Sport-scan daily brief

Coach Jack Capuano was impressed with Lee's debut, saying, "I thought overall he played well, got pucks to the net, went to the net hard. I was pleased with his game."

Lee expects to be involved in the playoff push. "These guys are battling," he said. "They're right there. We're all trying to keep that going, keep the wins coming. Whatever part it is, I'm willing to do it."

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Andrey Pedan signed a three-year, entry-level deal. He was sent to Bridgeport.

Newsday LOADED: LOADED: 04.04.2013

667845 New York Rangers

Trade Deadline Day: Rangers Send Gaborik to Columbus

By JEFF Z. KLEIN

As the N.H.L. trading deadline at 3 p.m. approached, the Rangers blew up their lineup, trading forward Marian Gaborik to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, the Rangers will receive three relatively obscure players: forwards Derick Brassard and Derek Dorsett and defenseman John Moore. Dorsett is out indefinitely with a broken collarbone.

Gaborik scored 41 goals for the Rangers last season and 42 three seasons ago, his first with the team, who acquired him as a free agent at the express request of Coach John Tortorella. But Gaborik scored only 9 goals in 35 games this season as the Rangers’ offense sputtered, dropping to last in the league in goals per game.

At the start of the season, the Rangers were believed to have a fearsome attack, with Gaborik, Brad Richards and Rick Nash, the 35-goal scorer they acquired from Columbus over the summer.

“You always hear rumors – that’s just the way it is,” Gaborik said at practice Tuesday, the last time he talked to reporters as a Ranger, when asked how it felt to be the subject of trade rumors. “You can’t control it, so you just try to focus on practice today and the game tomorrow. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.

“You hear obviously the rumors, but you can’t control what’s going to happen and you can’t let it distract you,” he said. “My job is to play for Rangers.”

In exchange for Gaborik, who has scored 333 goals and 333 assists for 666 points in 757 games over 12 seasons with the Rangers and the Minnesota Wild, General Manager Glen Sather acquired three players with low offensive production, one of whom is known for fighting. Gaborik had 393 penalty minutes.

Dorsett was the Blue Jackets’ alternate captain. He has 27 goals, 38 assists for 65 points and 727 penalty minutes in 280 N.H.L. games. He has fought 74 times in the N.H.L.

Brassard had 58 goals and 111 assists for 169 points in 308 N.H.L. games, and 184 penalty minutes.

Moore has 2 goals and 6 assists for 8 points and 10 penalty minutes in 86 career N.H.L. games.

The Gaborik trade was the highest-profile move of deadline day, which started slowly. Here are the deals that unfolded throughout the day.

New York Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667846 New York Rangers

Rangers Deal Gaborik to Columbus

By JEFF Z. KLEIN

Published: April 4, 2013

Seventeen deals involving 30 players were made before Wednesday’s N.H.L. trading deadline, and among the biggest was the Rangers’ trade of Marian Gaborik, a three-time 40-goal scorer, and two prospects to the Columbus Blue Jackets for three relatively obscure players and a late-round draft choice.

In exchange for the 31-year-old Gaborik, the Rangers acquired forwards Derick Brassard and Derek Dorsett, defenseman John Moore and a sixth-round pick in the 2014 draft.

The Rangers also sent the minor league defensemen Steven Delisle and Blake Parlett to the Blue Jackets.

“I was surprised,” Gaborik said in an interview with the Canadian sports network TSN. “It’s a new challenge for me. I enjoyed my time in New York, but when somebody really wants you and somebody tries to trade for you, it’s good.”

Gaborik, a soft-spoken Slovakian wing with blazing speed and a strong wrist shot, scored 41 goals last season in leading the Rangers to the best record in the Eastern Conference.

He had off-season shoulder surgery and started slowly this year, scoring nine goals in 35 games. His slump was part of a teamwide offensive collapse. Entering Wednesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Rangers were averaging a league-worst 2.26 goals a game.

“We have a great team on paper, a lot of talented guys; we couldn’t execute scoring goals, and the power play hasn’t been great,” Gaborik said.

Gaborik was often benched by Coach John Tortorella or relegated to the third line. He and Tortorella had an up-and-down relationship, with Tortorella expressing deep frustration with Gaborik or praising him lavishly.

