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AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

In case you missed it, and it’s tough to really figure out how you missed it at this point, the Rangers lost Oscar Lindberg to Vegas in the expansion draft. When you take a look at it, Lindberg was the only real choice for Vegas. The other talked about options were either hurt (Jesper Fast), old and unlikely to repeat their great season (Michael Grabner), or just way overhyped (Antti Raanta). But believe it or not, Lindberg isn’t all that difficult to replace.

That doesn’t mean Lindberg is a bad player. He’s a great 4C and probably a solid 3C who plays a good two-way game and kills penalties. However on the Rangers, he’s a fourth line center behind Derek Stepan, Mika Zibanejad, and Kevin Hayes. And don’t let the crab people fool you, Lindberg is in no way, shape, or form better than any of those three players. But with the relative predictability of the Vegas selection, the Rangers have likely accounted for losing Lindberg.

What does that mean exactly?

Simply put, any potential trade –involving Derek Stepan, specifically– likely isn’t impacted by losing Lindberg. Jeff Gorton is no dummy. He knew Lindberg was Vegas bound when he bought out Dan Girardi and protected Nick Holden. Yet he was rumored to still be pursuing trading Stepan. The official announcement of his selection doesn’t change that.

Any move to address the blue line wouldn’t have been impacted by losing Lindberg anyway, unless he was a sweetener in a deal. Lindberg himself wasn’t fetching a high enough return to address the Blueshirts’ concerns.

And then there’s Raanta, who many pegged to be selected by Vegas. If he’s to be dealt –and remember the Cam Talbot deal, as Raanta likely isn’t fetching what you think he is fetching– then Lindberg certainly didn’t impact that at all.

So where does this leave the Rangers?

The simplest answer is they are exactly where they expected to be. I’m hoping that none of those 12 defensemen taken by Vegas doesn’t wind up on the Rangers. They are either a) not realistic targets (Shea Theodore, Trevor van Riemsdyk), or b) not really that good (basically everyone else, save for Methot).

The Rangers will begin the RFA process with Zibanejad and Jesper Fast. Brandon Pirri and Adam Clendening will be let go. They will need to figure out what they are doing on the blue line, hopefully by trading Marc Staal, re-signing Brendan Smith, and somehow getting a 1RD. They will find a cheap replacement for Lindberg. They will (hopefully) draft in the first round for the first time in what feels like a decade.

So long story short: It’s business as usual for Jeff Gorton and company. I still expect some trades to be made and some chaos to follow. Hopefully it’s good chaos.

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