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According to Darren Dreger
of TSN the New York Rangers have traded Michal Rozsival to the Phoenix Coyotes
for Wojtek Wolski. . The move will save the Rangers 1.2 million
against the cap this season and bring in an extremely talented if underperforming
forward to give the Rangers another push as they look to rise to the ranks of
contender. Wolksi, 24, has six goals and
ten assists in 36 games this season for the Coyotes after having a breakout
year last year in which he posted a line of 23-42-65 in 80 games. The Rangers are obviously hoping that Wolski responds as he did to his trade last season when he had 18 points in 18 games after being dealt from Colorado to Phoenix last year. Wolski will be available for the Rangers when they take on Montreal tomorrow night.
All day there has been trade
talk surrounding the Rangers with their vast assortment of injuries with the
latest being Alex Frolov out for the year with a knee injury. To turn the disappointment that has been
Frolov into the talent that is Wolski is beyond the scope of what many would
let themselves imagine especially for only surrendering Rozsival. This is a brilliant move by the much maligned
Glen Sather who once again has found a way to correct a free agent contract
mistake though the trade market. Wolski
has one year remaining on his deal at 3.8 million against the cap, but to
compare that to the 5 million that Rozsival was due to count it only makes the
deal look better. A little over a month
ago I pondered
what a Wolski move would be like for the Rangers when there were first
rumblings that he could be on the market.
The biggest thing that the Rangers have been lacking is secondary
scoring and elite talent and Wolski has the potential to bring both of those
things in droves.
From the Coyotes perspective
they receive a veteran defender to merge into their core and will save 800K in
salary next season. Rozsival has three
goals and 12 assists in 32 games so far this season for the Rangers. There is a familiarity there for Maloney with
Rozsival from his time in New York and he has the ability when healthy to eat
up minutes. The have to be concerns
about his healthy considering he has missed the last two games with a rib issue
and missed nine earlier this season with a shoulder and knee issue.
You have to consider that a move
like this is likely the result of the relationship between Maloney and Sather
due to their frequent trade partnerships and could be a piece that pushes the
Rangers forward to another level. I
would have expected a move for Wolski to come at a much steeper price than this
given his age, contract status and skill level.
This move gives the Rangers another toy to wind up and go play with
Marian Gaborik in an attempt to get him into full gear this season. The move is not without risk as he is having a down season, but when you have the ability to get the combination of size, speed and skill you take that every time for this price. Playing the skill of Wolski and Gaborik with
the skill and physicality of Anisimov gives the Rangers a tremendous amount of
potential and only makes the team deeper when Ryan Callahan returns from
injury. To this point in the season the
Rangers have been a pleasant surprise, but now with the addition of young
talent to go with all the homegrown talent that is emerging the Rangers have to
now be considered a team to truly contend with in the Eastern Conference.
