Glen Sather fleeced Scott Howson. Period. There's no other way around it. In what may well be THE trade that helps bring a Stanley Cup to New York, the Rangers' general manager managed to pry away one of the elite players in the league for a package of players that, while good, are hardly indispensable.
Think about it. Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon, and a first-round draft pick. That's it. No Chris Kreider, no Michael Del Zotto, no Derek Stepan, no Ryan McDonagh. In fact, not one top player from last year's squad was sacrificed in the deal. Sather held firm, Howson panicked.
Brad Richards now has a true scoring winger to feed the puck to. Someone who, hopefully, won't turn to jello once the playoffs start. Want to know how lopsided this trade really is? Sather managed to get his man while only adding about $500K to the payroll, meaning he has enough cap room to do some more damage if he wants. According to Larry Brooks of The New York Post, Sather has set his sights on signing Shane Doan. If that falls through, there are other avenues he can explore.
All in all, a damn good day if I do say so myself. On a scale of one to ten, this ranks as a nine.
I've been tough on Sather in the past, but it's pretty hard to deny him his props on this move. About the only thing that could sour all this is if the league had a lockout, which hopefully won't be the case. Barring that, the Blueshirts just got one step closer to the Holy Grail.
