"It's done. For better or worse, Olli Jokinen is a Ranger.

In a trade that seemed to take longer to complete than the one that sent Wayne Gretzky from Edmonton to L.A. back in 1988, the Rangers late last night acquired Jokinen and Brandon Prust from Calgary in exchange for Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins.

The deal, announced in the wee hours Eastern time, had had been held up for a couple of days while Kotalik played Hamlet, pondering whether to waive his three-team no-trade clause that included the Flames.

Jokinen and Prust, who both played in the Flames' 3-0 loss to the Flyers in Calgary last night before the transaction was announced -- how bizarre is that? -- are expected to join the Blueshirts for tonight's game against the Kings.

The key player in the deal for the offense-challenged Blueshirts is Jokinen, the very talented 31-year-old center who has scored 34 goals or more in four seasons, but who also has a terrible reputation around the league as a selfish player who also is a bad teammate.

GM Glen Sather did well to move Kotalik, whom he signed to a three-year, $9 million free-agent contract over the summer who but fell quickly out of favor with head coach John Tortorella and became a shell of himself over the last month."