Rangers acquire goalie Pekka Rinne

The New York Rangers have announced the acquisition of goalie Pekka Rinne from the San Jose Sharks for winger Jannik Hansen and young defenceman Ryan Murphy.

Rangers General Manager Phil Grote has already spoken to goalie Mike Neuvirth to advised him that he's being re-assigned to the teams minor league affiliate Hartford Wolfpack. "Mike was disappointed for sure. He expressed that he feels that he didn't get a fair shot at the starters position here and while he is going to accept the demotion, he asked to be moved. I explained to him that when presented with an opportunity to get a goalie like Pekka Rinne, as a GM you have to pursue that to it's final conclusion. In this case we get the player. I further explained that this was a numbers game and it had no impact on how we feel about him and his talents. I will honor his request to find a new team, but he has to understand, and I believe that he does, that the deal has to make sense for us."

"This move in no way diverts us from our goal of building from the ground up. What this does is it solidifies a position that will allow the youngsters coming up through the system the latitude to make a mistake or two and not get burned by it every time. Having a Talbot/Pekka or a Pekka/Talbot tandem however you want to look at it can only be viewed as a good thing organizationally."