The New York Rangers traded center Derick Brassard and a seventh-round pick in 2018 to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for center Mika Zibanejad and a second-round pick in 2018.
NY Rangers ship center Derick Brassard to the Ottawa Senators for center Mika Zibanejad.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rangers GM Jeff Gorton was looking to shake up his roster following their quick early exit from the 2016 NHL playoffs. He also wanted to shed salary in order to comfortably re-sign RFAs Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes, especially after recently re-upping forward J.T. Miller and Dylan McIlrath.
By exchanging Brassard’s $5 million annual cap hit for Zibanejad’s $2.65 million, he’s now got roughly an additional $2.4 million to work with. That could be put toward re-signing Kreider and/or Hayes, or to perhaps add another player via trade or free agency.
Zibanejad, 23, has steadily improved over the last four seasons.He’s a versatile center who can also skate at right wing. While he must work on his consistency, he still has upside as a second-pairing center for the Blueshirts. He’s also a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.
Sens trade for now rangers trade for space. Surprised the sens had to give up a second as well
This just looks like a bad trade for the Sens. You’re basically taking maybe two equal value players for next year – Brassard with more defensive abilities, Z more offensive abilities – and then swapping them and picks with the 2nd going to the Rangers and a 7th to Ottawa. With Ottawa getting a 5-year older player, I just see this as a straight-up bad trade for the long term.
The cap will even out between the two once Z re-signs as an RFA next year.
Almost like a Dave Nonis trade where the picks are being exchanged the wrong way.
Touché!
any Senator fan can tell you that zbinejad has never showed up in camp in shape and often plays unmotivated, between that and the 2 million the rangers already paid brassard this season is why the 2nd was included.
it’s all about cost certainty for the Sens who now know what heir 2nd C is going to cost for 3 years. And How is Z-bad more offensive than Brassard?
Lol…. I thought the same thing…. Ditto about Brassards defensive ability.
Boys, it’s 2016 – you need to look beyond the basic stats.
Zibanejad – 2.1 P/60, 7.7 S/60, 63.7 CF/60
Brassard – 1.8 P/60, 7.0 S/60, 61.0 CA/60
Higher production rate, lower possession/shot suppression.
It’s no cap certainty for the Sens, George. They will have similar cap hits in a year, cash dollars probably more important given the way Brassard’s deal is structured to a budget team like OTT.
Z-bad doesn’t use deodorant. Brassard gets his supplies from GQ Hank.
It’s strange, because Ny primarily used Stepan and Moore in defensive situations, and on the Pk. AV would also throw Lindberg but never Brassard. Yet Mika Z kills penalties. Brassard isn’t a liability on the ice. But not exactly a defensive 2 way guy either.
Brassard is Roughly a career 60% offensive zone starts to 40% defensive zone starts. Zibanejads are nearly identical.
I think you can safely put that “budget team” crapola to rest.
@George
Lol, this actually reinforces the ‘budget team’ stigma. Brassard’s Bonus was already paid this year by NY which brings his money owed this year to 3m. The next 2 years after that he is being paid 3.5 in actual salary because he has one of those pre-2014 front loaded deals. Also Zibanejad will probably command almost double his current contract in resigning after this year. This was all about the Benjamins and I can only imagine Euge’s big creepy smile as he goes to bed tonight.
Now as a big Sens fan myself, I really hope Brassard finds some good chemistry with Blobby Ryan to make this worth while. Also, having White and Brown in the pipeline I think made ZBad expendable in Dorion’s eyes.
Dead wrong, Mika had elite wingers and yet he never really used them properly with his shoot first mentality. Brassard will be a much better playmaker for them.
This is a steal for Ottawa. Cheaper, better balance lefty-righty, more competitive and much more consistent.
I understand why the Rangers had to do this. But the senators are the better team with this trade BY FAR
The rangers have to hope a change of scenery makes Zbinejad rededicate himself to being a more motivated player
This trade to me is of little significance to either team in my opinion. Neither player will tip the overall balance in either direction for the respective teams involved.
I don’t think the trade was made to tip the scale. This was a trade NY made to free up cap space and have some wiggle room after Kreider and Hayes are re-signed.
