Bure a Blueshirt

Pavel Bure, one of the most coveted players available as the NHL’s trade deadline nears, was sent to the New York Rangers Monday night in exchange for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak and a 2002 first-round pick.

The Florida Panthers are rumored to have listened to offers from the Rangers and the Dallas Stars before trading the “Russian Rocket.” Dallas was rumored to have offered Brendan Morrow, Richard Matvichuk, and a prospect.

Bure has twenty-two goals in fifty-six games this season with the Panthers. He has scored at least fifty-one goals in every season where he played at least seventy games.

Ulanov, signed as an unrestriced free agent by the Rangers last summer, and been a disappointment in New York from the start. He had only six assists in thirty-nine games with the Rangers, and spent fifteen games as a healty scratch. He also spent time with New York’s AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.

The twenty-year-old Novak has twelve goals and forty-four assists with Regina of the Western Hockey League. He was a second-round pick of New York in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

The NHL’s trade deadline is at 3:00 PM (US Eastern), Tuesday.