Rangers Acquire Olli Jokinen

The Rangers are in the process of finalizing a deal with the Calgary Flames, a deal that would see Olli Jokinen come to Broadway in exchange for Ales Kotalik and one of Christopher Higgins or Matt Gilroy. More details to come.

Update 10:22pm: Matt Gilroy will not be involved in the deal.

Update 10:25pm:The final deal will be Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins to Calgary for Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust.

Update 10:30pm: This is a fantastic trade. The best-case scenario for the Rangers in terms of buying at the deadline.

The Rangers have successfully filled two glaring holes in their lineup, they added a lot of toughness in Prust, who is a much better fighter than Aaron Voros, and added some much needed scoring in Jokinen. Going over to Calgary are two players that have fallen out of grace in NY. The loss of Higgins is going to be felt more than people realize, but the addition of Jokinen is definitely worth it.

In terms of salary cap, Jokinen is a UFA at the end of the season, so the Rangers will be clearing his $5.25 million cap hit. Brandon Prust is a RFA, but makes the league minimum. In terms of net value, the Rangers will be netting $3 million in cap space by dealing Kotalik.

This is a fantastic deal. I absolutely love it.

Update 11:30pm: Trade won’t be announced tonight, Calgary is holding up the deal. I would assume they want more for Jokinen.

Game 55: Rangers at Avalanche

The Rangers are back at it, although the game seems to be taking a back seat, with the news of the the Kotalik trade.

OPPONENT: Avalanche

RECORD: 30-17-6

LEADING SCORER: Paul Statsny,  11-37-48

GOALIE: Craig Anderson, 2.45 GAA and a .920 save percentage

RANGERS LINES:

Vinny Prospal-Erik Christensen-Marian Gaborik
Sean Avery-Brandon Dubinsky-Christopher Higgins
Brian Boyle-Chris Drury-Ryan Callahan
Enver Lisin-Artem Anisimov-Aaron Voros

Hank is still sick. Chad Johnson back in net.

STATE OF THE BLUESHIRTS: Interesting, now that there could be a Kotalik trade. We’ll see what they get in return. Last night’s game featured a slow start, a triumphant rally, only to fall short. A fast start would be nice tonight. Maybe the Kotalik trade will get ‘em going. I don’t know. We shall see.

CRAZY THOUGHT: Dos Nueve pitches a shutout.

ON THE iPOD: Layla, Derek and The Dominoes

FINAL PREDICTION: Rangers 2, Avs 0

So, watch, discuss, have fun. LET’S GO RANGERS!!!

Kotalik (To Be) Traded

Larry Brooks is reporting that Ales Kotalik has been traded. Details to come. will be traded.

Hank Out Tonight

As per Andrew Gross’s twitter, Chad Johnson will get the start again tonight, as Henrik Lundqvist will be out with a stomach flu for the second game in a row.

Update 7:00pm: Ales Kotalik and Donald Brashear are scratched again. Strong trade rumors swirling, as there was a 35 minute delay for Tortorella’s pregame press conference.

Two Options

First, I would like to apologize for falling off the face of the Earth last week. Work got in the way.

With the Rangers loss last night against Phoenix, our beloved Blueshirts dropped to an even .500, losing five in a row, and to the #12 seed. Of course, two points separates #12 from #6, but the Rangers are still on the outside looking in as of this afternoon. With every upcoming game until the Olympic break against playoff bound teams (save for Tampa), this run of losing doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

With Glen Sather being on the record as a buyer at the deadline, the Rangers really have two options:

The first, and probably the better option, is to play out these seven games before the break, and see where the Rangers stand.

Should the Rangers spin off a solid record, say 5-2, then most of us will have no problems if the Rangers look to make some minor deals to patch some holes, such as Ray Whitney. Sather, of course, should not be looking to make any major deals that would sacrifice the depth in the system. Prospects like Ryan McDonagh, Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Evgeny Grachev, and most of the current young roster player should be strictly off limits. However, considering the depth of the system, guys like Tomas Kundratek, who have promise but are buried by better prospects, or Michael Sauer who have no place in a Tortorella system, are expendable.

Of course, should the Rangers continue their losing ways, then they should be sellers. Vinny Prospal can fetch a decent return, comparable to what Ray Whitney should fetch. Christopher Higgins can get something, probably a mid-round pick.

Then there is the second option, which is to jump start the trading and make a splash now. The Flames and Rangers have been scouting each other, and with Dion Phaneuf off the market, it’s safe to assume that the scouts have been looking at other players, or that any deal is now dead. The Rangers and Thrashers aren’t really good trading partners, and with the limited cap space, any dreams of Kovalchuk to the Rangers are just dreams.

I don’t really see the second option as viable right now, especially with the Rangers in the tail spin that they are currently in. Management should be taking a long, hard look at this team, and see if band-aids can really help this team go far in the playoffs. The only way they can get this long look is by waiting out the next seven games, and see where the team stands at the break.

Wait and see is the best approach. No rash decisions. Boy, the next two weeks are going to be painful.

