The 10 best trades in the history of the New York Rangers

#3 Jaromir Jagr acquired from Washington for Anson Carter.

January 23, 2004

Glen Sather had a hand in the top three New York Rangers trades. In 2004, when the Rangers were in danger of missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season, Sather dealt versatile forward Anson Carter to the Washington Capitals for Jaromir Jagr. Getting Jagr was the catalyst for the team’s return to the playoffs after the lockout of 2004-05.

Jagr had been a Ranger target for years and they were thought to be the front runners when he forced a trade from the Penguins in 2001. It was quite a blow to Ranger fans when he was traded to the Capitals for three highly regarded prospects (they all were NHL busts).

The Rangers finally got their man when the cash-strapped Capitals decided that they couldn’t afford his $11 million contract and were content to get Carter in exchange. To make this trade even better for New York, the Capitals agreed to pick up almost half of Jagr’s salary for the remainder of his seven year contract.

After the lockout, Jagr led the “Czech-mates” to three straight years of thrilling hockey. Although they were swept by the Devils the first season, it was largely because of a dislocated shoulder that Jagr suffered in the first game.  They did make the playoffs in all three seasons Jagr was a Ranger, getting to the Conference Semi-Finals the last two years.

In his first season, Jagr  had the greatest offensive season Ranger history, setting records for goals (54), points (123), power play goals (24) and shots on goal (368). He missed winning his sixth Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer by only two points. He was a first team All Star and won the Lester Pearson Awards as the outstanding player of the year (as voted by his fellow NHL players).  He also succeeded Mark Messier as team captain for his last two seasons.

Anson Carter appeared in only 19 games for Capitals before being traded the same season to the Kings. After the lockout he played two more seasons in Vancouver, Columbus and Carolina before retiring. .

In 2008, at age 36 and an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, the Rangers let him escape. Although he had led the team in scoring in the regular season and playoffs, Glen Sather made no attempt to re-sign him and he ended up inking a two year deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

While no one could have known he would continue to play until he was 45 years old, Ranger fans can only speculate about what could have been if the team had tried to keep one of the most dynamic players in the NHL in a Ranger uniform.