The Rangers acquired a right wing, a third-line center and a seventh defenseman all for the combined price of four draft picks, but not including the club’s first-round selection that will be made this summer inside owner Jim Dolan’s Vegas Sphere.
President and general manager Chris Drury withheld from overpaying in a trade-deadline landscape that boasted hefty asking prices.
“I would’ve been fine [trading the first-round pick] if the deal made sense,” Drury said on a conference call with reporters Friday evening. “Whether it was a good prospect, a first-round this year, next year, whatever it was, I didn’t go into it with any preconceived rules or notions. It was just, let’s make the best deals we can to fill the spots that we think we need filled to make our team better. I feel like that’s what we accomplished.”
Noting that Jack Roslovic, Alex Wennberg and Chad Ruhwedel all fill specific roles the Rangers needed, Drury made a point to say he didn’t go into it looking to acquire a certain type of player.
Instead, it was about finding the best fit that he could.
Roslovic was an important acquisition to presumably play on the right wing of the Rangers’ top line alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.
The Rangers received the 27-year-old from the Blue Jackets in exchange for a conditional fourth-rounder in the 2026 NHL Draft, which will become a third if the Rangers make the Stanley Cup Final and Roslovic plays in 50 percent of their playoff games.
“Every lineup is looking for balance and we’re no different,” Drury said. “[That first line], whoever’s been on that wing, they’ve done really good things in the neutral zone and the D zone. I think they collectively would like to do a little more offensively and are pushing toward that, but we certainly have a lot of faith and belief in Chris and Mika and whoever is on the right wing with them.”
Adam Edstrom was assigned to AHL Hartford on Friday, but Rempe, who was also loaned to Hartford, was just a paper transaction as the 6-foot-8 ½ forward remained with the Rangers.
The moves ensure the two towering wings can compete in the AHL playoffs with the Wolf Pack.
Players had to be on an AHL roster by the 3 p.m. deadline in order to be sent down from the NHL at any point through the rest of the season.
Wennberg took reps on the Rangers’ second power-play unit alongside Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, Jonny Brodzinski and Erik Gustaffson, according to multiple reports out of practice.
He also was paired up with Jimmy Vesey during penalty-kill work.
The top six remained unchanged, but Wennberg slotted between Will Cuylle and Vesey on the third line and Barclay Goodrow centered the fourth unit between Brodzinski and Matt Rempe.