Phaneuf, Giguere to Toronto

Toronto GM Brian Burke has continued with the shake up in Toronto, landing two center pieces to compliment Phil Kessel. In separate deals, Burke landed stud defenseman Dion Phaneuf (with former Ranger Frederick Sjostrom and Keith Aulie) in exchange for Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers, and Ian White. In the second deal, Toronto acquired Jean-Sebastian Giguere from Anaheim in exchange for Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake.

This means one thing to Rangers fans, that the Flames/Rangers rumors never included Phaneuf. They are most likely centered around a cheaper alternative to secondary scoring, someone like Craig Conroy. I have pipe dreams of Rene Bourque, but I don’t see this happening.

With these two major dominoes falling, expect a flurry of activity before the roster freeze, and expect the Rangers to be involved (more on that coming later).

Game 54: Rangers At Coyotes

Our beloved Blueshirts travel to the Southwest, hoping beyond hope to score, and maybe, just maybe, win.

OPPONENT: Southwest Rangers (Coyotes)

RECORD: 31-18-5

LEADING SCORER: Shane Doan, 16-23-39

GOALIE: Ilya Bryzgalov, 2.35 GAA and a .920 save percentage

RANGERS LINES:

Ryan Callahan-Vinny Prospal-Marian Gaborik

Brandon Dubinsky-Erik Christensen-Chris Drury

Chris Higgins-Artem Anisimov-Enver Lisin

Sean Avery-Brian Boyle-Aaron Voros

Hank has the flu, so Chad Johnson gets the start.

STATE OF THE BLUESHIRTS: I contemplated writing “State of the Blue-’shits’, but after realizing that this a family blog, I decided against. (Yes, I know I did actually write out the curse word, so the family blog stuff is not really an excuse. But, I digress). The Rangers suck right now. Really suck. Can’t score. Can’t win. Don’t really feel like competing. Gaborik hasn’t scored in awhile, and you can see how bad this team is when he’s not producing. I’m not sure how they’ll play tonight. Maybe they’ll come out hard, and put some shots in the back of the net. Or maybe they’ll get blown out of the water. Who knows. The problem with this team is consistency. We don’t know what team is going to show up.

CRAZY THOUGHT: Gaborik scores (and you can tell the team is really floundering when your best player scoring a goal is a crazy thought)

ON THE iPOD:  Careless, Amos Lee

FINAL PREDICTON: ‘Yotes 4, Rangers 1

So, watch, discuss, have fun. LET’S GO RANGERS!!!!

Avery-isms

As part of my other venture with Stalking Steve Phillips, I penned an article with some good Sean Avery quotes. We Ranger fans love Avery and his antics, and these quotes are pretty solid. Check out the article here.

Consistently Inconsistent

This post is not a reaction to yet another terrible loss.

There are many problems with this Rangers team. Most have been discussed already. When a team has this many holes, but this level of underachieving talent, they are bound to be streaky. That is the story of the Rangers, a .500 hockey club, that will spin off several wins in a row, then come crashing back down to Earth. Let’s look at these streaks:

• 10/3-10/17: Rangers win seven in a row, are anointed as the best team in the NHL.
• 10/19-10/30: Rangers lose five of six, crash back down to Earth.
• 11/27-12/16: After a month of roughly .500 hockey, Rangers lose eight games (two in OT/SO) out of nine.
• 12/17-1/12: Rangers have their best streak of the season, going 8-1-4 over 13 games, collecting 20 out of a possible 26 points. Rangers jump from out of the playoffs to the #6 seed.
• 1/14-1/27: Rangers drop six of eight, including four shutouts.

Every fan who has watched this team can pick out what went right and what went wrong during these streaks, but it all comes down to consistency. The consistent thing about the Rangers are that they are inconsistent and streaky.

The Rangers have eight games left before the Olympic break. Seven are against teams currently in the playoffs, and all eight are against teams in the playoff race (Tampa Bay is one point behind the Rangers for the #8 seed). If they are going to start another winning streak, they are going to have to do it against the elite.

Game 53: Rangers vs Hurricanes

The Rangers are back it again, hoping to score, and maybe, get a win.

OPPONENT: Hurricanes

RECORD: 16-28-7

LEADING SCORER: Ray Whitney 16-23-39

GOALIE: Cam Ward, 2.82 GAA and a .910 save percentage

RANGERS LINES:

Vinny Prospal-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik
Sean Avery-Chris Drury-Ryan Callahan
Christopher Higgins-Artem Anisimov-Enver Lisin
Ales Kotalik-Brian Boyle-Aaron Voros

My guess is that Brashear sits. Just a guess though. Hank in net.

STATE OF THE BLUESHIRTS: Sucky. After a 14 goal output, 2 in the past 3 games. Yes, you read that right. It’s simple: The Rangers need to find scoring. Someway, somehow. And I have no idea if they will find it.

CRAZY THOUGHT: Kotalik gets a PP goal

ON THE iPOD: Free Bird, Lynyrd Skynyrd

FINAL PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Rangers 1

So, watch, discuss, have fun. LET’S GO RANGERS!!!