9. “I don’t see how Fitz can do it and keep a competitive roster overall.” Then, a pause: “But Fitz has surprised us more than once, so let’s see.”

10. Here’s one for the “Go Figure Department”: The Rangers and Maple Leafs annually are the two richest teams in the NHL. The Rangers last won The Stanley Cup in 1994 and the Leafs in 1967.

11. Translated. That makes it a 67-year wait for Torontonians and 40 for New Yorkers. Two Cups over 107 years; INSANE!

12. If you think that’s odd, try this one on for crazy-size. Defenseman Wally Stanowski played for four Leafs Cup winners from 1942 through 1948. Then he was traded to the Rangers and over a three-year span as a New Yorker he won no Cups.

13. After Stanowski retired he told me that he enjoyed playing for the Rangers more than the Leafs.

14. If there was an award for “Most Intriguing Ranger,” The Maven’s vote would go to Jimmy (HandyMan) Vesey.

15. He’s listed as “Fourth Left Wing” but is a lot better than that. (Or, is he? Well, I think so.)

16. One subdued side melodrama of training camp will center around Filip Chytil’s medical report.

17. It would seem as if the Rangers medical department will have to clear him before he can play again. I doubt that it will happen but there’s still a chance that they’ll recommend against his playing.