New York Rangers: Choosing Keep Yandle Could be Costly
Decision to not move Yandle could prove costly
Unless the New York Rangers win the cup or find a way to resign Keith Yandle before July or during free agency,the trade for Yandle is a complete failure.
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There is no denying that Yandle is one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL and has been the Rangers most consistent defensemen this year. Yandle’s elite vision/passing and puck movement are truly rare attributes for a defensemen.
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But giving up arguably your best prospect in Anthony Duclair for a failure to win a stanley cup within his two years could cause some significant damage in the near future.
Pitiful contracts of Dan Girardi and Marc Staal have the Rangers hands tied and it looks pretty unlikely at best that Yandle will resign after this season.
Along with that, Rangers GM Jeff Gorton expressed confidence from the first round pick in 2012, Brady Skjei. Given his cheap young talent, this probably means Yandle is out the door at the end of the season.
Spoke to Jeff Gorton of @NYRangers on Yandle's future. He said "never say never," but he also touted Skjei's development, age and contract.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) March 15, 2016
The only chance the Rangers have in a playoff run this year is Henrik Lundqvist, who has disguised his teams poor play for the majority of the season. The Rangers also need to continue at shooting at such a high percentage, as they carry the leagues highest pdo at 102.6. Pdo determines a teams puck luck and this stat combines goalie’s save percentages with the teams shooting percentages to track how lucky or how lucky a team is.
The Rangers currently are the worst team in possession in a playoff position with a cf% of 47.3, so there’s much reason for concern.
By just replacing Dylan Mcilrath who will be out at least another week, with Dan Girardi. The Rangers would have the puck a whole lot more and sitting in the defensive zone especially with the lead would happen less frequently. By replacing Mcilrath with Girardi this would fix at least 40% of the Rangers problems.
“But Girardi blocks shots and he plays good defense!” That’s because he is always in his defensive zone and continually gives up possession, it’s becoming harder to watch by the day.
Marc Staal hasn’t been great either, but playing along side an ideal defensive partner could help.(Cough, Cough Anton Stralman). As Girardi could make hall of fame defensmen Nicklas Lidstrom look bad.
Instead of doing the wise thing by selling and I understand the Rangers know that Henrik Lundqvist wont be around forever, the Rangers opted to keep Yandle and trade for Eric Staal.
For what was given up, the Rangers gave up much less than other teams would have payed for Eric Staal. However with limited options for the Carolina Hurricanes they were forced to take what they could have gotten.
Eric Staal certainly helps the Rangers down the middle and makes them a better team, but he does not fix the Rangers defensive core problems.
By trading Yandle the Rangers could have gotten a hefty return, I mean just look at the return Kris Russell fetched for the Calgary Flames. The Rangers probably could have received a first round pick, a high end prospect and maybe more if they shopped him.
Instead the Rangers will likely lose Yandle for nothing and possibly along with another failed cup run if Lundqvist does not stand on his head.
Girardi will of course continue to play and hurt his teams chances, at this point Girardi is arguably the worst top 4 defensemen in the NHL.
Until the Rangers find a way to get rid of at least Staal or Girardi, the Rangers will never reach their full potential and will continue to be disguised under Lundqvist.