Tyutin and Backman traded for Zherdev and Fritsche

Blueshirt Bulletin is reporting that the Rangers have traded Fedor Tyutin (gasp) and Christian Backman to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nikolai Zherdev and Dan Fritsche.

Wow, I'm shocked. My first thought was "NO! what am I going to do with my blog." My second thought was Tyutin got traded. Tyutin always looked like a better player than he really was. Meaning, he never quite reached his potential as a Ranger. I hope my blog didn't jinx Tyutin, I knew Sather is reading it. (Hi Glen, good job so far in the offseason.) Backman was terrible in the short time he was here.

Enough with the old, lets get to the new. Nikolai Zherdev is a 23 year old Russian right winger. Let me just say I think this kid is awesome. He knows how to score. Last season he tallied 26 goals and 61 points for Columbus. That would have put him 3rd on the Rangers behind Jagr and Gomez. I can't wait to get to watch him play every day.

Dan Fritsche looks to be a throw in that has good upside. Hockeydraft.ca had this to say about him:

"He is considered to be a versatile player with a good upside, but he’ll likely need more work to become particularly good at any one area of his game. Fritsche is injury prone and tends to suffer from defensive lapses in judgment, making him a liability in many situations. He should be in the NHL to stay, but he’ll need work in almost every aspect of his game to be a reliable impact player."

I think this is a great trade for the Rangers. Zherdev is a player that will add much needed scoring to the Rangers. I hope this also helps pave the way for Bobby Sanguietti. We are going to see a completely different team next year. Alright Sather lets keep this up.

As far as the name of our blog, it will be changed. My counterpart (Hootin' Tyutin) and I are in the process of selecting a new name. If you have any recommendations, leave a comment.