The Rangers are reaching their fourth trade deadline since “The Letter,” which announced the official start of the organization’s rebuilding, shipped February 8, 2018.
Meanwhile, the rebuild has reached a point where the blues shirts don’t fall into the “Buyers” or “Sellers” categories, which are commonly used to describe where franchises are in pursuit of the Stanley Cup. They’re somewhere in the middle, where they’ve achieved their goal of stocking up on promising prospects and young players to build around, but they are still lacking in components that would make them legitimate contenders.
It’s safe to assume that by Monday’s deadline, the Rangers won’t be making bombshell deals like the one that sent former captain Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller to Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2018 first round, a conditional second round. pick in 2019, a then 25-year-old Vlad Namestnikov (now in Detroit) and two prospects in defender Libor Hajek and center Brett Howden who are now part of the team’s active roster.
And unless there is too good a deal (in this economy?) In which the Rangers would acquire a 1A or 1B center, don’t expect the organization to spend a lot of money.
This is a franchise that traded four consecutive first-round picks between 2013 and 2016, a time when the Rangers were the definition of a win-now organization. But this is also a team that has now used eight first-round picks from 2017 to 2020.
Times have changed. The Rangers have changed. And they probably won’t be making groundbreaking changes until this 56-game season of intra-division play is over.
“We’ve been through this, this is clearly the third year in a row I’ve been through it, our staff have been through it and these guys have been through it for the past four years,” head coach David Quinn said earlier. on Thursday 5-2 loss to the Penguins. “I think we’re in a bit of a different position this year, I think. You just never know. Clearly, [general manager Jeff Gorton] and I talk quite a bit. But there are things that can happen unexpectedly. You just never know what could happen at this time of the year. I’m sure the players will start talking about it a lot more in the next five, six days.
“Obviously, the islanders who do big trade, so people are starting to talk more about the trade deadline once a domino falls.”
Yes, the First Islanders – which the Rangers host Friday night – are that kind of winning team. That trade saw islanders acquire veteran attackers Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac from the Devils in exchange for minor leaguers AJ Greer and Mason Jobst, the first round of the islands in 2021 and a conditional fourth round in 2022.
It was an ideal move for a team pushing for the Stanley Cup. The Rangers just aren’t in that position right now.
But that doesn’t mean the franchise hasn’t achieved what it intended to do since that momentous announcement was made more than three years ago.
The breakup of the team is complete, with McDonagh, Miller, Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes all now playing for different clubs or, in Nash’s case, having retired. Much of the remodeling is starting to take shape, with Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov and the surprising addition of Alexis Lafreniere, the first choice in 2020. Oh, and Artemi Panarin .
But there is still work to be done. It could just be on a break.