New York Rangers should target Radim Vrbata

Rangers should make move to bolster stagnant offense

The trade deadline is on the horizon and there aren’t a ton of rumors surrounding the New York Rangers. At least no legitimate-sounding ones.

Still, it’s no secret that they could use a boost. I’m sure the team would love to add another dependable piece on defense, possibly moving a big contract like Marc Staal or Dan Girardi if they could manage it. But the market for dependable top-six defensemen is always thin and that isn’t likely to change come deadline time.

So where do the Rangers look to make improvements? How about finding a way to boost a stagnant and inconsistent offense? Sure, they’re without Rick Nash, their star winger and biggest goal-scoring threat, but he has been with the club for the majority of the season and the results have been the same. JT Miller and Derick Brassard have carried the offense of late, but there doesn’t seem to be consistent punch unless someone heats up.

No, the Rangers should look to the outside to boost their scoring at the deadline and there seems to be one obvious choice: Radim Vrbata of the Vancouver Canucks.

In a perfect world, things would operate for the Rangers as they did in the pre-cap days. They could target an overpriced star on the outs with his club and hope that the chemistry fit would be the only issue encountered. Alas, the NHL doesn’t work like that anymore and the Rangers have to work within the restrictions everyone else has.

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So why Vrbata? Well, he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent, for one. If you’re going take a chance on bringing a new player in, not being tied to them is a nice feature of the deal. And at 34 years old, the Rangers would likely not want to be tied to Vrbata past this spring.

Vrbata is also attainable at a reasonable price and has shown he can consistently produce. Sure, his numbers have spiked over the last couple of seasons playing with the wonderfully talented Daniel and Henrik Sedin, but he showed that he could score basically on his own for years in Phoenix. Since returning to the NHL in 2009-10, he has yet to score fewer than 19 goals in any full season (he had 12 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, posting 28 points in 34 games) and has hit the 30-goal mark twice. He knows how to put the puck into the back of the net.

Having someone who can create offense on their own but is clearly better with more talent around them is ideal. Having him on the second or third line to bolster the depth of the offense makes the Rangers that much more dangerous to deal with. Suddenly, teams can’t just focus on one line, making the Rangers a tougher play from top to bottom.

Perhaps most importantly, though, is that it’s the Canucks who hold his rights. General Manager Jim Benning has made some questionable decisions of late, like trading prospect Hunter Shinkaruk for Markus Granlund. If you’re the Rangers, dealing with someone like Benning has to be enticing because the prospect of grabbing Vrbata for a reasonable price is there.

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So if the Rangers decide to make a move come deadline day, the choice is obvious: grab Vrbata. Any other move at this point would just be making a move for the sake of making a move.

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