Christmas in July!

This will be brief, as most of my writing time has been devoted to my research-following blog (located here).

But to recap some very exciting Blueshirts news...

Yesterday, the Rangers managed to trade off Scott Gomez and his largely inflated salary, along with Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto, to Montreal in exchange for Chris Higgins, top organizational D-prospect Ryan McDonagh, and gifted Russian D-man Pavel Valentenko.

The deal opened up a ton of cap space for the Rangers, and also shipped two blue chip prospects their way. At least right now, it looks like a landslide win for the Rangers, though Gomez may be a better fit in Montreal. If so, the Habs get a very talented playmaker with great vision and excellent skating.

Today, the Rangers lost Colton Orr to the Leafs, but then signed Donald Brashear away from the Capitals. Nothing too major here, one tough guy out for another (though I prefer Orr by leaps and bounds to Brashear).

The biggest news is just being reported: Marian Gaborik to the Rangers, 5 years at $5.25 million/year.

This is a steal for the Blueshirts. A legitimate 1st line scoring threat, the first the Rangers have had since Jagr. If he can stay healthy (definitely not a guarantee), the Rangers made an incredible signing. My hope is that his injury history results from poor physical conditioning. If that's the case, Tortorella and the staff will turn him around quickly. This offseason is supposed to be a tough one in New York, and I think Gaborik will benefit from it.

For now, that's all that's floating around. The Rangers did submit an offer sheet to Nikolai Zherdev, keeping him a restricted free agent. Callahan and Dubinsky haven't received offers from the team yet. Chris Neil may come to Broadway. Otherwise, it's been quiet - especially for an offseason with so much available talent.

We'll see what the next few months hold. More to come I hope.