New York Rangers: I Was Wrong About Holding Onto Kevin Klein

For years, I defended the New York Rangers for holding onto their veteran defenseman while everyone else in Rangers’ land preached about trading him. It turns out, I was wrong.

Over the past couple of seasons, I have been a huge supporter of keeping veteran defenseman Kevin Klein on the roster while many other Rangers bloggers were completely against it.

It never made sense to me. Klein wears his heart on his sleeve. He put up two straight seasons with 9 goals and 17 assists, both career highs and played solid defense night in and night out for two and a half seasons. The cherry on top is his contract, one that pays him $2.9 million annually and expires at the end of the 17-18 season.

Why would the Rangers trade a guy who produces at both ends and makes minuscule money for being a number four defenseman?

Because his decline would be much more rapid than anyone could have expected.

Klein has had a horrible season, to say the least. He has yet to score a goal in 44 games, he is constantly responsible for defensive miscues and breakdowns and that’s evidenced by his 58.5 CA60.

It seems no matter where he plays in the lineup, Klein not only struggles but also hurts the play of his defensive partner. But yet, Alain Vigneault still feels the need to depend on him to play big minutes every night.

What Should They Do Now?

Now the real question is, should the Rangers deal Klein at the trade deadline and get a mid to late round pick for him, or do they hold onto him in hopes that Las Vegas will take him off their hands in the expansion draft in June?

More from Editorials

• Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
• Rangers’ Roster Chatter: Who’s Making the Cut and Who’s in the Penalty Box?
• These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly
• Filip Chytil Could Take Major Steps in the 2023-24 Season
• Looking forward to the upcoming season for Artemi Panarin

If the Rangers could manage to trade for a solid enough, top-four, right-handed defenseman at the deadline, then yes, go ahead and trade Klein now. If they don’t, you might as well hold on to him and get whatever production you can out of him and hope that he is the one who gets picked up in the expansion draft and not, say, Michael Grabner.

Call up the Kids

In the meantime, the Rangers should go to their minor league system and call up a young kid like Ryan Graves who has been nothing short of fantastic over his last two seasons in Hartford. It might be more beneficial to have a guy like that in the lineup over guys like Klein and Dan Girardi who are rapidly declining in front of our eyes.

The people who have been on the trade Klein bandwagon felt that way because they thought his offensive game would go sooner rather than later and that the Rangers should have moved him while his value was at its peak. Little did I or they know that the rest of Klein’s game would fall flat at the pace it has.

Next: Rangers Must Learn From Kevin Klein, Trade Nick Holden

But after seeing how bad he has been this season, I can finally admit to you all and to myself that my stance on this issue was the wrong one.