Over the weekend, Elliotte Friedman noted that Vegas, Seattle, and Ottawa are the front runners in a potential Ryan Strome trade. The reactions were as expected, as all three teams are in completely different states. Vegas is looking to stay competitive and address a need. Ottawa is looking to trim down future salary. Seattle is….something? Looking for a 1C maybe? It’s unclear.
Either way, all signs are pointing to Ryan Strome getting traded. Granted, we said that last year too, but hey it’s another year, another rumor. Strome is clearly not in Chris Drury’s future plans, so may as well recoup some assets. The thing is, all three teams offer something different.
Seattle
Seattle is an interesting trade partner because they are impossible to predict. They have cap space, defensemen, and draft picks. With the rumored Patrik Nemeth signing, the Rangers don’t really need a defenseman anymore. Thus we are left with draft picks. I can’t imagine Seattle giving up draft picks this early for Strome.
Perhaps Seattle is the target if the Rangers are looking to shed more salary, which is certainly a possibility. But again, this is widely viewed as a team that is not going to be as good as Vegas was out of the gate. Can they really sacrifice picks for a pending UFA?
Vegas
Of the rumored teams, Vegas is the only landing spot where there is potential for a hockey trade. Vegas really needs center depth, and they do have some of those depth pieces the Rangers appear to be targeting, but most of them appear to be wingers. The Rangers just added Barclay Goodrow and Sammy Blais as depth wingers, so while there is a potential hockey trade to be made, I’m unsure exactly what it could be.
The fear here is targeting Ryan Reaves for your obligatory face puncher. Reaves is not what he was a few years ago, and while he’s only got one year left on his deal, it would again be another trade where Drury doesn’t get full value out of his assets. He’s 34 years old now, and that does matter. If Reaves is part of the deal with other assets, then that’s fine. But Reaves as the center piece would be another Buchnevich trade.
Update: With the Marc-Andre Fleury trade, Vegas now has the cap space to take on Strome without sending an NHL player back
Ottawa
We covered this a week or so ago. The initial thought is Colin White, which is odd if the Rangers truly are in on Phillip Danault, as rumored. Both are similar players, driving play in both ends but not necessarily putting up the scoring numbers. Both White and Danault are defensive centers that will only play two strengths. If this is the type of player the Rangers are targeting, I’d rather them deal Strome for White.
Danault is definitely the better player, but they are similar. And White has two fewer expected years and $2 million less of an expected cap hit. That definitely counts for something here.
Josh Norris is another name that has popped up, mostly because Ranger fans are comparing a Strome deal to a Brassard/Zibanejad deal. I can’t see that happening again, but hey Norris would be my target too.
Of these three teams, Ottawa would be my preferred target. Neither Vegas nor Seattle have the assets that would match what Ottawa can give for Ryan Strome. There’s more than one avenue to shed Strome while still getting decent value for him. After the Buchnevich debacle, Drury needs a trade win.
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