New York Rangers: Examining Brandon Pirri’s Value on the Trade Market

With how crazy the trade market is and how deep the New York Rangers are at forward, how much could a guy like Brandon Pirri go for on the open market? Let’s take a look!

Brandon Pirri was exactly the type of signing the New York Rangers needed to make in the offseason. It was a low risk/potentially high reward type deal, as Pirri is only 25 and has scored 20 goals in a season before.

After a hot start to the season in which he tallied nine points in 13 games, Pirri really hasn’t done much of anything. In the other 38 games he has played, he only has eight points.

With guys like Pavel Buchnevich and Matt Puempel–who I think is very underrated around here–sitting in the press box to let Pirri play, it might be in the Rangers best interest to flip him for what they can get at the trade deadline.

With that said, let’s examine what Pirri could potentially bring back in a trade.

Trade History

Pirri was first traded at the 2014 trade deadline by the Chicago Blackhawks, who sent Pirri to the Florida Panthers in exchange for a third round pick. At the time, Pirri was only 22 years of age. He was a former second-round pick who tallied six goals and 11 points in 28 games with the Blackhawks in his rookie year.

What Trades Around the League This Year Say

One important thing to note is this; Depth forwards have significantly less value on the trade market then depth defenseman do.

There haven’t been a lot of comparable deals that have gone down so far where we can pinpoint an exact value, but let’s try to anyway.

We are definitely not going to find a player with a similar skillset/production who has been traded this year, but we can find other depth forwards who have been moved.

Let’s start with Vernon Fidler.

Fidler, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, was dealt to the Nashville Predators for a 4th-round pick. Fiddler had one goal and two assists in 39 games with a -11 rating. The biggest thing to consider about Fiddler is that he is a defensive minded forward who kills penalties and wins faceoffs at a high rate. He had a 52.2 faceoff percentage with the Devils and has a 54.43 percentage overall this year.

Pirri has had relatively average faceoff numbers throughout his career, but has excelled in that spot this year, albeit in a smaller sample size to the tune of a 56.5 FO%.

The biggest difference is age. Pirri is only 25-years old to Fidler’s 36-year-old, which bodes well for the Rangers in this scenario.

The Tomas Jurco Trade

Jurco is at a much more comparable age, as he is only 24 years of age. Jurco, unlike Pirri, has never put up more than eight goals in a season. He’s a left wing, not a center, which is probably the biggest difference between the two. It is worth noting, though, that Pirri has been playing the left wing recently on the fourth line with Oscar Lindberg at center.

Jurco has only played more than 45 games in a season once in his career. This was in 2014-2015, when he tallied 3 goals and 15 assists.

Jurco is a solid puck-possession player, routinely posting a CF% of 50 or above. With that said, the fact of the matter is Jurco was supposed to be a scoring power forward and he has not even remotely lived up to his potential. But yet, the Blackhawks dealt a 3rd-round pick for him.

So What Does This All Mean for Pirri?

Some players who have done significantly less offensively in their careers are going for 3rd and 4th-round picks right now. There are a few things that worry me about Pirri’s trade value.

First and foremost, Pirri appears to have a bad reputation amongst general managers in the league. I mean, how else could you explain him only going for a 6th round pick last year at the deadline with the numbers he had posted?

This trend of a lack of respect across the league, or so it seems, was confirmed this offseason when it took a team until August 25th to ink him to a contract. This makes me concerned about the Rangers chances of dealing him.

The second thing, and probably the most important thing at that, is that Pirri is not a prototypical fourth liner. Most teams use their fourth line still as more defensive minded forwards who can be used on the penalty kill.

Pirri is not a defensive forward and doesn’t have the potential to be anything better than average in that area. While more and more teams are trending in the direction of having a skilled fourth line, they may look at Pirri’s overall season and think they can do better in-house without giving up any assets–even if they are minimal. Honestly, though, can you blame them?

Next: Rangers Fail to Acquire Shattenkirk-- For Now...

There are a lot of things going on right now on the NHL trade front. Maybe the Rangers can deal off Pirri to a team looking for a depth player, but if the Rangers get anything more than a 4th or 5th round pick for Toronto native, I would be pleasantly surprised.