The Rangers were literally just slapped in the face by their arch-rivals. Just a few days after trading for 11 goal scorer Olli Jokinen, the Rangers turned around to see the Devils acquiring one of the, if not best scorers in the league in Ilya Kovalchuk. Let’s examine both Trades and see how they will Affect both teams.
The Kovalchuk trade is obviously the bigger one of the two so we’ll start with that one. It’s no secret that the Devils have never been an offense first type of team. They’ve built their team around Marty Brodeur and have put defense first. It’s worked for them for years so there’s no reason why they would stop. However adding a player of Ilya’s caliber will only benefit them. Kovalchuk is tied for 5th in the league with 31 goals and leave a team, In which he has spent his entire career in. Not only does the trade benefit the Devils but it helps Kovi too. He’s leaving a weak Atlanta team to join one of the best clubs in the conference. While doing so he’s not joining a team that polishes him in the spotlight like New York or Toronto would. Fans do not have to worry about him feeling the pressure because the fan base in NJ is not any bigger than the one in Atlanta. The only negative about this trade is the fact that Kovalchuk is on the last year of his contract and who knows if the Devils Will Be Able to re-sign him. Either way, the Devils are playing to win the cup this year and acquiring the Russian superstar will help their chance dramatically.
Olli Jokinen is not the same player that was playing in Florida a few years ago. When he joined the Flames Began his stats to drop and his reputation as a high scorer Began to fade away. With all that said, this is surprisingly a good trade for New York. They send Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik to Calgary for gates Brandon Prust and of course Jokinen. The reason the trade works for the Rangers is because of the contracts they’re getting rid of. They shipped Kotalik away who was making $ 3,000,000 dollars a year for the next 3 seasons. Jokinen will be a free agent after this season so the Rangers will have more flexibility when it comes to signing free agents. Now do not get me wrong, Jokinen is not bad player. In fact he’s an upgrade on Kotalik and Higgins but there’s no question that the Rangers made this trade because of money reasons.
Oh and by the way. The two will battle tonight in a classic Rangers-Devils match-up. Should be fun.
