I just want to point out that I correctly predicted that once Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden were signed, Tyutin was likely the guy on the way out. Go me.

As pleased for me as you must be, you’re likely far more pleased about the fact that the Rangers just acquired forwards Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche from the Columbus Blue Jackets, in exchange for defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman.

I wasn’t happy with Glen Sather’s work yesterday, but I’m ecstatic right now. I absolutely love this trade. The Rangers gave up a decent, but underachieving defenseman in Tyutin, as well as a talented but inept blueliner that doesn’t belong in the NHL in Backman, and in return acquired a young, talented, potential 30-35 goal scorer and a serviceable young forward. That’s quite a deal.

Nikolai Zherdev, the fourth overall pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, is one of the most talented offensive players in the National Hockey League. He’s a wizard with the puck and he has a terrific shot. He’s the type of guy that’s capable of creating an end-to-end rush that…well, ends with the puck in the other team’s net before anyone can figure out what just happened. He’s young, he’s fast and he’s exciting.

That said, he does come with his fair share of flaws.

His attitude has been questioned multiple times, as has his dedication to the game. He was a training camp holdout prior to the 2006-07 season and his performance defensively has been criticized often, for good reason. He’s a cherry picker.

Right now, though, I don’t care about any of that. The New York Rangers needed an offensive player and now they got one. They got a 23-year-old whose game can still develop, and one has to hope that the smart and supportive staff that Sather and Tom Renney have compiled can have a positive impact on Zherdev. This kid has all the potential in the world and with the proper guidance, he should be able to harness it.

If there is one point of concern, it is how Renney will treat Zherdev on the ice. The biggest reason Zherdev was probably traded is because he isn’t a “Ken Hitchcock” player. Ken Hitchcock, he Blue Jackets’ head coach, has always admired gritty, two-way forwards, something that Zherdev is not.

Renney too has a preference. His is defense. We’ve seen it these last two years and we’re bound to see even more of it. Renney is all about defense, so it will be interesting to see how much freedom he allows Zherdev. Renney is a smart coach, though. I imagine he’ll find the correct balance.

Because of his defensive mindset, Renney might miss Tyutin, but I think he’ll get over it. Tyutin definitely has some likable qualities. For one, he’s physical and he’s hard-hitting. He’s also very intelligent and calm when it comes to getting the puck out of his own zone. Still, it just didn’t seem like Toots’ game was going anywhere. The Rangers had high hopes for the former second round pick, but he didn’t seem like he was ever going to achieve them. His offensive game wasn’t developing, and he wasn’t good enough defensively to be a significant shutdown defender. There’s no doubt that Tyutin had a nice chemistry with Dan Girardi, but of the two, I expect Girardi to develop into the better player, and I’m sure he can find some chemistry with Rozsival or Redden.

Additionally, I was never a fan of the contract Slats gave Tyutin. I guess the deals that guys are getting yesterday and today may prove me wrong, but I don’t think Tyutin is worth $2.84 million a season. It wasn’t a drastic overpayment, but it was overpayment. In my opinion, at least.

As for Backman…where do I even begin. I really, really dislike the way he plays. Sure, Backman has some talent offensively, but that talent rarely shines through due to his absolutely atrocious decision-making. For that short period of time that Backman wore Ranger Blue, every time he touched the puck in his own zone, I had to hold my breath. He coughed up the puck in front of his own goal more times than I can count, and when that did occur, one of two things was sure to happen next. Either the opposition scored, or Backman took a horrible penalty.

How the Blues ever gave this guy a salary of $2.3 million per year is beyond me.

I don’t even want to think about Backman anymore. Positive thoughts, positive thoughts.

All right, I’m good.

Along with Zherdev, the Rangers acquired Fritsche, a center who is currently a restricted free agent. Fritsche, almost 23, is a speedy two-way player who can chip in 10-15 goals, but he has battled shoulder injuries.

Honestly, I’m not sure where Fritsche fits in with the Rangers, as they seem more than set at center. Similarly, with the signings of Pat Rissmiller and Aaron Voros yesterday and the number of young guys in Hartford like Dane Byers and Greg Moore that seem ready to step up to the NHL, there aren’t many openings on the third and fourth lines.

The team’s plans for Fristche remain to be seen, but quite frankly, that’s rather insignificant. Zherdev is the story here.

