Trade Analysis: Lisin for Korpikoski

By Glen Miller

Recently, the Rangers and Coyotes completed a trade involving a pair of formerly highly touted prospects. The Rangers sent W/C Lauri Korpikoski to the Coyotes in exchange for Winger Enver Lisin. This may not have made the front page of most North American newspapers and it may not be one of the more commented stories on sports websites but this has the look of a trade that could come back and look really good for one or both parties.

The Coyotes get Lauri Korpikoski: The Rangers felt strongly enough about Korpikoski to move up in the 2004 draft to select the Finn #19 overall. They ended up bypassing players like Travis Zajac, Andrej Meszaros and Mike Green in order to select Korpikoski. Lauri took his time coming to North America staying the better part of 2 seasons in his native Finland.

It took him until this season to crack the Rangers lineup regularly and he finished with 6 goals and 8 assists in 68 games while spending time at both Center and Left Wing on the 3^rd and 4^thlines. Lauri proved to be a hard worker on the ice and showed decent penalty killing ability. Korpikoski flashed some offensive ability though he appears more likely to develop into more of a 3^rd line player.

The Rangers get Enver Lisin: Lisin is a talented skater; he was the fastest skater in his draft class in 2004. He is also by all accounts a magician with the puck. Lisin scored 13 goals and 21 points in 48 games last season. If you get a chance, check out Lisin on youtube. Lisin needs to work on several aspects of his game. He needs to add some more bulk to his frame and learn to better utilize his blazing speed in the offensive zone. An introduction to the defensive zone will also be in order.

Bottom Line: The Rangers come away with a player with far more upside while the Coyotes get a safer, more consistent player. The Rangers are moving away from the traditional model of organizing forward lines. Typically, most teams have two scoring lines, a “checking” line and a 4^th line known for fore-checking and grinding. The Rangers appear to want to create four lines that can skate and put pressure on the defense. By jettisoning Blair Betts, Fredrik Sjostrom, and now Korpikoski the Rangers are hell-bent on throwing conservative hockey out the door. I don’t know what the final lines will look like or who is going to center Gaborik or whether or not Zherdev is coming back but I do know that this team should be a whole lot more offensive.

It’s ironic though really; last year the team was criticized for having too many passers and not enough shooters. This year’s edition looks to have plenty of guys that will shoot the puck but no clear options to set-up the goal scorers. Hopefully for King Henrik’s sake, the Rangers will score more goals without the Rangers end of the ice turning into a shooting gallery.