According to multiple reports, and specifically spector’s hockey website (trade rumor section) Sources say New York Rangers GM Glen Sather, unhappy over the depth of his blueline, is trying to convince Phoenix Coyotes GM Dan Maloney to part with veteran defenceman Ed Jovanovski. Garrioch notes Jovanovski has a “no-movement” clause in his current contract which pays him $6.5 million per season for the next four seasons, and the Rangers would need to dump salary to make room for his contract, but Garrioch suggests that shouldn’t be a sticking point, quote a “league executive” saying the Rangers would have no trouble putting money in the minors.
Spector’s Note: That’s the only way the Rangers could do it comfortably without gutting their roster. Freeing up over $6.5 million is a lot of salary, even for the Rangers. That being said, Jovanovski would have to agree to a trade, and if his comments last summer when it was believed the NY Islanders were trying to acquire him are anything to go by, he has no intention of doing so as he and his family are happily settled in the Phoenix area.
