New York Rangers: Which Forward Should Be Traded?

With yet another forward being signed by the New York Rangers this offseason, we need to seriously start wondering which forward on the roster would make the most sense to move in a trade.

We are slowly approaching the start of September, a month where hockey players will finally gather with their teammates and practice their craft together as a unit. These times are ones every hockey fan looks forward to because it means their team’s chase for the Cup begins very soon.

Most people pretty much ruled out the possibility of the New York Rangers competing for a Stanley Cup in 2016-2017 out the window when they lost in as bad and one sided 5 game series as they could’ve lost in back in April.

Since then, General Manager Jeff Gorton and his staff have gone out there this offseason and have made a lot of moves. A majority of the roster changes the Rangers have undergone this offseason don’t seem to be too major, but when you look at the whole body of work instead of just one individual move, you will see that the team has become an extremely young, fast, and skilled team with an exceptional amount of forward depth.

If we were trying to predict the Rangers’ top 6 forwards to start the season, I think just about everybody would agree that they are Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller. When you try to predict who will start the season in the bottom six, things get a little trickier.

The Rangers have 12 players (Kevin Hayes, Pavel Buchnevich, Jimmy Vesey, Michael Grabner, Jesper Fast, Brandon Pirri, Josh Jooris, Nathan Gerbe, Tanner Glass, Marek Hrivik, Nicklas Jensen and Oscar Lindberg) vying for the team’s bottom six spots, and likely two roster spots that will occupy the press box.

Every good team needs to have depth, and Rangers have arguably the deepest forward group in the Eastern Conference. Of course, though, having this depth, as we hinted at earlier this week in this space, hints at a trade that may be coming soon.

It has been obvious to anybody who watched the Rangers last season that the team’s defense was a mess. Now with the loss of the team’s two best offensive defensemen in Keith Yandle (who signed with Florida) and Dan Boyle (who will retire), the team needs to find that powerplay quarterback that they will be lacking.

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While we will look into potential defensive fits for the Rangers later on in the week, right now we are gonna focus on which Rangers forward it would make the most sense to trade.

Remember, there are so many things to take in account here. Production, age, contract, chemistry, and a few other dynamics are all things that need to be looked at here.

So without further ado, here are the pros and cons of trading these New York Rangers forwards.

Rick Nash

Whether they want him to stay with the team or be traded, every Rangers fan feels strongly about what the team should do with Nash one way or the other. The star winger always seems to find himself in trade rumors. The pros of trading Nash are easy, he is 32 years old, and he had an injury-riddled 2015-2016 season last year. Nash has another two years on his contract, which holds a cap hit of $7.8 million a year. Trading Nash would likely open up some cap space and likely bring back a quality defender as well.

The cons to trading Nash are obvious. Despite his offensive woes last season, Nash is a proven goal scorer with good possession numbers year after year. Trading him would take away the greatest offensive threat on the offense. Also, Nash’s cap hit is so large, that it is likely scaring away some teams from talking about trading for his services. If the Rangers are to trade him, they would likely have to retain some salary. Two-way players of Nash’s caliber that can play in all situations are a rare commodity, so losing him might be a tough pill to swallow for the team going forward.

Derek Stepan

Stepan found his name in many rumors after the season ended. After trading Derick Brassard in mid-July, I find it hard to believe that the team would move their other top six center, but if the right offer comes, I wouldn’t be shocked.

The pros for trading Stepan start with his trade value. Stepan is a 26-year-old under contract for another 5 years. A forward who is extremely responsible in the defensive zone and, like Nash, can be called upon in every situation is a rare commodity and the return value for a player of Stepan’s caliber would be enormous.

The cons of trading the balding Stepan are obvious, he is a great two-way forward who is home grown and under contract for a number of years down the line. Stepan is also entering his prime. You are not going to find another guy that can produce in the all-around sense–not just on the scoresheet–that Stepan does for the Rangers every year. Plus, like his former teammate Derick Brassard, Stepan is a really good playoff performer. In my opinion, the Rangers should not trade Stepan under any circumstance.

Chris Kreider

Will this be the year that the 6’3″ Kreider finally breaks out? After having back to back 21 goal seasons, Kreider will need to show massive growth in his consistency to reach his potential.

The pro to trading a guy like Chris Kreider is the same as the pros to trading a guy like Stepan. The trade value that such a young forward with the skill set and size that Chris Kreider has would kill on the trade market. The Rangers would need to make the judgment call whether they think Kreider can put a consistent 82 games together or not before they make a move involving the Bostonian. If they don’t think that he can, then they might as well see what they could get for him.

The cons to trading Chris Kreider, at least I think, far outweigh the pros. I think Kreider has shown enough flashes over the years–especially in the playoffs–that he will soon be one of the top power forwards in the league. You can’t teach size, and when you have a player with Kreider’s size and speed, you need to hold on to them. Kreider is on a relatively team-friendly contract that will look even better if and when he has his breakout year.

Kevin Hayes

After a disappointing sophomore season, Kevin Hayes signed his second NHL contract, a two-year agreement with a cap hit of $2.6 million. Hayes’ point production dropped from 45 points in his rookie year to 36 points last season.

The pros to trading Hayes is that he, like Kreider, has a rare combination of size and skill which is a rarity in this league. Hayes would command lots of value for the Rangers on the trade market, and since his cap hit is so low, it would allow for pretty much every team to make a run at him. While the Rangers aren’t super deep at center, they could slot Jimmy Vesey in the third line center slot if they were to move Hayes, whose horrible 35.5% faceoff percentage can’t really get any worse.

Trading Hayes could also be a risky move for the Rangers. He is still very young and has shown tons of flashes of his amazing potential over the past two seasons. The team needs all the prospects and young players on cheap contracts like Hayes that they can garner, so trading a 24-year-old as highly touted as Hayes could be a counterproductive move for a team that is routinely ranked in the bottom 5 farm systems in the league.

Next: The State of New York Rangers Goalies

Regardless of what forward, if any gets traded, there will be some pros and cons just like there are with the four players, I mentioned above. We will see what the team decides to do. Rumors have it that Gorton has still been very busy on the phones seeing what is out there. Hopefully he can do something soon to help this defense, because if he does, this team will be a Stanley Cup contender like in years past.

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