Rangers Trade Brings Erixon From Calgary
 

So, its been a long time since I posted here. Another season without a meaningful playoff run, but another season with young players making a meaningful impact on the team. A couple of pieces were still missing, and yesterday’s trade helped address one of them.* So the trade that brought Tim Erixon to the Rangers [...]

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Excellent article Leslie.

Thanks Leslie...as always , much appreciated insight.

Great piece, even more assuring. I love this trade and feel the same way about the two seconds.

Great read Leslie.

Thanks for the reassurance.

Good read, nice job leslie.

I hope does get Lindberg here. I'm starting to like that trade even though i had high hopes for Werek.

The rangers are turning into the detroit red wings with all the swedes LOL...and i like it.

Leslie, in your article you mentioned Gordie Clark defending the acquisition. Are there any articles or quotes on what Clark has said?

Good read as usual Leslie. Ty.

Yeah, I'd love to hear Clark's position myself.

I realize its not about the mechanics of the deal, but...:

http://blueshirtsunited.com/posts/46...ing-tim-erixon

Nice article, thanks for some info.

Even though nothing has changed since the trade was made, I continue to love it even more as each hour passes.

Solid take Leslie. Thanks again.

Agree completely.

Erixon will almost certainly be an NHL player where the two seconds could be anything from legit first line talent to subway janitors. In a weak draft moving your picks for prospects who are most likely going to be NHLers, if not lifetime NHLers, is good asset management.

As far as Horak goes, I'm not sure I'd pencil him in to a 3rd of 4th line role yet, because you never know. He may prove to be better than that, or bust. Again though, that's why this is a good move. Erixon looks like the better player right now.

I don't think it is overpayment by any means. While the Rangers certainly could still use some depth in the prospect pool for forwards, the defense core is one of the best in the league. Arguably top 5.

nice article thanks for writing it

I would only point out that recently the Rangers have had much success in the 2nd round

thomas
werek
stepan
anisimov
sauer
korpikoski

so I would say that drafting in the second round isn't a "crap shoot" due to NY proven history of excellent picks in that round

am I happy about the deal ? yes I am. I feel it was worth the picks and Horak. We will never know who NY was targeting in that round now. Perhaps a distinct lack of appealing players at that position is part of what motivated NY to make the Erixon deal in the first place.

either way enjoyed the article very much

And that Erixon is telling the swedish media that playing for the Rangers is a dream come true, doesn't make it any worse.:) My team faced Skellefteå in this years final in the SEL and Erixon is a really good player, a hard working player with a good attitude but who also has some flair which is making him an exciting player to watch.

http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportblade...cle13117541.ab

Just to correct you, Korpikoski was a 1st rounder, 19th overall in 2004.

Otherwise, I agree.

Thanks for the nice reviews guys. Just to clarify, what I meant was the second round in this year's draft is a real crap shoot because of the weakness of the draft. It is somewhat unusual in that.

As noted, the Korpedo was a 1st round pick, but otherwise I agree with you. If the Rangers had had the opportunity to keep Horak or the two 2nds, but trade away their first, I would probably have taken it!

Just wonder where the MDZ focus issue is coming from. I'd appreciate the answer.

I think mainly because Erixon represents more competition for Del Zotto, and they both might be useful on the PP so in theory they could be competing against each other for that. But I don't totally agree...they seem to be more complimentary players to me rather than guys with similar skillsets and you can only have one or the other

How one could say that Erixon wont crap his pants in NHL. His father is no help, Jan Erixon is water under the bridge by now.
I do not see Erixon as MDZ replacement either, the guy is a PMD, his strenght should be neutral zone. MDZ forte is offesnive zone. I would even pair the guys eventually, should they shoot opposite, but they do not :(

Not exactly sure what you mean by that, considering Del Zotto did essentially the same thing last season.

The only time anyone has even mentioned Jan is when:

1. A few of us said he should wear #20 for his father
2. His influence on the acquisition.

I don't think anyone believes he is Del Zotto's "replacement", more so another defenseman to give him competition at camp. Hell, it could motivate both of them, and both could end up making it as a pairing.

And on the topic of defensive pairings, I don't know why you're so fixated on having two different handed defenseman as a pair. It's not a necessity.

I disagree. Rangers used MDZ as a scapegoat for poor performance in Feb mostly due to poor goaltending. Most fans bought it. Later Lundqvist improved, but no one wanted to touch anything to keep the brittal team going. McCabe replace MDZ little late only to make Gilroy look good. In his first season MDZ showed that he belongs. Once good - forever good until proven otherwise.



It is not critical, but desirable. Rangers do match. Side is much more important for Ds than that for wingers. Ideally yiou want PMD with DD first. Then you look at the left and right hand shot. Since perfection isn't possible you try lesser things asuming that role is a primary consideration. If you have both Ds shutdown type, at least let's have them not to play on off side - that's the Rangers logic.

Scapegoat for poor goaltending? What poor goaltending? The February performance was, all-around, an awful month. No one was playing well, and the only reason we won a game or two in there was goaltending, because the team couldn't hit the ocean from a ship.

it's not goaltending that resulted in him putting up poor numbers and struggling on the power play. He proved he wasn't "good" last year, though I don't believe it's indicative of his abilities long term. He just had a bad year and didn't get comfortable