Soon after joining the Rangers during the 2008-9 season, Tortorella lobbied to sign Gaborik as a free agent. Glen Sather, the club’s president and general manager, accomplished that before the 2009-10 season.

But last season, with the Rangers trailing by a goal during the third period of Game 2 of the conference finals against the Devils, Tortorella benched Gaborik for making a defensive error.

“On the second goal, I didn’t get the puck out, I guess,” Gaborik said. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him.”

On Wednesday, Tortorella said there was no friction between him and Gaborik.

“Gabby and I have a great relationship,” Tortorella said. “No matter what’s going on with him, he’s a good man. I’ll tell you right now, I’ll miss him.”

Dorsett, 26, was the Blue Jackets’ alternate captain, but he is out for the season with a broken collarbone. He has 27 goals, 38 assists and 727 penalty minutes in 280 games. He has also been involved in 74 fights.

Brassard, 25, has 58 goals, 111 assists and 184 penalty minutes in 308 games. He was a first-round draft choice in 2006 after two strong seasons in the Quebec junior league. With Columbus, he played center alongside Rick Nash, now a Ranger, on occasion.

Moore, 22, is also a former first-round choice, in the 2009 draft. He has 2 goals, 6 assists and 10 penalty minutes in 86 games.

The Rangers gained about $1.7 million under the salary cap, which will fall by more than 9 percent next season. They gave up Gaborik’s cap hit of $7.5 million for next season. The combined hit of Moore’s, Brassard’s and Dorsett’s salaries next season comes to about $5.8 million.

That will give Sather room to maneuver as he seeks to re-sign Derek Stepan and other young players in the next two years.

SLAP SHOTS

Ottawa traded goalie Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay for center Cory Conacher, second among rookie scorers, and a fourth-round pick in the 2013 draft. ... Buffalo dealt its captain, right wing Jason Pominville, and a fourth-round pick in the 2014 draft to Minnesota for left wing Johan Larsson, goalie Matt Hackett, and a first-round pick in 2013 and a second-round pick in 2014. ... Phoenix traded left wing Steve Sullivan to the Devils for a seventh-round pick in the 2014 draft. Sullivan, 38, started his career with the Devils in 1995.

New York Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667847 New York Rangers

After Hasty Hellos, New Rangers Make Quick Work of Penguins

By JEFF Z. KLEIN

Published: April 3, 2013

No matter how much of a head-scratcher the Marian Gaborik trade may have seemed on Wednesday, the Rangers did not seem to miss him at all at Madison Square Garden. Instead, with three newly acquired players combining to score four goals, the rebooted Rangers put together their best performance of the season, routing the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-1.

Two of the new players rushed from Columbus and arrived at the Garden 15 minutes before warm-ups, and the third was exhausted after an overnight flight from the West Coast. Yet they played superbly.

For one night at least, General Manager Glen Sather looked like a genius.

Ryane Clowe, a rugged 30-year-old wing acquired Tuesday from San Jose for draft choices, scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist.

Derick Brassard, a 25-year-old former junior star acquired from the Blue Jackets in the Gaborik deal, had a goal and two beautiful assists, all on the power play, and added a third assist at even strength.

John Moore, a 22-year-old defenseman also acquired Wednesday from Columbus, who Coach John Tortorella said was “still learning the game,” scored his first goal of the season.

“It’s been a crazy day for me and my teammates,” Brassard said.

After practicing with the Blue Jackets at noon, Brassard, Moore and Derek Dorsett, an injured forward also acquired by the Rangers, went home to the apartment building they shared to watch trade coverage on the NHL Network. Steve Mason, a goalie who would be traded to Philadelphia that afternoon, was also there.

All of them received calls from the Columbus general manager, one after another, minutes apart.

“We hopped on a plane at 3 o’clock or so, got to New York about 45 minutes before warm-ups, and then got to the Garden maybe 15 minutes before warm-ups,” Brassard said. “Sometimes you play your best game when you don’t worry about anything. The assistant coach talked to us for five minutes, said this is how we play, then we just jumped out there. It was quite the experience. I’ll remember it the rest of my life, I’m sure.”

