Wolski for Rozsival

			2011 Season				2011	Remaining
To New York	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Cap Hit	Years	Cap Hit
Wojtek Wolski	Forward	24	36	6	10	16	$3.8 million	1	Same
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To Phoenix	Position	Age	GP	G	A	P	Cap Hit	Years	Cap Hit
Michal Rozsival	Defense	32	32	3	12	15	$5 million	1	Same

The New York Rangers and Phoenix Coyotes dropped a trade on us on Monday afternoon, which saw the Rangers fill a gap left by Alex Frolov's season-ending injury with another struggling forward, Wojtek Wolski, and they ended up sending veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival out to the desert to complete the deal.

The Rangers have been enamored with flashy offense since they won the Stanley Cup in 1994 and replacing one underachieving forward with talent with another seems to make some sense in one way or another.  Wolski is a younger forward with plenty of upside still, but the Coyotes could not get him to repeat his performance from his arrival in Phoenix, which was at the deadline last season.  It's hard to say what the problem was in Phoenix, but I would happen to guess that he had a free pass coming midway through the season with the head coach, who stresses defense and responsible play first, but couldn't get that kind of leniency at the start of this season.

The Coyotes, on the other hand, add to their defensive core with the potential for some offensive upside as well.  Rozsival is a well-traveled defenseman   This is currently his 10th NHL season and the Coyotes will be his 3rd NHL team and he should bring some more of a veteran presence to go along with Adrian Aucoin and Ed Jovanovski down the stretch.  This move will likely mean that some more of the Coyotes blueline youth will be moved back down to the minors as they approach the stretch run and it might give Rozsival a good place to stretch his offensive abilities on their power play.

With the Rangers now having so much youthful depth on their blueline, it doesn't come at a terrible surprise that they were willing to part with Rozsival in order to pick up a player like Wolski.  The cap relief also should help them down the stretch as well.

Speaking of the salary cap, the math is fairly straight forward on this one. The Rangers are making a little bit more room for the possibility of making more moves at the trade deadline this year, while also saving a bit more cap space in the annual sense in the 2012 season. Since both players have another year on their deal it all translates really well for next season for mathematical purposes.

By my count, the Coyotes have 10 regular players signed and two buyouts for an annual cap hit of $24.9 million today, while the Rangers have 14 players signed with no extras at an annual cap hit of $42.4 million.

This deal today actually sees two players who are both picked in the draft this year being moved, which is somewhat rare these days. Wolski is currently underachieving for Neil B. in the draft this year, who has fallen out of the chase a little bit, down in 11th place, 43 points out of the money. Rozsival, on the other hand, belongs to John P., who hasn't seen a great deal of success this year either, down in 17th place, 71 points out of the money.

Wolski may have a bit more of an impact out of this deal than Rozsival, but if both continue to put up the same numbers in their new homes, then it's really a wash in the pool.