NEW YORK, NY – The New York Rangers, fresh off the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, made a major move ahead of the free agency season by dumping 29-year old Scott Gomez. The move was packaged in a 6-player trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

Gomez was acquired on July 1, 2007 as a free agent. His signing seemed to herald great things to come on Broadway. It was not be as Gomez was less than enthralling and incurred the wrath of many a Garden faithful. In 77 games, the forward had 16 goals 42 assists and added in 60 PIMs.

For Gomez, the Rangers acquired 26-year old Chris Higgins who skated in 57 games for the Canadiens this past season and accumulated 12 goals and 11 assists. He missed 25 games due to injury.

Also mixed into the deal were defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Pavel Valentenko coming to New York. In addition to Gomez heading to Montreal, forward Tom Pyatt and defenseman Mike Busto are headed to the Canadiens’ system. Pyatt skated in Hartford (AHL) this season and Busto played for the Charlotte Checkers in the ECHL.

Rangers General Manager Glen Sather made the announcement in adding youth to the club’s potential roster on Broadway. McDonagh skated for the University of Wisconsin this past season while Valentenko skated for the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) after skating in the KHL for Dynamo Moscow.

With one major move off the books, will Sather continue to shake up the roster for this coming season? You can bet that Wade Redden and Chris Drury cannot feel secure in their positions today.

Contact lm.davis@prohockeynews.com