Still, this positive transaction aside, I’m guessing the Rangers aren’t done yet. I have to imagine that another scoring forward will be brought in, though I have no earthly idea who it might be. So far, they’ve got Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Zherdev, Fritsche, Petr Prucha, Nigel Dawes, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Blair Betts, Freddy Sjostrom, Rissmiller, Voros, Colton Orr, Ryan Hollweg, Lauri Korpikoski, Greg Moore and Dane Byers. First of all, obviously not all of those guys will make the team, but those are the possibilities.

Second of all, though, they need some more experience there. There’s a lot of young guys in that group and I’d be shocked if at least one, if not two more veterans were brought in.

Jaromir Jagr and Mats Sundin are still possibilities, as are Pavol Demitra and Markus Naslund. Other names include Kristian Huselius, Ladislav Nagy and Miroslav Satan. I hope it’s Jagr or Sundin, as none of the other free agents are very appealing, but we’ll see. Maybe they make another deal.

On the blueline, the defense is taking shape with Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi, but that leaves two spots. The team signed minor league defenseman Brian Fahey today, and for what it’s worth, “rumor king” Eklund claims that Fahey, who spent the last few seasons with the Chicago Wolves, one of the AHL’s best teams. is going to play in the NHL next year because he is highly underrated.

Whether it’s Fahey or Tomas Pock or Bobby Sanguinetti or Corey Potter or another defenseman from Hartford, I think one of them is going to grab one of those two spots. I don’t think Paul Mara or Marek Malik will be re-signed, which means there’s still one spot. I think it’ll be filled through another signing.

My guess, the Rangers will sign former Oilers captain Jason Smith, who spent last year with the Philadelphia Flyers. There’s nothing to this, it’s just a hunch.

But remember, I was right about Toots.

While the focus of my efforts here is to analyze and discuss the NHL through a Ranger-tinted lens, I’d be remiss if I neglected to touch upon some of the draft’s other big stories, though most didn’t have much of an impact on the Rangers.

There were 13 trades in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, far and away a record. The most notable of these was between the Florida Panthers and Phoenix Coyotes.

1) The Jokinen Trade

Phoenix General Manager Don Maloney, formerly a player and assistant general manager with the Blueshirts, pulled off what most are calling a “steal” by acquiring center Olli Jokinen in exchange for defensemen Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and the Coyotes’ 2nd round pick, which Florida used to select defenseman Colby Robak.

Jokinen’s name has been at the center of NHL trade rumors for at least two years, so it’s a relief to finally see this saga conclude. When the deal was announced, many were caught off-guard not only because the team that acquired him was Phoenix (the rumors always centered around teams like Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Minnesota trying to get their hands on Jokinen), but because the return for him is perceived as being very small.

Although Ballard and Boynton are pretty solid defensemen, they are not the star players most anticipated would go the other way in a Jokinen deal. In my eyes, however, this deal didn’t come as much of a shock at all. Sure, I may not have guessed that Jokinen would go to Phoenix, but the return for him is no shock by any means.

Olli Jokinen is a solid player, a good player, but he’s not a superstar. A lot of people believe he’s an elite player, but two 90-point seasons are not enough to convince me. I like Jokinen, I think he’s a good player, I think for his production (and reputation), his $5 million dollar cap hit is very affordable, but I also see Jokinen as being perhaps the most overrated player in the league.

No NHL player has as many regular season points without a playoff victory. In fact, it’s not even close. Jokinen isn’t a winner, he puts up points but he doesn’t do much to make his club a better team aside from that. He’s a –73 player for his career.

Good deal for Phoenix, as they now have a number of pieces offensively, including Jokinen, Shane Doan, Martin Hanzal, Kyle Turris and Peter Mueller, to build around. Just don’t be shocked that Jokinen brought back so little in return.

2) The 3-Way Deal

I like this trade for each team involved. The Kings’ offense can survive the loss of Mike Cammalleri, who had high salary demands in his sights, while the draft pick they got they used to select a solid young defenseman, Colton Teubert. Calgary, on the other hand, got themselves a talented offensive player in a contract year in Cammalleri, allowing them to unload Alex Tanguay’s salary to Montreal, while still coming out of the draft with a first round pick. As for Anaheim, they were able to trade down a couple of times and re-stock their organizational depth with some solid prospects. Drafting Nicolas Deschamps in the 2nd round was a great pick.

