Fans Around SB Nation React to Rangers-Flames Trade

Fans of both the New York Rangers and the Calgary Flames reacted to a major trade that has been reportedly completed by the two teams tonight. Veteran forward Olli Jokinen was sent to New York along with 25-year-old Brandon Prust in exchange for underachieving forwards Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik. While that deal may be on hold for the time being, there's no stopping the people from letting their feelings be known on the deal.

Kent Wilson at SB Nation's Flames blog Matchsticks and Gasoline had strong opinions about the new pieces on his team. On Kotalik:

Ugly stats line. Especially ugly considering his $3M contract. Kotalik is a guy who has teased GM's for years given his size, hands and cannon of shot. Truth is, he's stunk at ES for a long time. He's useful on the PP and in the shoot-out and that's about it. He has to be heavily sheltered in order to be effective.

The slight positive is: he's had some dreadful luck this year, so those counting numbers aren't quite indicative. A PDO of 93.8 is about as bad as it gets for an NHLer.

That said, Kotalik is a poor bet to be a value player considering his price and history and he's signed for another couple of years. He's a... curious player for Sutter to trade for to say the least.

And here's what Wilson had to say about Higgins:

Once upon a time, Chris Higgins was a tough minute option for the Montreal Canadiens. He's also scored more than 20+ goals a couple of times in his career.

Unfortunately, he seemed to step into an elevator shaft at some point in the near past. He hasn't been that useful for the Rangers, who originally acquired him to be a top 6 player. One part of explanation may be the percentages: his PDO is just 97 and his personal SH% is 4.5 - which is about what you'd expect from an average defenseman. That said, he's in the red in terms of possession on the Rangers and is an injury threat besides.

Again, not a guy one would expect Sutter to look at. The real good news is: if Higgins sticks around, his contract ends this year.

Over on the other side of the coin, commenters at SB Nation's Blueshirt Banter had mixed reactions. Here's a taste of some of those comments:

This trade is just flat out awesome. Jokinen is a UFA at the end of the year, so the Rangers dumped Kotalik and the $3 million contract for the next two years. Sather did a salary dump for the future and a team upgrade for this season in the same move.

I believe there is a warrant out for Glen Sather’s arrest, rape is illegal in Canada.

Hardly a brilliant trade – more like finding a compatible dance partner. Supposedly Sutter wanted Jokinen out. We need a center. They’re probably happy getting Higgins – who’ll fit that system better and may find his game again.

The best part is that Jokinen is a UFA after this season, Prust is an RFA.

This is a great deal….

I don’t know what Ollie’s problem was in Calgary…but I don’t see how he could be any worse then who’s on the squad (LOL at the Flames fans saying the same thing!!!)

I hope Sather doesn’t follow his normal pattern by following this up with a dumb trade….