CityGuy

The Blue Jackets traded enigmatic offensive star Nikolai Zherdev and center Dan Fritsche to the New York Rangers for defensemen Christian Backman and Fedor Tyutin on Wednesday.

Zherdev, 23, gives the Rangers one of the NHL's best one-on-one players, but also a Russian right winger who has frequently fallen into disfavor with management and teammates. He had a career-high 61 points last season with 26 goals and 35 assists, second on the Columbus team to captain Rick Nash.

"He's got upside written all over him," Rangers general manager Glen Sather said. "We are trying to get younger, we are trying to get more talented and we're trying to get faster. If you look around the league today, that's the way the league is going."

But Zherdev has also been in management's doghouse for selfish play and was never warmly received by his Columbus teammates or fans because he spoke only halting English and seldom made public appearances.

Zherdev was the No. 4 pick in the 2003 draft and had to sneak out of Russia under cover of darkness to get to North America because he feared he might be compelled to remain in his homeland under the guise of required military service.