Ryan McDonagh and Brian Boyle also scored for the Rangers as they hit the three-quarter mark of the season. The Rangers have 39 points, same as the Devils and the Islanders. The Rangers and the Devils have played 36 games, and the Islanders have played 37.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 shots and recorded his 268th victory as a Ranger, passing Ed Giacomin for second on the team’s career list and trailing only Mike Richter, who has 301.

The Rangers entered the game with the lowest-scoring offense in the N.H.L. They scored more than five goals in a game for the first time this season.

The old-look Rangers had not beaten the Penguins in seven straight games, but the new-look Rangers jumped to a 3-0 first-period lead and never let up.

“I just shook their hands and told them to go out and have fun,” Coach John Tortorella said of his hasty pregame meeting with Brassard and Moore. “That just throws coaching out the window. Funny how it works sometimes.”

Clowe practiced with the Rangers in the morning after sleeping only a half-hour on the overnight flight from San Jose.

“I took about an hour sleep after the morning skate because I was too excited to sleep,” Clowe said. “I just came to the game. I kind of felt a little fatigued toward the third. Pure adrenaline for the first couple periods there.”

The Penguins’ 15-game winning streak ended Tuesday night in a 4-1 loss to Buffalo. They were without Sidney Crosby, out indefinitely with a broken jaw, and defensemen Paul Martin and Kris Letang.

New York Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667848 New York Rangers

NY Rangers send Marian Gaborik to Columbus Blue Jackets as NHL trade deadline expires

By Pat Leonard / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Updated: Wednesday, April 3, 2013, 8:00 PM

The Rangers acquired a big-time scorer from the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer, but on Wednesday afternoon, the NHL’s lowest-scoring team surprisingly sent one back.

With less than a half hour remaining until the 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, the Rangers pulled off a stunner by dealing three-time 40-goal scorer Marian Gaborik to Columbus along with AHLers Steve Delisle and Blake Parlett in exchange for center Derick Brassard, 25, right wing Derek Dorsett, 26, defenseman John Moore, 22, and a sixth-round pick in the 2014 NHL draft, a source confirmed to the Daily News.

In a telling sign that the relationship between player and organization had run its course, Gaborik agreed to waive his no-move clause so he could rejoin former Ranger teammates Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky and Vinny Prospal in Columbus.

“I enjoyed my time in New York,” Gaborik said in a conference call Wednesday night, “but I think the way this played out, there was a team that really wanted me, and another team that wanted to go in a different direction and trade me.”

Brassard and Moore made their Rangers debuts immediately on Wednesday night at the Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins, while Dorsett remains on injured reserve with a broken collarbone.

The timing of Gaborik’s trade was even more surprising than its occurrence. The 31-year-old Slovakian carries a hefty $7.5 million annual cap hit into next season, when the salary cap ceiling drops from $64.3 million to $70.2 million, so the Rangers were expected to field suitors. But New York is the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, and trading away one of its few gamebreakers – even if he had just one goal in his last 12 games – does not improve the roster, particularly in the short term.

Gaborik scores nine goals and 10 assists in 35 games with the Rangers this season.

Gaborik had 114 goals and 115 assists in 255 regular season games in three-plus seasons with the Rangers, but he had a rocky relationship with coach John Tortorella.

The coach publicly criticized his team’s leading scorer following last year’s playoff run to the Eastern Conference finals, despite Gaborik scoring the game-winning goal in a triple-OT victory over the Capitals in Game 3 of the second round and leading the team in scoring in the regular season with 41 goals. Not long after Tortorella aired his criticism, it was revealed the 31-year-old Slovakian forward had played most of the postseason – including that game in Washington – with a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

Last week in Ottawa Tortorella and Gaborik had an animated 12-minute on-ice conversation after practice. It turned out Gaborik’s days as a Ranger were numbered.

“I’ll miss him,” Tortorella said Wednesday. “He has grown as he’s been with us. Quite honestly when he first came here I don’t think he really had enough skin on him. He has skin on him, and I respect him, and I believe he’ll get his game back. You can see his game coming … I think he’s going to play really well, and in the situation we get a number of assets and some depth onto our team and with trying to sign (pending restricted free-agent center Derek Stepan) and players like that, it gives us a little flexibility there also.”

Depth and flexibility are valuable, but on Wednesday night, only 12 of the Rangers on the ice were players from last year’s club that had finished No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets beamed over their acquisition of one of the league’s top scorers.

