The deal sends right wing Derek Dorsett, center Derick Brassard, defenseman John Moore and a sixth-round draft pick in 2014 to the Rangers.

“I was surprised. I heard rumors here and there, but didn’t try to focus on them,” Gaborik said Wednesday during a television interview with TSN. “This is a new challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”

Although Dorsett is on injured reserve with a broken collarbone, he is expected to return by the end of the regular season or the start of the playoffs, his agent Allain Roy confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com.

The Rangers (17-15-3) entered Wednesday in ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings with 37 points.

It was the second significant move leading up to the deadline for the Rangers, who acquired gritty forward Ryane Clowe from San Jose on Tuesday in exchange for three draft picks.

“Listen, (Gaborik)’s a good player and his game is beginning to come but it gives us some flexibility moving forward; we’re filling out the middle of our lineup with the deal,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “We’re getting some good players with some grind and some skill.”

The decision to move Gaborik was not shocking, given his struggles this season. Although the 31-year-old Slovakian native is coming off a 41-goal campaign in 2011-12, he has been inconsistent this season.

“Throughout this process our focus was to add a player who could provide a boost to our offense, improve our goal scoring and power play and we identified Marian Gaborik as the player we wanted,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. “He has been an elite goal scorer in this league for many years and we are very excited to have him.”

Gaborik has nine goals and 19 points this season but has scored goals in just six of the Rangers’ 35 games. He also has been benched and demoted several times by Tortorella during his struggles.

Tortorella said he didn’t lose faith in Gaborik.

“No. Gabby and I have a great relationship,” Tortorella said. “I hope you guys don’t go that way and interfere our relationship because it’s a really good one, no matter what’s gone on with him. He’s a good man and I’ll miss him. I’ll tell you right now, I’ll miss him. He has grown as he’s been with us. Quite honestly, when he first came here, I don’t think he really had enough skin on him. He has skin on him and I respect him and I think he’ll get his game back.”

In dealing the three-time 40-goal scorer, the Rangers also shed salary — a huge coup considering the salary cap will drop to $64.3 million next year. Gaborik had one year left on a five-year, $37.5 million deal that paid him $7.5 million annually.

“The biggest thing is if we had been where we wanted to be, none of this would have happened so it’s a message to everybody that it’s not good enough right now and unfortunately that’s part of the business management decided to do. But we wish him well,” Rangers center Brad Richards said.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets added some offense to a lineup that has made a surprising playoff push. As of Wednesday, Columbus (15-14-7) is one point back of the eighth-place St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference standings.

“The one thing we needed to address is goal scoring, offense and the power-play,” Kekalainen said Wednesday during an interview with TSN.

New York and Columbus have become big-time trading partners in recent times.

The Rangers received top-line forward Rick Nash from the Blue Jackets in a trade last July that sent Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a first-round pick in this year’s draft to Columbus.

Nash, the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft by the Blue Jackets in 2002, has 13 goals and 30 points in his first 31 games with New York.

In terms of the players heading to New York in Wednesday’s deal, the Rangers addressed some major needs.

Paper-thin at center, the Rangers added depth down the middle by adding Brassard, a 25-year-old center who has seven goals and 11 assists in 34 games for the Blue Jackets this season.

Agent Allan Walsh said via text that Brassard is “very happy” to join the Rangers.

The Rangers also add another defenseman in Moore to a back end that currently is without valuable blue-liner Marc Staal, who is out indefinitely with an eye injury.

Moore, 22, is a former first-round pick (2009, 21st overall) who averaged 14:30 per game.

Although Dorsett is injured, the 23-year-old adds some extra grit to the Rangers, who toughened up one day prior with the addition of Clowe.

Dorsett, who has 53 penalty minutes in 24 games for the Blue Jackets, broke his collarbone last month but is not believed to be done for the season, contrary to the initial reports.

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The deadline for teams to use the franchise tag is 4 p.m. ET on Monday.

The team’s decision means that left tackle Jake Long and receiver Brian Hartline will become unrestricted free agents on March 12 unless the Dolphins can agree to contracts with both players before then.

The 29-year-old Starks made the Pro Bowl as an alternate and is one of the anchors of Miami’s stout run defense. He was hard to move in the middle and showed enough athleticism to also register 4.5 sacks and an interception. Starks has 32.5 sacks and four interceptions in 140 career games.

Long, the Dolphins’ No. 1 overall pick in 2008, was placed on injured reserve in December because of a left triceps injury. Before that injury, the 27-year-old left tackle had missed only two games in five NFL seasons. He was chosen as a Pro Bowl starter each of the three years before 2012.

Long has become a less dominant blocker as his injuries accumulate. He was slowed by an ankle injury as a rookie and hurt his shoulder in 2010. In 2011 he battled back trouble, then missed the final game with a torn right biceps.

