New York Rangers Pay Out Girardi for Shattenkirk

New York Rangers Need to Upgrade Their Blue Line

It is no secret that the New York Rangers need to find ways to improve on defense and in doing so gain younger players if they want to maintain playoff relevance in the future.  It is also no secret that most people that follow the New York Rangers were disappointed in Dan Girardi’s overall play this past season. With the long-term contract Girardi signed, that includes a no movement clause through the 2016-2017 season and from the 2017-2018 season through 2020 his contract changes to a modified no trade clause.

That being said the only way the Rangers could dump the extra weight, that is Girardi, is by buying him out. Doing so is pricey, but worth it. In return the New York Rangers could potentially go after Kevin Shattenkirk, an explosive blue liner in St. Louis.

Kevin Shattenkirk

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Shattenkirk’s current 4 year / 17 million dollar contract is up at the end of next year, but his contract holds no trade restrictions and is almost half that of Girardi’s 6 year / 33 million dollar contract. What makes Shattenkirk a great player to go after this summer is his age, skill level and price tag.

Shattenkirk is 27 years old, five years younger than New York Rangers blue liner Dan Girardi, and he has recorded much better, much more consistent numbers than Girardi has over the past three years. During the 2013-2014 season, Shattenkirk recorded 45 total points on 10 goals and 35 assists. In both the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons, Shattenkirk recorded a total of 44 points. In the 2014-2015 season he reached 44 total points by scoring 8 goals and 36 assists, while in the 2015-2016 season he was able to score a career high 14 goals coupled with 30 assists.

During these three seasons, Shattenkirk also tallied 196 hits, 995 attempted shots and averaged about 20 minutes of ice time per game.

In comparison, over the same period of time, Dan Girardi, recorded 24 total points during the 2013-2014 season, 20 total points in the 2014-2015 season and only 17 total points throughout the 2015-2016 season. Girardi connected on 583 hits over that period of time, which blows Shattenkirk out of the water, but that could also be the reason why Girardi found himself out of position so frequently.

However, Dan attempted a total of 615 shots over these three season, over 300 fewer than Shattenkirk, while averaging about 21 minutes of ice time over this period of time. Girardi saw the ice more, recorded fewer shots on goal, tallied much fewer points, is five years older and is being paid almost double that of Shattenkirk. Something is wrong.

New York Rangers Acquiring Shattenkirk

In order for the logistics of this trade to work out, a lot of moving parts would be involved. That makes this unlikely to happen, but it is still a true possibility. If/when the New York Rangers buy out Girardi, they would also need to let a few other players walk in order to have the capital to acquire the Blues defenseman. This may already be in the process of happening though, as many people believe Eric Staal and his brother Marc may not return this fall as Rangers.

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There is also the possibility of the New York Rangers trading for Shattenkirk. If Girardi is bought out and the Blues find value in them, first let me say I don’t think they do, then this whole ordeal could go down easily via a straight up trade.

There is also Rick Nash, who many people love to hate, while others truly wish for him to remain a Blueshirt. The truth of the matter is, if the Rangers can acquire Shattenkirk by trading Nash to the Blues than my belief is they will do so willingly. This will also be tricky however, since Nash also has a no trade clause attached to his name.

Either way the New York Rangers need help and youth on the blue line and Shattenkirk provides them with both. He is a D-man who knows how not only create scoring opportunities, but also score himself. He will also come to New York for much cheaper than what the Rangers are currently paying Girardi and that helps the team in more ways than one.