“We are excited to have him on our team,” Dubinsky told the Daily News via telephone on Wednesday. “He has proven in his career he can score, and we need that here for sure.”

The Rangers need it, too.

New York Daily News LOADED: 04.04.2013

667849 New York Rangers

Full NHL trade deadline transactions list, led by NY Rangers sending Marian Gaborik to Columbus Blue Jackets

BY Pat Leonard

Here is a complete list of the 17 trades involving 30 NHL players prior to the 3 p.m. deadline on Wednesday, courtesy of the league:

-Anaheim traded C Brandon McMillan to Phoenix for C Matthew Lombardi.

-Anaheim traded G Jeff Deslauriers to Minnesota for future considerations.

-Boston traded C Maxime Sauve to Chicago for C Rob Flick.

-Buffalo traded RW Jason Pominville and Buffalo's 4th-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft to Minnesota for LW Johan Larsson, G Matt Hackett, Minnesota's 1st-round pick in 2013 and 2nd-round pick in 2014.

-Calgary traded LW Blake Comeau to Columbus for Columbus' 5th-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

-Carolina traded LW Jussi Jokinen to Pittsburgh for a conditional pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

-Colorado traded D Ryan O'Byrne to Toronto for a 4th-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.

-Columbus traded G Steve Mason to Philadelphia for G Michael Leighton and Philadelphia's 3rd-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

-Columbus traded RW Derek Dorsett, C Derick Brassard, D John Moore and Columbus' 6th-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft to NY Rangers for RW Marian Gaborik, D Blake Parlett and D Steven Delisle.

-Florida traded C Jerred Smithson to Edmonton for Edmonton's 4th-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

-Nashville traded RW Martin Erat and C Michael Latta to Washington for C Filip Forsberg.

-Nashville traded D Scott Hannan to San Jose for a conditional pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

-Ottawa traded G Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay for C Cory Conacher and Philadelphia's 4th-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft (previously acquired).

-Phoenix traded LW Raffi Torres to San Jose for Florida's 3rd-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft (previously acquired).

-Phoenix traded LW Steve Sullivan to New Jersey for New Jersey's 7th-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.

-Pittsburgh traded G Patrick Killeen to Columbus for future considerations.

-St. Louis traded D Wade Redden to Boston for a conditional pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.

There also were two waiver claims today: Philadelphia claimed RW Adam Hall from Tampa Bay, and Winnipeg claimed C Mike Santorelli from Florida.

New York Daily News LOADED: 04.04.2013

667850 New York Rangers

NY Rangers trade Marian Gaborik to Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Derick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore

BY Pat Leonard

The Rangers acquired a big-time scorer from the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer, but on Wednesday afternoon, they surprisingly sent one back.

With less than a half hour remaining until the 3 p.m. NHL trade deadline, the Rangers pulled off a shocker by dealing three-time 40-goal scorer Marian Gaborik to Columbus in exchange for center Derick Brassard, 25, right wing Derek Dorsett, 26, defenseman John Moore, 22, and a sixth-round draft pick in this year’s draft, a source confirmed to the Daily News.

Just as tellingly as New York seeking the deal, Gaborik agreed to waive his no-move clause to allow the trade to happen.

“I was surprised,” Gaborik told TSN on a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. “I had heard rumors here and there but I didn’t try to focus on that. I can’t control what the teams are doing. So I was surprised, but this is a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it … I enjoyed my time in New York, of course. But when somebody wants you and somebody’s tring to trade you, it’s good that somebody actually wants you on their team. So I decided this way, and they seem like they’re going to have a good team down the road.”

The entire reason the Rangers dealt for Rick Nash last summer was because they couldn’t score enough goals, even with Gaborik popping in 41 last season, when the team finished No. 1 in the Eastern Conference and advanced to the conference finals before falling in six games to the Devils.

New York sacrificed depth in Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and Tim Erixon in the Nash deal with Columbus. Essentially, the Rangers have sent Gaborik back to the Jackets in order to try and undo the mistake they made last offseason by losing forwards Brandon Prust, Ruslan Fedotenko and John Mitchell in addition to the assets they gave up for Nash.

TSN originally reported the deal. Dorsett has a broken collarbone and is on injured reserve.

