Rangers Acquire Nic Petan From Minnesota 

In Chris Drury’s second trade of the day, the Rangers dealt Wolf Pack veteran Turner Elson to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Nic Petan.

A former second round pick (43rd overall by Winnipeg) Nic Petan has 170 career games under his belt in the NHL where he’s collected a total of 7 goals and 28 assists. A slightly undersized forward (5”9, 175lbs) Petan is quite a versatile player with great hands and good speed, capable of playing center or either wing position. While he’s spent the majority of his career bouncing back and forth between the NHL and AHL, Petan has performed at a point-per-game place in the American League. His 12 goals and 28 assists will instantly make him the Wolf Pack’s point leader this season.

While there’s no question this is the Rangers least noteworthy move of the day, this is a great trade for the Wolf Pack. While Elson was a respected AHL veteran, he wasn’t contributing much on the scoresheet this season. (5 goals and 7 assists in 38 games) Petan brings with him a far more impressive resume and gives the Rangers another depth option with experience in the system that can be called up if needed. On top of that, Petan will be a great line-mate for some of the Rangers young prospects including Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard.

Here’s a nice effort from Petan capitalizing on a good shot through a screen back in December.

Petan is in the final year of his deal which will leave him as an unrestricted free agent. However as we’ve seen in the past, Drury could look to extend him in attempts to give him a “Jonny Brodzinski-like” treatment.