Rangers bolster offense, sign ex-Wild scorer Gaborik

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers signed flashy forward Marian Gaborik on Wednesday with the money saved when they traded Scott Gomez to the Montreal Canadiens.

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One day after trading Gomez and the five years and $33.5 million left on his contract, the Rangers signed Gaborik, 27, away from the Minnesota Wild with a five-year, $37.5 million deal.

"He is an exciting guy to watch play," Rangers general manager Glen Sather said Wednesday. "He can skate and does a lot of great things. He's a great player and he's young. I certainly think he's in the top 10 in this league."

Gaborik was the only remaining player from the Wild's original team, and was the club's first draft pick nine years ago. He is the Wild's career-leading scorer.

After netting a career-high 42 goals in the 2007-08 season with the Wild, he was limited to 17 games last season due to injuries. He still managed to score 13 goals in that span. Gaborik has scored at least 30 goals in five of his eight NHL seasons.

Sather said the Rangers talked with doctors who performed Gaborik's hip surgery that kept him off the ice for most of last season. The doctor is confident he will be back in top shape in New York.

"He is very healthy," Sather said. "Mario Lemieux had the surgery that he had. We don't expect that there are going to be any problems."

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Offense was a big problem for the Rangers last season and led to their first-round playoff elimination against Washington when they blew a 3-1 series lead. Only the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference scored fewer regular-season goals than the Rangers' 210.

New coach John Tortorella, who took over for the fired Tom Renney in February, lamented the lack of scoring punch in the postseason and plans to fully implement a hard-charging attack next season.

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Gaborik is now at the forefront of the Rangers' offense. He already proved he could score under the defensive-style system run by former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire.

"Gaborik played under that system and he's got almost a point a game," Sather said. "He's been very productive, so it's going to be very interesting to watch to see how he does with Tortorella's system.

"As Torts has described, we're going to have a very uptempo, speed game. This guy fits the bill to a T."