I like Cammalleri’s style of play, and even though the word is he’s a me-first type of guy, he’ll probably play lights-out next season with unrestricted free agency on the horizon.

3) Tanguay to Montreal

I like this deal for the Canadiens. Let’s face it, this team has a tough time signing free agents. Tanguay isn’t an elite player, but he’s a pretty good one and he’ll fit in with the type of players Montreal has. He’s a skilled playmaker and he’s fun to watch, too. They could have still gotten a pretty solid prospect with the 25th pick, but this team is deep in terms of prospects and wants to win now, so this deal makes sense.

4) Umberger dealt to Columbus

It’s so easy to hate the Flyers when they pull of trades like this.

Philly desperately needs the cap room to re-sign Jeff Carter, so they trade a solid 2nd liner in Umberger to Columbus and essentially get a mid-round 1st in a deep draft. That’s not half bad. They picked up Luca Sbisa with the picl, who should be a solid defenseman down the road.

This wasn’t a very good deal for the Blue Jackets, but I understand why General Manager Scott Howson agreed to it. Columbus isn’t exactly a prime destination for free agents, either, while Umberger went to school at Ohio State and has a good relationship with Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, previously of the Flyers.

Umberger is a nice player and does fill a hole for Columbus, but they could have gotten more for that pick, in my eyes.

5) Islanders and Devils Trade Down

The Islanders and Devils both had pretty good drafts. While I think the Islanders should have used the 5th overall pick to select Nikita Filatov, the player they really need, I understand why they traded down and picked Josh Bailey. They traded down twice and collected some extra picks that allowed them to get quite the haul in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

While Bailey might have been a bit of a reach at #9, the Isles managed to pick up talented prospects like Corey Trivino and Aaron Ness in the 2nd round, and David Toews (brother of Chicago’s Jonathan), Jyri Niemi and Kirill Petrov in the third.

If the Fishsticks are right about Bailey, then they could be the big winners of this draft, as at least some of those other prospects should develop into really good players.

The Devils, meanwhile, traded down a couple of times and still got a great player in Mattias Tedenby with the 24th pick. I explained in my last post how I hoped that the Rangers would select the crafty Swede, so I guess it’s only fitting that he goes to New Jersey. Figures.

In the optional skate, all players, but Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, Henrik Lundqvist, Michael Nylander and Sean Avery took to the ice. And that included Michal Rozsival. Although Tom Renney said he will dress seven defensemen for the warmup and then decide, smart money says he plays. Now will he be on the ice for 23 minutes? That’s anyones guess and also how effective will he be?

“That’s the question,” Renney said. “He felt to me that he felt good this morning. He’s an important guy for us, but do you sacrifice a guy now for later?”

Either way, the Rangers will play a game tonight, much to the chagrin of the Canadian media, who seem to feel they should just forfeit. The key tonight is not only the Matt Cullen line, but also the Blair Betts fourth line. 

Since Buffalo can score from with any of their forwards, it’s key for Betts, with Ryan Hollweg and Jed Ortmeyer, to generate some sort of offensive threat.

The coach is hoping for the effort. “It depends on how you qualify offense?” Renney said. “In terms of getting pucks deep and in from a territorial position, they are critical. Those guys can score too. It’s not going to be a pretty goal but it’s the type of goal that pumps up your bench because of the role they play. I would like to see them among other play the type of game they can.”

Added Blair Betts: “The more we can be out there and bang the body to create energy for our team the better.”

All three of those fourth liners can score and if they do, the rest of the team usually follows suit. Earlier in the season against Tampa Bay, when Colton Orr and Hollweg lit the lamp, Jagr compared it to when a lineman scores a touchdown in football. Smiles usually happen all around.

This is not to say the Betts line needs to score, but if they can keep the puck on the offensive end, it will make it easier for the other three lines to do their jobs.

Other notes: Sean Avery was asked by Sam Rosen if he had to behave because his mother will be in the attendance. Avery answered: “She likes it when I am behaving poorly; she’s used to it by now.”

I know everyone in New York was concerned about this: Tonight’s Sabres rally outside of HSBC Arena will have beer served. So maybe they will get more of a crowd.

Stay tuned to The Blueshirt Scene for live updates during the game.