Ny will more than likely use the additional money to sign a depth / insurance 3rd or 4th line center.
good on rangers for getting younger. not one of the rough contracts they need to shed but a good deal with futures as well.
Looks like rangers win the trade to me
Zuccs buddy list has grown even shorter. First Hagelin, now Brassard. Maybe he’s next?
Is there truth to the two sides of the dressing room @ msg?
No, I’ve never heard that before. They are all pretty tight knotted group. Outside of the new comers.
Oops tight knitted ****
Easy win for the senators. Mika never shows up in shape after the off-season and doesn’t appear to have the internal drive to be the best he can be. Brassard while older plays a much more competitive game and should actually use his elite wingers (Hoffman and Stone) better than zbinajad ever did.
Brassard is cost controlled the next 3 years and actually will be cheaper too going forward too
Absolutely love this deal for Ottawa they got a #1B center for a guy with talent but who really needs to learn to play motivated, and who can look great for 5 games and disappear for 10. He’s only 23 but he still hasn’t learned to be a professional.
Great trade for the Sens
This is a best case trade for the Rangers without sending away Kreider or Miller or Hayes while getting younger and finding a few million in space.
Brassard was a solid playoff performer and will be missed.
Looks like the Rangers found a pigeon for one of their overpriced bums….brutal deal for Snottawa, just bruuuuuuutal. Gave up age, speed and a pick….thats the kind of deal Dim Jim makes in Vancouver, almost like the Sens hired Bungling Jimmy for the day.
Horrible deal.
And there it is George O. Lol….. It’s officially…. Official!
Every player in NY haa a bad contract!
5 per aav for 60 points=bad.
As a matter of fact, they could have a 100 point guy for 1 million per and someone here will argue it’s a terrible deal. Smh!
I stopped reading that clown at “Snottawa”. That schoolyard “my dad can beat your dad” belongs right there – in a schoolyard, not in an objective discussion forum. As I say in the other thread this sort of juvenile insults has no place here.
George,
Your rambling makes no sense man. Schoolyard? My dad, your dad? Sounds like little Georgie got picked on a lot. My comment was the Rangers won this trade clearly and it looks like the kind of deal the incompetent front office in Vancouver would make. If I were you and thank the Lord I’m not, I would demand my therapist return all my money. Senseless ramblings of a senile old fool George, grow up.
I wasn’t the one who used the kiddie term “Snottawa” – you have a weird, warped sense of what is “juvenile.”
Hey Ron, what are you? 5.
Come on, post something intelligent please.
Your posting required another “?” Following the number 5, which in itself is grammatically incorrect as it should have been written as “five”. There, that’s pretty inteligent and far above your middle school abilities. This is why teaching cursive needs to remain in school.
Cheers.
Isn’t cyber “courage” wonderful Ron? Morons like you are usually 5′ 2″ with visions of grandeur. And watch out – some day you’ll grow “old” as well. It’s inevitable.
And you spelled “intelligent” incorrectly. Try practicing what you preach.
While I don’t think this is deal falls in the realm of the Hall/Larsson or Subban/Webber trades in terms of being one sided, I think it’s a pretty clear win for the Rangers, especially if you ignore the actual dollars.
The two main pieces are pretty much going to give you the same thing. I think you could argue a good case for either player in the short term. Zibanejad has consistently improved his numbers year over year, but Brassard has had some very good playoff showings.
However Zibanejad is younger, has a cheaper cap hit in the short term, and the Rangers also got a 2nd. Brassard gives Ottawa a 2nd line centre for the next 3 years.
I would much rather have the #2C that is an RFA next year at 24 then the guy making 5 million in cap hit, who is a UFA at 30. First off, I wouldn’t be too concerned with Mika costing more. Decent young 2nd line talent RFA’s seem to have a pretty good established market price and it is similar to Brassards current contract (think Kadri, Trocheck, Perrault, Killorn, Rask, Shwartz). Given the range of those contracts, Zibanejad is not going to break the bank on his next deal.
Also, 30 year old UFA’s are often the most dangerous. They want term because they feel like they have a lot of years left, they want the money as they are established and coming off their best stretch of hockey, and they often turn into the worst contracts (think, Clarkson, Lucic, Stastny, Bolland, Horton). You often pay more money for what a player has done, and then overpaying for what they will do for you.
In terms of cap certainty, NYR has a good solid win for their needs if the deal was straight up, but the 2nd is some pretty nice icing on the cake. Hard part of Ottawa is they gave up a lot of long term assets in this deal.
Here is an easy breakdown. If Both players as well as they have previously, the Rangers wing as Zibanejad will be a better long term asset, and Ottawa probably loses Brassard for a 2nd in 3 years, or overpays him long term.
If both play poorly, Zibanejad will come in cheaper going forward, and is younger so is more likely to rebound.
If Brassard plays well but Zibanejad plays poorly, the 2nd, cap savings, and age still make this is an ok trade for the Rangers, while Ottawa gets 3 years of a player they probably can’t afford after that. Still not a scenario where Ottawa makes out big.
You framed it well. I believe it is a short scope move for Ottawa, probably to get more out of Hoffman and Stone and such – right now. For Rangers it is about the long term scope. Rangers also has decent two-way players already so the deal fits them in several ways.
I think Zib has some consistency/motivational issues. That 2nd is a hard price to swallow but may be very acceptable if Zib never amounts to more than a 2B center.
Not a bad deal for both.
On Ottawa’s side this was a necessity. Zib was a shoot first type of center and was washing bobby’s scoring ability by trying to converting him to a playmaking winger. Now Bobby can go back to playing his game.
Maybe brassard will have similar numbers then Zib this year or in the next few. But I fully expect brassard’ wingers to be much better.
If that costs the sens a 2nd rounder that will be drafted 2 years from now and won’t likely play a game for 5 years(if ever) than so be it.
The sens have to move on past being a developing team and try to compete for A: the playoffs’ B: go deeper.
If anyone thinks this makes the sens a cup contender than you’re a bit delusional but if they can make the second round then uncle gene may open up the purse strings for some upgrades.
Your argument makes sense too. The pairing of Zibanejad and Bobby was not a good match. Sens needs to get some playoff success soon.
It’s a valid point. I’m looking at the trade from purely and asset vs asset deal, in which case I fully believe the Rangers did well. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad deal, but it’s a starting point for analysis. Sometimes you pay a premium to get what you need. I believe in the short run, both teams improve from the deal as both filled needs. I believe the Rangers benefitted more overall from the deal, but when you trade for something that’s hard to get it’s not always going to be 100% fair. Lots of teams make trades that aren’t fair in terms of asset for asset, or sometimes are fair in terms of asset for asset and those trades may still be good or bad.
Kessel has been traded twice in deals. First for two 1sts and a 2nd. That’s a pretty fair price for a 22 year old coming off a 36 goal season. But not sensible for where the leafs were at the time. Later he was traded for a protected 1st, a former late 1st, a former 2nd some spare parts, and the leafs held back salary. This isn’t a fair trade in terms of asset for asset but it made more sense for where he leafs were.
So the fair value trade was worse than the loss trade simply because the former didn’t take into consideration where the leafs were in their plan, and the latter did. (It doesn’t help that we now know what those assets turned out to be, but that really shouldn’t effect the value at the time).
Ottawa won’t be significant in a playoff race for many years with some of the moves they’ve made over the last 5yrs. They always seem to overpay. I still remember them getting robbed by Tampa in the Bishop for Conacher trade.
I never looked at this posting by Lyle yesterday. To busy I guess. I apologize Lyle.
After sleeping on it it is quite clear this trade is a win win, both teams made the trade due to finances, the Rangers for cap space Ottawa for real dollars. Ottawa needed a left hand centre. Having left and righties helps in many situations, it will ask so make Ottawa’s Rw’ers better as they now have a left handed centre men to play with. The Rangers needed to get young and improve their PK. Zbad should help. Also the 2nd round pick I suspect was compensation for thhe Rangers paying out 2million in bonus money before the trade was made.
So overall seems a win win. Yet I beleive Ottawa obtained the better player. In my opinion I think Ottawa will come out on top. Subjectively trade looks pretty even. Time will tell.