Devils make first-ever trade with Rangers for Michael Grabner

NEWARK – That Devils general manager Ray Shero moved quickly, before Monday’s trade deadline to acquire Michael Grabner was not surprising since a scoring wing was high on his priority list.

That a deal was consummated with the rival Rangers late Thursday night certainly was shocking, though. It’s the first trade between the franchises since the Devils moved to New Jersey in 1982.

The Devils sent its own second-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft plus 20-year-old Russian defenseman Yegor Rykov to the Rangers for Grabner, a 30-year-old Austrian with a team-leading 25 goals.

The Devils, who lost their second straight, 4-2, to the Wild on Thursday night, remain in fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and in the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot as they seek their first playoff berth since 2012.

But there’s uncertainty over when – or whether – top-six left wing Marcus Johansson will be able to return to the Devils’ lineup.

Johansson missed his 14th game with his second concussion of the season on Thursday, topping his 13-game concussion absence in November.

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Grabner, a 6-foot-1, 188-pound speedster, has 25 goals and six assists for the Rangers, who are listening to trade offers for everybody but goalie Henrik Lundqvist. He had 27 goals and 13 assists last season and will become the 12th player to complete the hat trick of playing for the Devils, Rangers and Islanders, a group that includes P.A. Parenteau and goalies John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Dunham and Kevin Weekes.

Grabner is in the second season of a two-year, $3.3 million deal.

It’s possible that Shero sending a valuable second-round pick and Rykov, who assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald recently listed among the organization’s top 10 prospects, signals a willingness to negotiate a new deal with Grabner before he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Grabner has also played for the Maple Leafs and Canucks and he set career highs with 34 goals and 18 assists for the Islanders in 2010-11.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Rykov is currently playing for St. Petersburg SKA in the KHL and Fitzgerald said it was not likely he would be coming to North America in the near future.

“He’s a left-shot defenseman who really grabbed our attention after we drafted him at the World Juniors,” Fitzgerald said. “He was one of the better d-men in the tournament. He’s got a lot of poise with the puck. He moves the puck well. His skating still needs to come, agility wise. But he’s a go-to guy in the Russian league.”

It’s the first trade between the franchises since the Rangers acquired star defenseman Barry Beck from the Colorado Rockies on Nov. 2, 1979 for Bobby Sheehan, Lucien Deblois, Pat Hickey, Mike McEwen and Dean Turner.

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