The 26-year-old Hartline posted career highs in receptions (74) and yards (1,083) as he provided a go-to target for first-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

He has 183 receptions, 2,753 yards and six touchdown catches in 60 career games.

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Powe was helped off the ice after a frightening collision with Washington’s Matt Hendricks early in the second period of the Rangers’ 2-1 win against the Capitals on Sunday.

“I missed him right away on the bench, especially protecting a lead,” Tortorella said. “I don’t know how long he’s going to be out. He doesn’t have the stats, but it’s not always about the stats. He’s done a lot of good things in his role.”

Powe was said to be feeling better a day after the collision. He appeared to be unconscious after the hit and was down on the ice for several minutes looking dazed, and the team is handling the injury with caution.

Down one of their best penalty killers, the Rangers recalled physical forward Brandon Mashinter from the team’s AHL club, the Connecticut Whale. It is not yet clear whether Mashinter will make his debut or whether Chris Kreider will play in place of Powe in Tuesday’s game against Montreal.

“I’ve been interested to look at Mashinter. He’s an interesting one to me, but I’m not sure,” Tortorella said. “I’m not sure what the lineup’s going to be. A number of things come into play.”

Both skaters practiced with the team Monday.

Mashinter, 24, has five goals and six assists in 14 games this season for the Whale. He previously played 13 NHL games for the San Jose Sharks in 2010-11.

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Spielman refused Friday to comment specifically on contracts. He said team officials, as always, will meet next week at the NFL scouting combine with the agents for every player. He declined to address the possibility of negotiating a new deal for Harvin.

Harvin will enter the final year of his contract in 2013.

After spraining his left ankle in November, Harvin was placed on injured reserve in December. He didn’t return to the team’s facility until his exit physical in January, but Spielman said Harvin has been cleared for full activity.

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Kiprusoff was injured in Calgary’s 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Kiprusoff was added to the IR retroactively and is considered day to day with a lower-body injury. Backlund is expected to miss four to six weeks.

The Flames have activated defenseman Anton Babchuk while center Mike Cammalleri remains day to day with a hip flexor and rookie Sven Baertschi is still week to week with a hip flexor.

The team also recalled center Ben Street from the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.

Street leads the Abbotsford Heat this season with 12 goals and 19 assists in 44 games. He signed with Calgary last summer as a free agent.

Calgary’s next game is Saturday night in Vancouver against the Canucks.

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It was during the Giants’ 20-17 overtime victory in San Francisco last season that Williams fumbled two punt returns, including one in overtime that led to Lawrence Tynes’ game-winning field goal.

After that game, Jacquian Williams and Devin Thomas both admitted that the special teams were well aware of Williams’ concussion history.

“The thing is, we knew he had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, to take him out of the game,” Jacquian Williams said after the win.

So after the Saints’ bounty scandal exploded, Kyle Williams figured the Giants might be disciplined as well.

“When the bounty stuff came out and [former Saints defensive coordinator] Gregg Williams had said the same things, basically, they went for his neck with that and they took that to the absolute highest level they could,” Kyle Williams told reporters Wednesday in New Orleans. “But it was almost like when the Giants said it, it was not a big deal.

“That’s the only thing that kind of shocked me. I thought that would have the same reaction because it was the same exact thing.”

The Giants said they never went after Kyle Williams’ head. His first fumble came after a punt bounced off his leg and Thomas recovered. And the second turnover came when Jacquian Williams poked the ball out from the side, leading to another Thomas recovery.

Even though Kyle Williams wasn’t hit in the head on those two fumbles, the 49ers’ punt returner said the Giants did hit him in the head during the game. But he wouldn’t go as far as to say that the Giants were purposely aiming for his head.

“They got me,” Kyle Williams said. “They definitely got me.”

The Niners returner is currently on injured reserve but is with the team at the Super Bowl. He said he is not bitter or upset with the Giants.

“Guys try to put guys out of the game every single game,” he said.

Gregg Williams was heard on an audio tape that was part of the NFL’s investigation into the Saints’ bounty scandal directing his players to target Kyle Williams before a Saints’ game against the Niners.

“We need to find out in the first two series of the game (about) that little wide receiver, No. 10 (Williams), about his concussion,” the former Saints defensive coordinator said on the tape. “We need to f—— put a lick on him right now. He needs to decide. He needs to f—— decide.”

That’s why Kyle Williams thought the Giants might be disciplined after hearing what Jacquian Williams said and how Thomas also said, “He’s had a lot of concussions. We were just like, ‘We’ve got to put a hit on that guy.'”

“The only thing that was crazy to me was that nothing came of it,” the Niners returner said. “That was the only thing. Because I fully expected it to because of what just had happened with the Saints. When that came out I was like, Oh, OK there’ll be the same type of thing.’ But there was nothing.

“I don’t know if that was because (the Giants) won (the Super Bowl), or if it just wasn’t a big deal. But I just thought it would be exactly the same type of thing.”

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