Different goals for the Rangers at this NHL trade deadline, eh? In recent seasons, the Blueshirts have used the annual deal frenzy, in large part, to nab big names to beef up for (hopefully) a long playoff run.
But this deadline – perhaps we should back-date it all to the JT Miller deal in January or maybe the Jacob Trouba trade in December – seems to have been more about creating flexibility and piling up potential younger, heavier options, plus draft capital, for an ongoing roster re-tool.
The Rangers made only a minor depth trade on Friday, sending defenseman Erik Brännström to Buffalo for 28-year-old winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, who’s played in 19 NHL games this season and is reporting to New York's AHL affiliate in Hartford. They made two deals the day before, though, and, obviously, they were quite busy in the months leading up to the deadline. Probably best to consider the whole package of maneuvers, considering how the Rangers are being reshaped as we watch.
All this, by the way, with hopes still alive of making the playoffs in this topsy-turvy season, too, if possible. The Rangers just didn’t use youthful assets to acquire players, some of them rentals, who might only incrementally increase their chances of making the playoffs.
Feels right, doesn’t it? While the Rangers were a pre-season darling coming off a Presidents' Trophy and a run to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, their core clearly had reached its past-use date. They stumbled early in the season and general manager Chris Drury sent out that memo heard ‘round the league and started dealing, beginning with Trouba, their former Ranger captain.
They needed to change and that’s all in process now. Gone also are the likes of Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Jimmy Vesey, Ryan Lindgren and Reilly Smith. Chris Kreider might have been swapped, too, if he weren’t on injured reserve leading up to the deadline. Kreider, even as his name is all over the Ranger record books, looms as a name to watch during the summer trading season, too.
This underscores the idea that this trade deadline isn’t the end or the start of anything. It’s a signpost en route to a new look. If there’s a stop in the Stanley Cup Playoffs along the way with some familiar faces, that sounds like fun, even if it ends long before June.
And – hot goalie, anyone? Who knows what can happen after you get in the playoffs. Whatever you think of Igor Shesterkin’s season, you have to know he’s one of the NHL netminders capable of a stand-on-his-head run that pilots a playoff charge. No guarantees, of course.
Afterward, it’s back to roster intrigue. The Rangers, by most accounts, have lacked the physicality to push deeper than their two final four runs in recent seasons, so they’ll be looking to jack up their sandpaper level. Miller, a nifty combo of scoring touch plus snarl, has already helped there and might be the Rangers’ best player.
Now the Rangers will sift through the players they’ve acquired to see who else fits going forward. Bet it’ll be those who could enhance the defensive style they’ve lately used to help them get back into the playoff chase.
The renovation of the blue line is already well underway. Two of the defensemen they traded for, Will Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen, have already agreed to contract extensions with the Rangers. Borgen, 28, who signed for five years, was the return in the December deal that sent Kakko to Seattle. Vaakanainen, 26, came from Anaheim for Trouba.
Carson Soucy, a 30-year-old defenseman acquired from Vancouver on Thursday for the third-round pick the Rangers got from Vegas as part of the Smith trade, could add the heft the Rangers crave. At the time of the deal, he was one of only 18 skaters in the NHL with at least 90 blocked shots and 85 hits. Perhaps 33-year-old Calvin de Haan can help, too.
Maybe 23-year-old center Brendan Brisson, part of the Smith deal, can evolve into reliable depth. The same goes for Juuso Pärssinen, who came over with de Haan and two draft picks in the Lindgren-Vesey trade with the Avalanche.
Keeping picks and prospects clearly was part of the Ranger plan this deadline, too. They’ve been using youngsters to get players to fuel playoff runs lately. Now their youth is filling or will fill the ice time left open by these moves. Maybe someone like Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard will soar and become part of the Ranger core. Or at least do enough to crank up their attractiveness as a possible trade asset.
Because there probably will be more moves after the 2024-25 season is done.
The NHL trade deadline may be over. Ranger change, though, is still percolating.