NHL Free Agents & Trade Candidates – New York Rangers

by | May 1, 2020 | Soapbox | 5 comments

 







5 Comments

  1. Staal only has 1 year left on his deal after this season. Same for Brendan Smith and his over 4m cap hit. If there’s a market for Gorgiev, I think Rangers should look to trade him . Shestyorkin has shown he’ll be the man moving forward. They have a decent pipeline of goalies. Also have a lot of dmen prospects will be coming up. Personally, I’m not worried about keeping any of the free agents. Fast if he’s cheap. DeAngelo and Strome Have both raised their trade value this year.

    • Thanks for pointing out my error regarding the Staal contract. I regret the error and will issue a correction in my next column. Cheers!

  2. GM Jeff Gorton is faced with some difficult decisions. Gorton and Team President John Davidson have done an excellent job so far and I feel they will continue “steering the ship” in the right.

    Personally I would trade Georgiev (which would not be popular by many NYR fans) in a package along with Staal for a top six forward. This trade would be an equal dollar for dollar deal.

    Then as Lyle stated, Lundqvist becomes exposed to Seattle the following off season Expansion Draft. Similar to what the Penguins did Marc Andre Fleury when Vegas entered the League a few years ago. Paying Lundqvist his final year of his Contract would be a much classier way to cut ties with King Henrik, instead of buying him out this off-season.

    I’d resign D’Angelo and Fast assuming there’s enough money to do so. I would buyout Smith if money is needed to retain D’Angelo and Fast.

    Also next season Kravtsov automatically makes the team out of training camp. The Rangers don’t want another Lias Andersson situation on their hands. In order to keep peace, Coach Quinn is going to need to adjust a bit and give this kid ice time and every opportunity to succeed.

    Lastly if the NHL returns with the 24 Team Playoff concept and the Rangers are granted a lottery pick in the upcoming Draft, all Rangers fans would and should be overjoyed.

    • The one thing your missing in exposing Lundquist, is by the expansion draft, he will be a UFA, not a NYR.

      • If, as expected, the NHL expansion draft is held before Lundqvist’s contract expires, then the Rangers could expose him in that draft. He’d have to agree to waive his no-movement clause, but if they don’t intend to re-sign him, he could agree to that.