BREAKING NEWS: Rangers Trade Gomez

Still getting details on the specifics of the trade, but Scott Gomez is off to Montreal to play with the Canadiens. In exchange, the Rangers get Long Island-native Chris Higgins, Ryan McDonagh, and Pavel Valetenko. Rangers also sent Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto. Higgins is a forward, McDonagh and Valentenko are defensmen. More as it comes...

UPDATE: Just got off a conference call with Glen Sather and Chris Higgins. Here were some highlights from both:

Sather:
-First talked about at Canadiens Society Dinner on the 22nd of June. They finalized the deal at about 3:00 today.
-Said that Higgins is a goal-scorer and can be a great asset to the team this year and in the future. Future success could also be seen IN McDonagh and Valentenko.
-The deal gives the team a lot of options for today, tomorrow, and in the future (now that they lost Gomez's 7+ million-dollar salary)
-Doesn't have any regrets about Scott Gomez. Said he was a great player, great guy, and will do well in Montreal

Higgins:
-Said there was no more pressure playing in New York than in Montreal
-Excited to return home and play in front of his family
-Was surprised about the trade, didn't think he would get traded, but if there was one place he wanted to play besides Montreal, it would be with the Rangers
-He was a big Canadiens fan when he grew up, heard it from friends when Rangers won the Cup in 1994, always enjoyed watching Brian Leetch (who went to the same high school as him)
-Plays a relentless style where he's moving the whole time, takes a lot of pride in his work ethic, likes the way Tortorella's teams play, and the Rangers were always one of the hardest teams to play when he was in Montreal

Sounds like Higgins is excited to play in NY, but it's not final that he'll stay there, though Sather said he didn't foresee a problem signing him (he's a restricted free agent). Reports are that Heatley will be coming to NY tonight, though with the cap room, they could possibly trade for Heatley and/or go after Vincent Lecavalier, Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa, or even Martin St. Louis. The possibilities are much greater for the Rangers now with the cap room that was just alleviated.

Come discuss tonight on the live-blog as the Yanks and Mets games are going on starting at 7 PM. Live-blog is in post below.