"If a team is going to take a flyer on a young player who has yet to make it, best that it be on a player with skill.

This is pretty much what the Rangers did yesterday in acquiring 23-year-old winger Francois Bouchard from the Capitals in exchange for 21-year-old defenseman Tomas Kundratek, a 2008 third-rounder. Bouchard will go to the AHL Whale from Hershey while Kundratek makes the opposite journey.

Bouchard was selected 35th overall by the Caps in the 2006 Entry Draft, 15 picks ahead of Boston's Milan Lucic and 19 before the Rangers tabbed Artem Anisimov. "