Chris is still out gallivanting around this glorious country of ours, so I’m covering his musings today. I don’t like to dawdle with long intros, so let’s get right to it. It’s the final musings before the trade deadline.

  • There has been a lot of action the past two days, and it looks like all of the solid potential targets that we wanted for the Rangers are now gone. Let’s recap the trades around the league:
    • Montreal sends Jiri Sekac to Anaheim for Devante Smith-Pelly
    • Florida sends Sean Bergenheim and a 7th round pick in 2016 to Minnesota for a 2016 3rd round pick
    • Carolina sends Jiri Tlusty to Winnipeg for a 2016 3rd round pick and a conditional 2015 6th round pick
    • Toronto sends Daniel Winnik to Pittsburgh for Zach Sill, a 2015 4th round pick and a 2016 2nd round pick
    • Caolina sends Andrej Sekera to LA for a 2015 1st round pick and solid prospect Ronald McKeown
  • All of that happened since Tuesday, which leads us to believe that actual deadline day will be boring. Of course now that I said that, there will be 14 blockbusters. No more. No less.
  • The Rangers could have really used Winnik to shore up that fourth line if they aren’t sold on Lee Stempniak or Oscar Lindberg. Tanner Glass is no longer a viable option there. The Rangers probably could have acquired Winnik for the same price, but draft picks are becoming a rare commodity for New York. I can see the logic.
  • That said, I think the asking price for Bergenheim was just fine, and something the Rangers should have gone for. He was one of those guys that came up in the same chart as Mats Zuccarello when I analyzed him a few weeks back.

  • As for Sekera, that’s the equivalent of Dylan McIlrath and a first (that the Rangers don’t have) for Sekera. I’m ok with passing on that. Patrick Wiercioch is still my preferred target on defense, even if he is nowhere on Glen Sather’s radar.
  • As for the Rangers, they appear to be linked to Tyler Bozak, and that makes zero sense whatsoever. I discussed that this morning though. Moving on.
  • The Rangers are 8-1-2 without Henrik Lundqvist, but mostly because the offense has scored four goals a game. That won’t continue. Then again, neither will giving up three goals per game. The sign of a great team is one that can pick up the slack when others are slumping. The offense is picking it up when the goaltending is that of backup quality.
  • I was very, very hard on the Rangers earlier this year, wondering when the SPSV%/PDO bubble would burst. But their play lately has been much better, and they’ve been doing it in spite of Glass dressing nightly. The simplest upgrade here is to just insert Jesper Fast into the lineup for Glass when he is ready to return.
  • Which brings me to my next point: Perhaps it is best if the Rangers don’t make a move to shore up their forwards. Why waste assets when you already have a viable fourth line in Stempniak-Dominic Moore-Fast. If you aren’t sold on Stempniak, then deal from expendable assets for a guy like Erik Condra, who is currently playing the off-wing, is solid defensively, has solid underlying numbers, but doesn’t score. On a DZ start loaded fourth line, he’s a perfect fit.
  • So basically, we want Condra and Wiercioch from Ottawa. Fill two holes, should be minimal cost, probably doesn’t need much roster gutting. John Moore would likely be the only roster player needed to go, maybe Stempniak (cap purposes).
  • But of course, the Rangers aren’t linked to these guys. They aren’t even on their radar. Ok, Condra is. But Curtis Glencross is. Apparently Mark Letestu is. Torrey Mitchell. Sigh.
  • Question time:
    • Are there any players remaining that you want the Rangers to target?
    • Would you prefer that the Rangers stand pat?
    • Will you mutiny if the Rangers trade for Bozak?
    • Who is more expendable: J.T. Miller or Jesper Fast?

Share: 

More About: