New York Rangers’ Expansion Draft Worries can Wait

The New York Rangers are coming up to the Trade Deadline and a popular topic  surrounding the team is the Expansion Draft. New York appears set to lose a top forward in the Draft, but the team cannot worry about that as they move forward with their Trade Deadline plans. Let’s examine the situation.

Yes, the New York Rangers are set to lose a valuable forward to the Expansion Draft with the way the roster stands today. There’s no arguing against that with the emergence of Michael Grabner as a key cog in the Rangers well-oiled offense.

New York can protect seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goalie. The Rangers must protect Dan Girardi, Henrik Lundqvist, Rick Nash, and Marc Staal in the draft due to contract details. That leaves six forward spots, one defenseman spot, and a goaltender spot.

Of course it would be misguided for Jeff Gorton and company to completely ignore the existence of the Expansion Draft, but it cannot drive their plans.

Many want Michael Grabner traded, and we discussed why that would be an unwise approach here. The same goes for various Rangers moves that could happen based on planning for the Draft.

New York Rangers

As it stands, New York will protect six of Jesper Fast, Michael Grabner, Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider, Oscar Lindberg, J.T. Miller, Brandon Pirri, Matt Puempel, Derek Stepan, Mika Zibanejad, and Mats Zuccarello.

The players New York cannot lose for free are Grabner, Hayes, Kreider, Miller, Stepan, Zibanejad, Zuccarello. That’s seven players for six spots.

With that in mind, would be simple for the Rangers to react and trade one of those forwards.

However, there will be time between the end of the postseason and the beginning of the Expansion Draft for deals. New York can figure out their forward situation then.

Rather than robbing today’s roster, New York must finish the season and figure out the Expansion Draft later. A forward can be dealt for assets to a team that has an extra protection spot available.

As for the defense, the Rangers must work to improve the defense despite the Expansion Draft. It would be simple for New York to avoid acquiring a top defenseman like Dougie Hamilton or Jacob Trouba because they have no defensemen slots available.

However, Dan Girardi can and will be bought out after the season, so a slot will open up for said defenseman. As with the forwards, the major concerns will work themselves out.

The only argument in favor of worrying about the Expansion Draft is maximizing assets. Moving a player in Febraury brings back more than moving them in June. But the Rangers are looking to contend this season, and there is no need to take away from that.

Next: Definitive Blue-Print for Michael Grabner's Future

The Expansion Draft is in June. The decisions can wait.