Brassard and Moore are former first-round picks, and Gaborik carried one more year of a $7.5 million salary on his contract, so his contract was not appealing to the Rangers as they must fit under next season’s $64.3 million league salary cap ceiling (reduced from $70.2 million this season).

But the Rangers are the NHL’s lowest-scoring team, and trading away one of the few gamebreakers on their roster does not improve the roster, particularly in the short term.

Gaborik has just nine goals and 10 assists in 35 games, including just one goal in last 12 games. But almost every Ranger has struggled to score this season, and Gaborik is one of the few who has the talent and experience snap out of it in a big way.

Columbus sure is aware of what his acquisition means.

“We are excited to have him on our team,” Dubinsky told the Daily News via telephone on Wednesday. “He has proven in his career he can score, and we need that here for sure. Also, I think it will be great for him to have Vinny (Prospal), myself, and Artie (Anisimov) whom he is very familiar with.”

John Tortorella started Gaborik at the left wing this season, even though Gaborik prefers the right wing and has played there most of his NHL career. Last postseason, Gaborik struggled and Tortorella criticized Gaborik public for his poor play, particularly in the Eastern Conference finals, until days later when it was revealed that the 31-year-old forward had played through a torn labrum in his shoulder.

Early this season, even when Gaborik was scoring, Tortorella delivered backhanded compliments at his star forward when discussing his strong play, saying the Slovakian had improved from his early days with the Rangers when he would sit out practices because he was “sore.”

In other words, there shouldn’t be any questions why Gaborik agreed to waive his no-move clause.

Gaborik finished his Rangers career with 114 goals and 115 assists in 255 regular season games. He had just six goals and seven assists in 25 playoff games with New York, but most of those games occurred when he was playing with the injured shoulder.

Gaborik did not appear concerned that he would be traded when approached after Tuesday’s practice in Greenburg.

“I try not to think about it,” Gaborik told the Daily News. “Every year there’s some different names flying around, rumors. I’ve heard my name in there. I can’t control it, so I’m not thinking about that. . . . But I want to win with these guys.”

Of course, eventually the Rangers decided it was best to move Gaborik and he responded by their lack of interest in his talents by waiving his no-move clause.

“We weren’t playing consistently enough,” Gaborik told TSN on Wednesday. “We had a great team on paper. We had a lot of talented guys. We just couldn’t execute as far as scoring goals, and the power play hasn’t been great. So there were a few factors there.”

New York Daily News LOADED: 04.04.2013

667851 New York Rangers

Marc Staal has been working out at MSG Training Center; NY Rangers assign Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller, Jesper Fast to AHL's Whale

BY Pat Leonard

Rangers defenseman Marc Staal has been working out at the team’s practice facility in Greenburgh, and though that does not necessarily place him close to a return, Staal’s new helmet (photo below) was sitting at his locker on Wednesday morning with a large new visor attached to protect the right eye he injured on a deflected slap shot in late February.

The Rangers continued to shake up their roster just hours before the NHL trade deadline, sending rookies J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast all to the AHL’s Connecticut Whale.

RYANE CLOWE ARRIVES IN NEW YORK ON RED-EYE FLIGHT TO PLAY VS. PENGUINS

Miller played in 26 of 27 games beginning on Feb. 5 following his call-up this season, only sitting one game due to injury. But he had no goals in 24 games after scoring two in his second game, his Garden debut. He has been nursing an injured left wrist, and he struggled in Montreal on Saturday night and again at the Garden on Monday night against the Jets.

Kreider has been a human yo-yo this season, being bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL. He created offense and scored in Philadelphia during his most recent call-up, but once Mats Zuccarello entered the lineup and created offensively, John Tortorella dropped Kreider to the fourth line, where he plays fewer minutes and is more exposed defensively. Being demoted to a lower line did not put Kreider in a position to succeed.

Tortorella expressed concern about both Miller and Kreider after Monday’s 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, when neither rookie played in the third period.

“I’m worried about them,” Tortorella said. “I’m worried about (Miller). We play so many close games, there’s just too many mistakes … Not that I’m upset with them (Miller and Kreider). I just think the stakes are high, we play so many close games, and I’ve just got to watch how they go through the game, do I trust them? I’m kind of up in the air there, quite honestly, because I don’t want to screw up their development either. The stakes are too high right now, so we’ll see where we go there.”