The next two days will be about the Rangers’ sense of urgency and their definition of going all-in at the trade deadline that arrives at 3 p.m. Friday.
Me, I’m diving into this pool with a safety net. I’m not trading Gabe Perreault, I’m not trading Brennan Othmann and I’m not trading Will Cuylle. Not a chance. I’m probably not trading Kaapo Kakko, either.
I guess that means I’m not willing to go all-in on this deadline for the usual suspects whose names have been bandied about for weeks and weeks and who do not include an apparent difference-maker.
Remember when the Canucks thought they were getting a difference-maker in Elias Lindholm when they jumped the market ahead of the All-Star Game to acquire the rental in the middle? Vancouver is now seduced by the newest shiny toy on the market, Pittsburgh right wing Jake Guentzel, and is looking to move Lindholm in order to clear cap space.
This is something out of the bad old days of Trader Phil or Mad Mike, no?
The Blueshirts’ acquisition of Alex Wennberg from Seattle on Wednesday to center the third line has narrowed GM Chris Drury’s focus to finding a right wing to play with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider and to strengthen the defense. The Blueshirts entered Thursday with just over $2.9 million in cap space, but that would increase by another approximate $800,000 if either Adam Edstrom or Matt Rempe is assigned to the AHL Wolf Pack.
Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek sent Adam Henrique to Edmonton in a deal that brought a first-rounder back. The Ducks are looking for far more in return for Frank Vatrano, who has another full year on his contract at a $3.65 million cap hit and would put an end to the questions about the third piece of the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad connection until the end of the 2024-25 playoffs.
Thus far, Drury has resisted meeting the price tag for the winger who is quite content to remain in SoCal, where a contract extension may be forthcoming this summer. It does not seem as if this is the player the Rangers would go “all-in” on. I don’t think anyone expects Vatrano to unlock Zibanejad.
The Panthers got Vlad Tarasenko without yielding a first-rounder for the winger. The Avalanche, who were in the hunt for Wennberg, acquired center Casey Mittelstadt from the Sabres. Colorado also sent a first-rounder to the Flyers for pending free-agent defenseman Sean Walker.
If there is a difference-making rental forward on the market, it is Guentzel. He’s a player who would make the Rangers more dangerous and there is no question about it. He would change the dynamic. But you would have to think that the Penguins would demand a first-rounder and at least Kakko. Maybe more.
I’m not doing it. I’m not sacrificing Kakko for a rental. I’m not becoming a co-conspirator in rebuilding Pittsburgh’s barren organizational pipeline. I’m not all in for a rental winger even as appealing as the 29-year-old No. 59, who recorded 23 goals in 37 games in the Penguins’ back-to-back Cup years of 2017 and 2018 and has a total of 34 goals in 58 playoff matches. If it’s a first and any prospect other than Perreault, Othmann and Cuylle, I’d be in. But I wouldn’t think Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas would think this would be close to enough.
If we’re defining all-in as dealing the first-rounder and Kakko or Othmann — Perrault and Cuylle are simply walled off from any discussion — and the Rangers believe the time is now, I’d probably go another way and look to Ottawa defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who has another season remaining on his deal at a $4.6 million cap hit.
This would not address the nagging wound at right wing, and moving Kakko without getting a winger back would even exacerbate that issue. But this would give the Rangers their most formidable six-deep defense since 2014 with Chychrun on the first pair with Adam Fox while Ryan Lindgren would shift to the third pair with Braden Schneider.
Finally, this.
If all-in is in the eye of the beholder, what would all-in look to reacquire Pavel Buchnevich from St. Louis? A week or so ago I tweeted that selling low and buying high on Buchnevich did not seem to be the most optimum strategy. That hasn’t changed.
But the Rangers know that Buchnevich works with Zibanejad and Kreider. They wouldn’t have to give the line another thought until after next season’s playoffs, when Buchnevich’s contract with an annual $5.8M cap hit expires.
No, you cannot trade a first-rounder and Kakko for one full season and two playoff runs from Buchnevich less than two years after trading No. 89 for a second-rounder and Sammy Blais. I’m sorry, you simply cannot.
But if there is another definition of all-in that would apply here, Drury should be all-ears. How much of a difference-maker would Captain Happy become if Buchnevich’s acquisition makes a difference in Zibanejad?
