Blockbuster – Martin St. Louis Traded to New York

Fantasy Impact: Martin St.Louis has been traded to the New York Rangers for Ryan Callahan, a first-round pick (2015) and a second-round pick (2014) (per Bob McKenzie, TSN).

The Rangers get: a Top 10 scorer in the NHL. And St.Louis is signed through 2014-15 and he should still have this 75-plus ability next year as well (he’ll be 39).

The Lightning get: a gritty leader and second liner who tends to get hurt a lot, and yet his demands on a new contract this summer will approach $6 million per year for six years (blame the David Clarkson deal). TB will be unwilling to pay this and so consider him a rental.

Fantasy Players Impacted: Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov will move up the depth chart next season. We were all concerned about the logjam of skilled forwards in TB and this will free some of that up. It’s hard to peg how this will impact Tampa forwards because this move happens at the same time as Steven Stamkos returning to the lineup.

— Talk about this trade here —

The Rangers benefit huge, offensively. The feeling is that Brad Richards will play with St. Louis, since Richards was a teammate of his in Tampa. At this point, Richards’ value skyrockets. This should also help Rick Nash – let’s assume that Nash – Richards – St. Louis will be the first line, while Benoit Pouliot – Derick Brassard – Mats Zuccarello will be line 2A. Derek Stepan mans line 2B with Chris Kreider. Wingers Zuccarello, Kreider and Pouliot will presumably lose some power-play time – but the impact will probably be negligable.

Stamkos not having St.Louis, becomes an 85- or 90-point player instead of a 95- or 100-point player. Prospect Jonathan Drouin’s odds of making the team and playing a prominent role just went up. His road to stardom just got a little shorter.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order: