Jokinen trade completed

As expected, the much discussed trade between the Flames and Rangers finally became official late last night. Following Calgary's dreadful 3-0 shutout home loss to the Flyers, the two clubs reached agreement on a four player trade that sends Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to Broadway for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik.

Rather than sound like a broken record repeating our breakdown posted previously in this space, we'll just commend Glen Sather on getting this done. Thanks in part to John Tortorella sending a message that Kotalik sucked, Slats admitted error and moved the ex-Sabre and his ugly $3 million salary/no-trade to Siberia Alberta. In doing so, he got rid of one headache. While parting with the energetic but snake bit Higgins was necessary, it allowed the struggling Smithtown native to start fresh and try to boost his value this summer. It just didn't work out here.

Adding Jokinen, whose hefty $5.25 M salary will come off the books at season's conclusion- is a good move because it fills a void at center. Whether the 31 year-old veteran can return to the All-Star form he displayed in the Sunshine state remains to be seen. But the big pivot returns to the East where he's quite familiar and should have plenty of incentive.

"It comes with the salary, you make $5 million, 11 goals isnot going to cut it," the disappointed Finn told the Canadian media.  "It's definitely a slap in the face to get traded."

"I get a chance to play with one of the better players in the league in [Marian] Gaborik."

If he can effectively team with Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, suddenly the Rangers could become a better team allowing others to take on more comfortable roles. It should relieve pressure off Chris Drury, who is better served anchoring a checking line with Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. What could the lines look like for tonight's final game out West in Hollywood? Who knows. Perhaps this might be worth a try:

Prospal-Jokinen-Gaborik
Dubinsky-Drury-Callahan
Anisimov-Christensen-Lisin
Prust-Boyle-Voros

Getting the 25 year-old Prust was a necessity, finally addressing the lack of toughness. The Rangers have repeatedly been pushed around with the Daniel Carcillo thuggery of Gaborik with nobody coming to the star winger's aid standing out. Ironically, they dropped five in a row before Gabby recorded his first hat trick as a Ranger in a 3-1 win over the Avalanche Sunday. Perhaps the presence of Prust, whose 18 fights lead the league rank right behind Zenon Konopka will deter opponents from messing with Gaborik or crashing Henrik Lundqvist's crease.

"I'm looking forward to going to the big city and playing in Madison Square Garden so I'm looking forward to it, but I'm sad to leave again," an emotional Prust expressed.

For what's been the most vanilla team you've ever seen, the Rangers just got a lot more interesting. The question is how will this new roster perform. In a mediocre East with the club that's won only once in the last six remarkably moving up into seventh due to a Florida loss last night, they have until the Olympic Break to give Sather a stronger indication of what will happen at the March 3 deadline. That's not a lot of time.

While the Blueshirts upgraded short-term, Calgary maybe setting up for a much bigger fish. Having stockpiled 13 wings, Darryl Sutter looks to be in position to make more deals. Could Ilya Kovalchuk be his primary target? Expect stiff competition from Washington, Philadelphia and LA with another mystery Eastern team sliding in. It should be fun.

For the Rangers, the fun starts later tonight.

Rumored deal with Flames could make Jokinen Blueshirt

As was reported by many outlets last night during the Rangers' win over the Avs, they were set to make a trade with the busy Flames, who earlier yesterday finally traded much rumored Dion Phaneuf to the Maple Leafs in a seven-player extravaganza that excluded picks. A rarity in the Cap Era. More on that blockbuster later along with Brian Burke reuniting with Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

With Calgary unloading Phaneuf along with former Ranger PK fixture Freddy Sjostrom plus D prospect Keith Aulie for a package that included Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and Ian White, it allowed Darryl Sutter enough maneuverability to consider dumping Olli Jokinen on our team, who desperately lacks a No.1 center. Something Joke-inen used to qualify for. With the Blueshirts having their own headache in failure Ales Kotalik, the two sides hammered out a deal that would bring Jokinen and enforcer Brandon Prust to Broadway filling two voids in exchange for Ally and Chris Higgins.

As of late last night, the deal was on hold pending Kotalik's willingness to waive his no-trade and accept a deal back to Alberta where he spent part of last year with Edmonton before agreeing to the preposterous three-year $9 million contract that Glen Savior handed out. As we noted in our game story, Larry Brooks reported that Ally left the team after hearing that he would be dealt. The story which appeared on the NY Post's site was published before the Rangers and Avs faced off with Kotalik's teammate Higgins participating in what might have been his final game of an exasperating stint after coming over in the Scott Gomez salary dump last summer.

If the trade goes through, the Rangers would rid themselves of Kotalik, who had become the odd man out in John Tortorella's lineup. Being able to find a taker for such an insane contract would be a miracle of epic proportions. As for Higgins who has never stopped working despite a severe lack of finish (6 goals), he would be on his third team in less than a year with his contract ($2.25 million) up, giving Calgary necessary space to go after Ilya Kovalchuk.Combine that with subtracting Phaneuf's hefty $6.5 million salary along with both Stajan ($1.75 M) and Mayers ($1.4 M) turning unrestricted while White (850 K) would be an RFA and the Flames just saved a ton.

For the Blueshirts, even a 31-year old Jokinen looking on the downside would be low risk due to his $5.25 million salary coming off the books this summer. The former Panther hasn't been the same since he was traded to Phoenix, who dumped him to Calgary less than a year in. It would also be his third team in a year. Though underwhelming, his 35 points (11-24-35) would rank third behind Marian Gaborik (33-32-65) and Vinny Prospal (9-30-39). Such a deal would take heat off centers Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Drury and Artem Anisimov, allowing Jokinen to play with Gaborik. Only question is what happens to waiver bargain Erik Christensen, who's meshed well with Gabby in limited duty. With Brian Boyle anchoring the fourth line, Tortorella would have more options available, balancing things out up front for a roster that's produced only 141 goals, ranking near the bottom.

All these questions are moot until it becomes official. It's too good to be true. Don't forget this is the Rangers we're talking about.