Ales Kotalik didn’t travel with the Rangers to face the Avalanche on Sunday night. That brought speculation that he would be dealt in the near future. Turns out that may very well be true as the Rangers are close to landing Finnish center Olli Jokinen.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Kotalik along with Chris Higgins will be sent to Calgary for Jokinen and Brandon Prust. Jokinen currently has 11 goals and 24 assists in 55 games with the Flames. Kotalik had been scratched in 8 of the last 9 games and has tallied eight goals and 14 assists on the season. Chris Higgins had a measly six goals and eight assists through 54 games. Prust is mostly a tough guy and has tallied 98 penalty minutes versus five points and 23 shots in 42 games.
The deal gives the Rangers more flexibility by unloading the Kotalik’s contract with two years still left. Jokinen is a quality player and he might thrive with the Rangers. If he doesn’t, New York won’t really have a problem letting him walk when his contract expires after the season. Trading for Jokinen may be a sign that the Rangers want to try Brandon Dubinsky at wing. Jokinen is currently the only Scandinavian skater on the Rangers’ roster. Glen Sather could go a long way to redeeming himself if he can also manage to deal Wade Redden or Michael Rozsival.
Tags: ales kotalik, brandon prust, calgary flames, christopher higgins, darryl sutter, glen sather, hockey, new york rangers, NHL, olli jokinen, trades
sweeden is considered part of Scandinavian so acuatually he would be the second player form Scandinavian (hendrick lundquiest) but he would be the only Scandinavian foward
Good call. I meant Scandinavian skater. In any case, it's already updated because got called out on that via IM by another one of our writers.