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 Rangers announced Wednesday that Nash, who is suffering from an undisclosed injury, will not join the club on its trip to Ottawa.

Nash has not been ruled out to rejoin the team in Montreal, however. The Rangers visit the Canadiens on Saturday at Montreal’s Bell Centre in a rematch of Tuesday’s 3-1 loss.

Nash was somewhat of a surprising scratch on Tuesday, if only because he played Sunday against the Washington Capitals. The 28-year-old Nash, who was acquired by the Rangers in a heralded trade this past summer, was questionable leading up to that game against Washington.

Nash missed a team event on Friday due to illness and missed practice the next day — the team characterized it as a maintenance day — but took warm-ups Sunday and played. He also practiced Monday but sat out with the mystery ailment on Tuesday.

Nash did not practice with the team on Wednesday.

Although the Rangers have repeatedly declined to reveal what is ailing Nash — coach John Tortorella’s most colorful response on the matter was, “None of your business” — or how serious the injury may be, it is believed that whatever is holding Nash out of the lineup is linked to a nasty hit he took last week in Boston.

Nash’s head rattled against the glass when he was slammed into the boards by Bruins forward Milan Lucic, who was not penalized on the play.

Without Nash, Marian Gaborik has moved up to the right wing position on the team’s first line, where he is playing with left wing Carl Hagelin and center Derek Stepan.

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The injury didn’t hurt the Rangers in the short term as New York held on for a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, but it could become troublesome if Callahan is sidelined for any length of time in this already shortened NHL season.

Callahan scored the eventual game-winning goal during a second-period power play and then got hurt in the third during a post-whistle scrum with Philadelphia’s Max Talbot, who dragged Callahan to the ice by his arm.

There was no immediate medical update regarding Callahan after the game.

The Rangers managed to kill two late Philadelphia power plays despite Callahan’s absence. New York turned aside five of six Flyers advantages, including a 5-on-3 edge in the second period.

“Cally does everything so well — the little plays, especially blocking shots,” said defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who had a goal and an assist. “The guys did a good job of gathering ourselves after he went off with that injury.”

The Rangers have largely relied on their top line of Rick Nash, Brad Richards, and Marian Gaborik to provide most of the offense. They sought outside help, and thought veteran Jason Arnott would join the mix, but a failed physical wrecked those plans.

Where secondary scoring will come from now remains to be seen.

Two goals were enough this time, largely because Henrik Lundqvist was sharp in making 26 saves. New York (3-3) has won two in a row for the first time.

Philadelphia (2-5) has dropped two in a row.

Kimmo Timonen ended Lundqvist’s shutout bid 7:09 into the third with a power-play goal after the Rangers were caught with too many men on the ice. Philadelphia’s power play failed twice in the second half of the period when the Flyers pressed for the tying goal.

“We have to be more hungry,” said Flyers forward Danny Briere, who tied a career high with 10 shots. “The 5-on-3 got us. It’s something we’ll have to look at.

“Their goalie is so good. You need a great shot to beat him.”

Ilya Bryzgalov, back in the net after his first game off, was solid in making 26 saves for Philadelphia.

New York got back at the Flyers after losing 2-1 last week in Philadelphia. Last season, the Rangers won all six games over the Flyers.

The Rangers, who have won three of four overall, have one game left on a three-game homestand that ends Thursday against Pittsburgh. New York rallied to beat Toronto 5-2 on Saturday with four goals in the third period.

“We’re trying to keep our game consistent,” Del Zotto said. “I thought last game we did a great job trying to gain our identity back. We followed up with, maybe it wasn’t the prettiest at times, but we found a way to win.”

It wasn’t easy. With the Rangers short-handed following a penalty for too many men on the ice, Timonen brought the Flyers within 2-1. He was left alone in the high slot when New York had all four players involved in a scrum in the right corner.

The power play for both sides told the story in the second period. Philadelphia was turned away by the Rangers during a 5-on-3 advantage that lasted for 1:17, and then allowed a power-play goal to New York 3:32 after the teams got back to full strength.

Philadelphia had a chance to at least get even after Richards was called for holding, and Derek Stepan took a delay-of-game penalty 43 seconds later.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette used his lone timeout, but his club got very few pucks to the net despite controlling play throughout. Philadelphia had an added benefit when Jeff Halpern lost his stick in front, but still couldn’t create anything.

“We certainly had our chances,” Flyers forward Mike Knuble said. “It’s the little things. We started to wear them down but couldn’t cash in.

“They are great shot-blocking team. We were passing up some good opportunities. The 5-on-3 was a turning point.”

The Madison Square Garden crowd let out a roar when Stepan left the penalty box, and then had more reason to cheer when Callahan doubled New York’s lead.

The Rangers had scored only twice in 22 power-play chances over their first five games, and failed again on their lone opportunity in the first period. But Del Zotto got involved again to help New York net its second goal.

Nash took a shot from the high slot that Del Zotto tipped in front of Bryzgalov. Callahan got the rebound, calmly settled the puck down as he shifted to his right, and then slid a shot into the open right side at 11:31 for his second goal of the season and 200th NHL point.

The Rangers struck quickly after their top line couldn’t get the puck out of its zone during the game’s first shift.

New York worked the puck around in the Philadelphia end, and Del Zotto let go a shot from the left point that slid across the ice through a maze of legs and skates and found its way past Bryzgalov, who appeared not to see the puck as Brian Boyle and Benn Ferriero screened him.

Game notes

The teams will meet three more times, including twice in New York. … The Flyers are 2-for-27 on the power play in their five losses this season and 3-for-10 in their two wins. They have allowed only one power-play goal in their victories.

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