Revamping this defense

Photo: Winslow Townson/AP

It’s no secret that defense is the big problem area for the New York Rangers. Fans know it, pundits know it, and by the sound of things GM Jeff Gorton knows it. This defensive corps is simply not fit to contend for a Cup, and has held back an otherwise talented forward group as the team gets hemmed in its own end and struggles to complete successful breakouts.

Revamping this defense is Gorton’s number one priority as he heads into the trade deadline and the offseason, and as I hinted at in this week’s post about my dream acquisition, it’s something that’s been on my mind as well. I’ve given some thought to how the Rangers might go about fixing things, and hopefully they can do so without losing too much of their offensive mojo. How might they go about ameliorating the present situation you ask? Hold onto your butts.

The first move is going to seem obvious, but might still stir the pot a little bit depending on how you look at the game. I’m talking of course about buying out Dan Girardi. He’s been one of the worst players in the league over the course of his extension, and there simply is no path to contention that involves him remaining on this team. He’s a great guy, and used to be one of my favorite Rangers, but since his trade value is shot there’s really only one way to go, and that’s with a buyout. Sorry folks, but it’s got to be done.

The next move(s) is going to be a bit trickier. The Rangers would need to trade both Marc Staal and Kevin Klein for my magic plan to work (just wait until the end, it’s good I promise). This clears both money and roster spots, but is obviously incredibly difficult given the former’s cap hit and the latter’s on-ice performance. Still though, if we live in a world where Toronto can trade Dion Phaneuf, we live in a world where we can salvage enough value for these two defensemen, even if it means we only get lower picks or garbage prospects. As long as we get something, and I’m actually willing to bet there are still teams out there that would give up something decent for Marc Staal (and maybe even Klein too).

Now time for one more cut, and then I promise there’s going to be actual defensemen involved in this defensive remodel. This time it’s Nick Holden. His value is never going to be higher than it is right now, and if the Rangers can get back what they gave up for him (a 4th round pick) or dare I say it, more than what they gave up for him (a 3rd round pick) then that would be great. We do after all, want to draft players at some point, and picks are good for just that.

Now that I’ve sliced and diced up this defensive group, let’s begin to remake things in Gorton’s image. The first move can be accomplished at this trade deadline: acquire Cody Franson. You’ll be hearing a bit more about him later in the week (yes I read the posts saved in drafts sometimes) and while he isn’t a superstar by any means I think he’d be a decent move for the right price. Given that somewhere along the way of shipping off half the defense the Rangers hopefully recouped some assets, they can probably afford Franson.

Next up we have a minor move, but one that I’m personally a little excited about: Calling up Ryan Graves. Dave just wrote about this, and his booming shot could be a nice addition to the Rangers back end. Obviously he’s young and likely going to make mistakes, but better to have him work out whatever issues he’s going to have defensively earlier rather than later in his career.

Finally, the centerpiece of this Extreme Home Makeover: Rangers Edition – Kevin Shattenkirk. With all of the cap space the Rangers have cleared by trading away Staal, Klein, and Holden and buying out Dan Girardi, they’ll certainly have the cap space to land the much-discussed Shattenkirk. I don’t think I really need to go too much into his résumé, but I will say that we’d finally have a proper top pairing defenseman to put with Ryan McDonagh, and boy would that be a sight to see. I don’t think the Rangers should trade for him at the deadline as that would certainly cost a fortune, but even with RFA needs, there’s enough money in the fold for Shatty.

So at the end of all this we’re left with a top pair of McDonagh/Shattenkirk, a second pair of Skjei/Franson, and a bottom pair of Ryan Graves/Adam Clendening. From there carry one of the AHL guys as an alternate or make a minor trade for a 7th defenseman.

And there you have it, the New York Rangers defense. While it’s not the best defensive group in the league, it is still talented and balanced, and with this team’s forward lines would be more than enough to put this team in a place to contend. The likelihood of all of this going down is pretty slim I realize, but this was just my crazy pipe dream idea on how to remake the Rangers’s defensive group. Maybe some of this transpires, and maybe not, but if I were GM I’d certainly be working the phones trying to make something happen.