The NHL trade deadline and Sochi Winter Olympics break are coming up and that means rumors will continue heading into February and one deal that many thought would go down was with Michael Del Zotto and the New York Rangers pulled that off, sending the defenseman to the Nashville Predators for defenseman Kevin Klein to kick things off.
The Olympics are starting in Russia the week after next and the men's hockey competition will be one of the most anticipated events of the games and the deadline is coming after that. According to ESPN.com, the Rangers traded Del Zotto to the Nashville Predators after rumors had been coming up since earlier in the season that he would be traded. New Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault and Del Zotto never did mesh together and the led to the speculation that the defenseman would be traded and now Glen Sather has done that and while he is a very good defenseman, he did not work out the Rangers had hoped over the past couple seasons.
The 23-year-old should have a bright career ahead of him and it's a bit puzzling why the Rangers couldn't work things out and it comes after he has missed 10 games this season and some of those were because of healthy scratches and has two goals and nine assists in 42 games. Del Zotto was very productive with the Rangers and had 121 points in nearly 300 career games for the Rangers and he had 95 assists and 26 goals and after showing some great promise with nine goals and 28 assists before having his best season after that with 10 goals, 31 assists and 41 points, all career highs. The past couple seasons have not been as productive and now he is on his way out of New York and they took on Klein, who is also a right handed defenseman and he comes in on a five-year, $14.5 million deal and that will save the team money over time with Del Zotto gone.
The Ottawa Senators were rumored as a possible destination earlier in the season for Del Zotto and reports had Eric Gryba, Colin Greening and Erik Condra as possible players that could move, but now the Rangers bring on Klein, who has scored 16 goals and tallied 66 assists with the Predators.