Daily Recap: Rangers Trade Rozsival for Wolski; NHL 11 Rejects Trade; Callahan, Prospal Update; Zuccarello NHL Live

It is pretty obvious what the biggest story of the day around the New York Rangers was with the Rangers acquiring Wojtek Wolski from the Coyotes for Michal Rozsival.  Before I even talk about the trade and the full review of it is in the link I want to just for a moment talk about the scene that was the Rangers faithful in the moments from when the Rangers twitter account announced news was coming and the ten or so minutes until it finally came.  After the years of either bad signings or disappointing news there was this scene of collective panic, fear and suspension of breathing not even hoping for good news just hoping to avoid the horrific as that for many has become the baseline expectation of the franchise.  One coping mechanism for many was to make up ridiculous possibilities for the announcement which was quite fun and entertaining to pass some of the team and forget the fear momentarily.

When the deal was finally announced the elation for not only avoiding the dreadful news but actually getting news that excited the fans set off a mass tweeting binge that sent Wolski to the top of the worldwide trending list on twitter for a at least 45 minutes following the news.  That shows me a combination of the reach of Rangers fans and the excitement they had for the trade.

In terms of the trade itself as I said the full review is in the link, and see if it in my opinion it has the ability to make the Rangers a contender this season.  Aside from that and mentioned in there once again Glen Sather worked his magic in trades to eliminate another bad signing from the roster and bring in another young piece that can help the club.  In getting rid of Gomez he got the cap space which gave him Gaborik as well as Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko.  In eliminating Kotalik he save two more seasons at 3 million a year and got Brandon Prust.  In this move he takes a 33 year old defender and turns him into a 24 year old with first line ability while saving 1.2 million a year against the cap.  If all he did was trades Sather would be a King among Rangers fans, so someone just needs to take the checkbook away on July 1.

In a bit of hilarity @mug25 ran the trade that happened through the NHL11 video game and it got rejected.  The photo of what the game said is well worth looking at.  In response to that @LundqvistSaves ran the trade in reverse with PHX doing the offering and it got accepted.  Once again the photo showing the response is worth checking out and very accurate of what actually happened today.

NHL On the Fly actually broke down the trade very accurately so check out that analysis.

Not that it might matter much but this morning in reaction to the Frolov news I looked if the Rangers would be entering the trade market and what they should look at buying.  I thought the team would ride it out for a little bit to see if they needed to make a move before the injured guys get back, but that to contend they would have to make a move and you can tell me if the move they made met the criteria I laid out there.

Beyond trade news there was also some news from practice today as both Vinny Prospal and Ryan Callahan skated, as well as yesterday which contradicts prior reporting on the subject.  In talking with @Jimcerny he sent along this tweet:

@mleetch352 no timetable really for Callahan or Prospal...Torts said today he wants to get to All Star break & hopefully then get guys back

As I responded back while that is not a definitive timetable per say it does say to me that Torts is not expecting anyone back in the next few weeks before the break happens.  That could always change and more like to be sooner on Callahan than Prospal.

Finally Mats Zuccarello was on NHL Live this afternoon to do a phone interview gave us some funny insights into Zuke's personality.