New York Rangers Make Two Roster Moves
The New York Rangers announced a trade and signing Monday, acquiring Mika Zibanejad from the Ottawa Senators for Derick Brassard and signing Robin Kovacs.
The New York Rangers have had a quieter offseason than many people thought they would. With an aging roster and declining performance, many people thought the Rangers would be active trying to add new pieces and shuffle things around.
That had not yet come to fruition, as the Rangers were basically nonexistent in the early going of free agency. But, on Monday, the Rangers made two separate moves to add some new faces to the team.
It was announced Monday that the Rangers had made a trade with the Ottawa Senators, acquiring Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick in exchange for Derick Brassard and a seventh round pick in 2018. This is an interesting deal for both teams, as both Zibanejad and Brassard are coming off career years, but one player is being paid almost double the other. Also, Zibanejad is only 23-years old, compared to the 28-year old Brassard.
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Zibanejad, who was selected by the Senators sixth overall in the 2011 NHL Draft, will make $2.62 million this season before hitting restricted free agency following the 2016-17 season. Brassard, whom the Rangers acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013 in a deal involving Marian Gaborik, is signed through the 2018-19 season and will earn $5 million annually.
Zibanejad has seen his goals, assists and points increase every season that he has been in the NHL, finishing last season with 21 goals, 30 assists and 51 total points. The Rangers are hoping that is a trend that continues and that Zibanejad can set career-highs across the board again next season
Zibanejad will also give the Rangers a player that gets things done when it matters most. He is successful during shootouts, scoring on 13 of 28 attempts, five of which were game winners. He also led the Senators in game-winning goals, faceoff wins, and faceoffs taken, and was important to their penalty kill; he ranked third on the team spending 1:24 on the ice during short-handed situations.
In Brassard, the Rangers will be losing a 27-goal scorer and someone that finished second on the team with 58 points. He was also durable, appearing in 80 games last season, the third consecutive season that he has played in at least 80 regular season games.
In addition to the trade, the Rangers announced that they had signed forward Robin Kovacs to an entry-level contract. General manager Jeff Gorton announced the deal on Monday.
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Kovacs was selected in the third round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Rangers, and performed well with AIK IF of Allsvenskan in Sweden. The 19-year old appeared in 44 games this past season, registering 21 goals and 13 assists. In his career with the team, Kovacs finished with 38 goals and 24 assists in 92 games.