6/25/18 | Gorton said on Monday that the Rangers want to add "some character players that can come in and teach these guys the ropes and that have a pretty good pedigree to come here and help us."
6/24/18 | When asked about free agency on Saturday, Jeff Gorton said that the Rangers will "talk to the players" that they like and see if there any "holes" on the roster they can fill.
Gorton was asked if there was interest in bringing back any of the players that they traded and said that while he technically can't talk about that, since those players belong to other teams, if he were to be asked in a few days he would have a better answer to the question.
Larry Brooks wrote that Gorton will "jump" into the free agent market but is not expected to "swim in the deep end" of expensive and long-term deals. (NY Post)
Brooks writes that there is a belief the Rangers will have interest in bringing Michael Grabner back but the "prospects" of Rick Nash returning are "negligible." (NY Post)
He adds that if the intention for the Rangers is to play with more edge, they should look at free agent options like Leo Komarov, Antoine Roussel or Tommy Wingels. (NY Post)
Gorton has said that the Rangers are going to stay with their rebuild plan and that
Adam Rotter: The free agents that the Rangers are likely to sign will not be of the normal variety for the Rangers. They are going to look for character players, role players and, quite possibly, guys that would have been great on the Rangers 3-5-8 years ago. I think that Chris Kunitz, with his four Stanley Cups, could be of interest, maybe Scott Hartnell, Chris Kelly or even, as a winger, Dominic Moore. 1-2 of those guys would fit the role of veteran leader and, yes, while they would likely take the spot of a younger player in the lineup, the long-term impact those guys could have on Chytil, Andersson and others, would hopefully be worth it.
