trade georgiev

Aside from the three goalie rotation, which will eventually resolve itself, the biggest story for the Rangers over the next six weeks is going to be the trade deadline. Talks are about whether they will buy or sell, who they will trade, what they are looking for, and what message these decisions send to the team. It’s not as simple as buy or sell though. As per usual, I have thoughts.

1. Looking at the standings, the Rangers are six points behind the Flyers with a game in hand. Technically that’s within striking distance. They do, however, have four teams to leapfrog (Buffalo, Florida, Columbus, Philly) to get into the playoff picture. Again, doable. Doable with the current roster, that is. This also assumes the recent trend of better forechecking and neutral zone play isn’t a trend, and it’s the new reality. Even for the eternal optimists in the group, that’s a tall order.

2. Which brings us to buying or selling. To which I ask, can’t it be both? There are five big names being mentioned right now: Chris Kreider, Alex Georgiev, Ryan Strome, Tony DeAngelo, and Jesper Fast. Kreider and Fast are the only UFAs. Georgiev is the odd-man out in net. Strome and DeAngelo are only mentioned because of cap space and what the Rangers do with the other three guys. Again, not so black and white.

3. Kreider is the rental that will fetch the most, but the Rangers may want to keep him. After all, he’s always clicked in the top line, is the best net-front presence on the team (and possibly the league), and his skill set of speed/strength/net front presence doesn’t fall off a cliff with age. Sure he will age and get slower, but he likely won’t get weaker and he’s not going to lose his ability to screen a goalie. All of this depends on his asking price, which no one knows yet. Trading Kreider does create a hole in the top-six that can’t be immediately filled. Logically speaking, Kaapo Kakko slides right into that role and Vitali Kravtsov into the third line winger role. Still a dangerous top-nine, albeit with a different look.

4. Kreider’s fate is likely tied to Fast’s and Strome’s. If the Rangers spend to keep Kreider, they likely don’t have the cap space to keep either one. This goes to the “why can’t it be both” mentality, and buy to keep a player while selling others who either don’t fit or may get priced out. But there’s more to it than just a decision on who to keep, it’s a decision on what to target in a trade.

5. Let’s go full galaxy brain. The Rangers are looking for someone “better than Jeremy Bracco” for Georgiev. Names like Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson have come up. Both are established NHLers, which fits the asking price. Kapanen has the sexier numbers, though. Now what if the Rangers make a trade like that, and then trade Kreider for futures? All of a sudden there’s no need to rush someone like Kakko to the top line or Kravtsov to the NHL. It also gives the Blueshirts more depth to work with in the case Kreider prices himself out of New York. That’s a retool, not a sell, and it manages the two most likely players to be traded.

6. Expanding on this, that gives the Rangers the room to keep Fast –whom everyone seems to love, myself included– and buy themselves a year to see how much Strome’s current production is a product of Artemi Panarin. It is to an extent, everyone is better with Panarin, but how much can Strome drive on his own and how much is that worth in a contract? It’s actually not a decision the Rangers need to make right away since Strome is a RFA. With Kreider out, the Rangers would be able to keep this hypothetical return of Kapanen ($3.2 million), Fast ($2.5 million?), and Strome ($5 million?). Plus the growth of Kakko, Chytil, and Kravtsov.

7. Six points down, and we haven’t even touched on DeAngelo yet. A possible 20-goal, 60-point defenseman, the Rangers missed their opportunity to ink him for below market value and now he’s making them pay the price. Despite the offense, DeAngelo is still less than stellar on defense, so the question isn’t what his next contract will be (big), it’s whether or not the offensive plusses outweigh the net-negative on defense enough to justify it. And let’s be real, the Rangers aren’t trading Jacob Trouba or Adam Fox, and they aren’t going to pay their 3RD $5 million or more.

8. But let’s galaxy brain this a bit more, or at least from a coaching perspective. Giving Tony his money and moving him to LD, where the Rangers are relatively weak, and he’s back in the top-four picture. Handedness shouldn’t matter this much on the blue line. That gives the Rangers a bonafide top-four with Skjei, Trouba, Fox, and DeAngelo. Given the state of the farm (Lindgren, Rykov, Lundkvist, Miller), DeAngelo may just be a luxury they won’t be able to afford no matter what they do.

9. One last fun thought, and that is not trading anyone other than rentals at the deadline, or at least those that aren’t part of the future. Teams have more cap space at the draft and you never know when a team might come calling for a package of Georgiev and DeAngelo or Georgiev and Strome and offer up someone crazy. There’s options. But it is most certainly not a “buy or sell” deadline for the Rangers.

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