Rangers Trade Tyutin and Backman to Columbus
The Rangers have traded defensemen Fedor Tyutin and Christian Backman to Columbus.
In return the Rangers recieve Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche.
Zherdev is a right winger who is 23 years old and scored 26 goals and 35 assists last season. He was drafted fourth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2003. The Rangers will be paying him $3.25 million this year, but only $2.5 of that goes against the cap.
Between Backman and Tyutin the Rangers owed $5.1 million dollars this year.
This is an excellent trade in my opinion. Not only does it help the cap and give you more room to sign Jagr and someone else, it gives a reliable young winger. He has a lot of upside and is still only 23 years old. Tyutin and Backman were a hinderance to this team in the playoffs this year, I have no problem getting rid of them for Zherdev.
Right now, I’m looking for the Rangers to re-sign Jagr and go after Orpik or re-sign Mara. Either way this day might not be a bust after all.
Update 5:10 pm: Orpik has just signed with the Pens for six-years worth $22.5 million dollars.
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Tags: Eric Rothman
7 Responses
UB BULL July 2nd at 3:53 pm
It is pretty much confirmed. It is up on the home page at http://www.tsn.ca.
Michael July 2nd at 3:55 pm
I’ll just copy and paste my reaction here also since it’s more relevant to this post, although I did react to it in the last post when Inferno said this was a “great trade”.
Nicky Zherdev has been a perennial underachiever and a big disappointment thus far in his NHL career with Columbus. Dan Fritsche is a nice young player, but he has limited offensive upside.
The Rangers have a glut of young wingers now, too many to fit in. Sure, I didn’t really like Tyutin as much as a lot of people did and Backman was just average, but now the Rangers basically have nothing on the blue line except for Redden, Staal, and Rozsival (Girardi is a 2nd, at best, or 3rd pairing NHL defenseman). I understand they have high hopes for Sanguinetti, but you can’t rely on him yet. I’d expect to see Thomas Pock playing full time next year.
It sounds like the Rangers are going for a full-on youth movement now, which was inevitable, but I think last year’s crop had one more run left in them. Now, it looks like the Rangers will be rebuilding. In the East, that may be good enough to make the playoffs, but is that all we want as fans?
AndroSFL July 2nd at 4:22 pm
Zherdev is an exciting player with a ton of upside. He has been up & down in Columbus, and hopefully the change of teams will re-energize him. Trading for Zherdev will hopefully open the door for bringing back Jagr. Overall, I like the move.
Mike July 2nd at 7:52 pm
Fantastic Trade!! Zherdev has been stuck in Columbus where he has been unhappy for the past three years. He will love NYC, will bask in the glow of Broadway and will be a top six forward for years to come. All the Rangers had to give up was Tyutin (a guy who quite frankly is going to be expendable anyway when they bring other young D-Men along) and Backman, who was a throw in at the deadline last year and a very average third pair defenseman. Bringing in Zherdev also sets the stage for when they bring Cherapanov over here next season as well, should be a nice fit together. Sather did very well here. I agree that they should bring Jagr back for one more year b/c a line of Jagr, Gomez, Zherdev could be lethal.
Michael July 2nd at 8:16 pm
What makes you think Zherdev will love NYC? He couldn’t handle low pressure and no significant media scrutiny in Columbus, not exactly a hockey market, so don’t be so sure they’ll shine in Broadway. There will be more distractions, more people who care about the game, tougher fans to please, and increased media coverage. New York is everything Columbus isn’t, and if you ask me, he did very little there to justify his draft position.
Mike July 3rd at 3:12 pm
I watch a lot of Columbus games b/c I am a Malhotra fan from his time with the Rangers (met him a couple times while I worked for Ice Hockey in Harlem and he was a great kid). Everything folks in Columbus said about Zherdev is that he was very unhappy there due to homesickness (there aren’t a lot of Russians in Columbus). He will have more access to his own culture in New York and will be a happier player. He will also be a lot happier playing on a line with Gomez. In Columbus, he had no centers to get him the puck. Wait and see, he could be a breakout star for the Rangers. You might be looking at this kid next spring and saying, wow, I didn’t think he would score 50, but he did. I’m not saying he will score 50, just that I wouldn’t be shocked if he did. And as far as justification for his draft position, just look at some of the clips on YouTube of the highlight reel style goals he scored without a true center. Trust me, he was a great pickup.
Michael July 3rd at 5:29 pm
His centers in Columbus were fine; he had Mike Peca, Sergei Fedorov, Malhotra, and Trevor Letowski in his time there, as well as Anson Carter for one season.
I agree with you to a certain extent about New York. Sure, he’ll be closer to the Ukranian/Russian cultures and while yes, he may feel more comfortable, he’ll also have more pressure to succeed given the sheer fact that he’s in the league’s biggest market for one of the league’s signature teams. Unlike in Columbus over the past few, the Rangers have significant expectations as a team, and i’m not Zherdev is ready to play in that competitive of an atmosphere.
Yes, he has scored some great goals, you’re right, but a goal is a goal a goal, and the fact of the matter is he didn’t score enough of them or put up enough points in Columbus to live up to his draft position. I think he’ll be a good second line player, but he’s just not a 50-goal scorer in this league, no way, no how. As I said in another comment, I’ve kept a close eye on Columbus and Chicago over the past few seasons, and just haven’t been impressed with Zherdev.