"In the span of four days, New York Rangers general manager Glen Sather and New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello took a drive through the NHL's high rent district and came away with Olli Jokinen and Ilya Kovalchuk.

And while the two teams certainly stole headlines with the deals, was the risk worth the reward? Let's take a look:

Trade: Rangers send forwards Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins to Calgary for Jokinen and Brandon Prust.

Analysis: Sather erased two of his own mistakes in this deal. After signing a three-year, $9 million deal with the Rangers over the summer, Kotalik, 31, struggled under John Tortorella's aggressive offensive system, managing just eight goals in 45 games and spending the past few weeks on Tortorella's healthy scratch list. It was Kotalik who held up the deal, balking at the prospect of going to Calgary, one of the teams on his no-trade list.

Higgins, acquired from Montreal in the Scott Gomez summer blockbuster, was equally ineffective as a Ranger, at least in the scoring department. Higgins plays a gritty style, but his six goals and minus-9 ranking in 55 games was far below expectations.

Whether Jokinen and Prust can erase the memory of those two failed acquisitions will be determined over the next 2 1/2 months, but they seem well worth the risk.

At 31, Jokinen is in the final year of a contract that pays him $5.25 million."