jeff gorton john davidson

The NY Rangers are not going to be quiet this offseason, and they have the trade bait to make things happen. The team has a few holes on the roster, specifically at center and left defense, and it’s likely that they will make trades to address these issues. Now that doesn’t mean trading for over-the-hill veterans. They will stick to their model of acquiring young talent that is cost controlled. To do so, they will need to give to get.

The Blueshirts have a bunch of solid trade chips that can help augment the current roster. They won’t part with all of these assets, but nonetheless they are considered trade chips. There are some untouchables, some decent value, and some with no value.

*Disclaimer: Listing a player here does not mean I advocate trading him. It’s just listing a player here.

The Untouchables

Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, Igor Shesterkin, and Adam Fox are the big name players that the Rangers aren’t trading. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since they represent elite potential at a major cost savings. K’Andre Miller and Nils Lundkvist are likely on this list as well.

Other players that are untouchable are players that are untouchable due to their current circumstances. This means the Rangers either can’t or won’t trade them. That includes Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Marc Staal, and Henrik Lundqvist. These guys aren’t untouchable because the Rangers don’t want to trade them, but their current circumstances mean they won’t be traded. It’s a fine line, I know.

Need To Be Wowed

These are the guys that the Rangers will likely bring back next season. They are part of the immediate future of the team, and will likely be here through their next contract (or the end of their current contract). This list is very short. It’s mainly just Pavel Buchnevich, Filip Chytil, and Jacob Trouba off the NHL roster. Maybe Ryan Lindgren.

From the prospects, I’d imagine that list includes Matthew Robertson and Zac Jones. I wonder if Morgan Barron is included here, since the Rangers finally got him signed to an ELC this summer. Vitali Kravtsov is definitely in this section.

The Preferred “Deal From” List – Prospects

In a flat-cap era, prospects have all the value. This doesn’t take away from the on-ice value of some of the more established players, it just means they cost more money. There’s a few players on this list from the NHL. The big one is Alex Georgiev, especially with a Henrik Lundqvist retirement becoming less likely. Brett Howden and Libor Hajek are probably on this list now.

From the prospect pool, this is where it gets tough to say. Given the depth at wing, I wonder if Lauri Pajuniemi is now on this list. He’s likely going to be a solid NHLer, but given the young makeup at wing, is his future with the Rangers?

Lias Andersson is also on this list now, as is Karl Henriksson. There’s a chance Yegor Rykov may make an appearance here, but it depends on how the Rangers address their issues at center and LD this summer.

The NHL Caliber “Deal From” List

These are the key RFAs – Tony DeAngelo and Ryan Strome. They likely don’t have as much value as you think. This is partially due to fan tendencies to overrate their own players. After speaking with a few people in the know, there are multiple legitimate reasons for this. It has to do with past production. Both put up career years in contract years. Neither has a past history of being sustainable NHLers. Both have major flaws in their game. These are things NHL GMs look at, and it is a tough pill to swallow when evaluating trade value.

The surprise in this section is Brendan Smith. Smith is still an NHL-caliber defenseman, he just has a bad contract. The Rangers can retain money if needed, or they can simply try to dump him on a budget team that needs to get to the cap floor (Ottawa).

The “Others”

This is everyone else. They aren’t the best prospects in the system. It’s bottom-six/bottom pairing players at the NHL level. They aren’t exactly throw-ins, but they aren’t the centerpieces of a deal. These are your Brendan Lemieux’s, the other prospects not explicitly called out here. The big name here is Tarmo Reunanen. It looks like he’s fallen behind the prospect depth chart for reasons beyond his control.

The NY Rangers have a bunch of players that fall into the trade bait category. It’s unlikely they will be quiet, but making moves to address the holes on the roster. However it may cost more than you may think. Of course, given the flat cap, it may cost less. It’s a weird time for the NHL.

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