New York Rangers: White Flag From Slats, With A Tin Lining

If the Jokinen/Prust for Kotalik/Higgins deal goes through - and that’s a big if, you might wonder how this deal helps either New York or Calgary. The name of the game is Admit You Made a Mistake, And Dump Salary. Sather and Sutter are ready to play.

This is the way you play:

First you make a horrible sports management decision and sign an underachieving player to a multi-year contract. Then realizing how badly you screwed up, you deal that player for another high-priced underachiever - provided that high-priced underachiever has a contract that expires at the end of the season. If the player helps you...fine. If he doesn’t, you can release him to free agency anyway. It’s a best case scenario for a player that you know you couldn’t get anything good for in a trade.

Calgary gets: Higgins will either help and get re-signed, or he will drop into the free agent market, opening up $2.25M in the salary cap. Kotalik may or may not help the Flames. What Calgary does gain from this is a player with two years and change left on his contract, instead of Jokinen who would’ve probably become a free agent at the end of the year. Calgary also immediately sheds $500K from their salary cap total.

New York gets: Jokinen who will either help or not. If he helps, they may choose to re-sign him. If he doesn’t the Rangers will release him into free agency and will immediately clear $5.25M in salary cap room. Prust not only provides youth, but perhaps will add the toughness that Voros and Brashear failed to consistently provide this year. If Prust makes it on Broadway, it will be the tin lining of the storm cloud that is the Rangers salary cap situation. If Prust is a wash, he can be released to free agency at the end of the season clearing $500K in the salary cap.