New York Rangers: Trade Deadline’s Impact on the Expansion Draft
After the New York Rangers added a defenseman to their roster at the trade deadline, simple math would indicate that they have eight defensemen. This may tell us about the team’s expansion draft plan.
If you ask New York Rangers fans what their biggest complaint was after the trade deadline passed on March 1st, they probably wouldn’t talk about Kevin Shattenkirk.
They would talk about how the Rangers opted not to move one of Nick Holden or Kevin Klein.
And rightfully so.
The Rangers now have eight defensemen on their active roster, all of NHL quality–well, at least according to some–and this will cause lots of headaches for the fan base, one who has no confidence in Alain Vigneault making the right roster decision.
Also, the Rangers may have missed their final chance to deal Holden at peak value or Klein at the minimal value he has. This is probably the biggest part of the equation, but it all adds up to make the picture of frustration.
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But there may be a bigger picture being painted here, and if the picture I am about to paint for you all is the one the team is planning on buying, then I’m all for the decision they made to stand pat after adding Brendan Smith at the deadline.
And that picture is about building a team ready for an expansion draft.
We already know the story of the team’s plans for the forward group going into the draft. The seven forwards they will protect are Rick Nash (NMC), Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes.
The defense, however, is a different story.
Expansion Draft Strategy on Defense
If you take this at face value, the Rangers would be forced to protect Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and Marc Staal due to the group all having no-movement clauses in their contracts.
That leaves both Nick Holden and Kevin Klein unprotected while the trio of Brendan Smith (UFA), Brady Skjei and Adam Clendening cannot be drafted.
With the team seeming to finally understand the defensive bugaboos they face on a night to night basis–as evidenced by the Smith trade–this might be their way of saying that Dan Girardi is currently participating in his last few months as a Ranger.
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If the team decides that the route to go is to either trade Girardi, ask him to waive his NMC, making him draft eligible or just flat out buy him out of his contract, they would need both Klein and Holden on their roster to be compliant with expansion rules.
So what the Rangers would do next, if they did indeed get Girardi’s NMC out of the way, is protect Nick Holden, who the team might believe in as a third-pairing defenseman going forward–which I am fine with.
By doing this, the Rangers will still have their one expansion-compliant defenseman on their roster in Kevin Klein, to leave unprotected.
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If this is the way that the Rangers decide to go come late June, then everything they did at the deadline–especially acquiring a defenseman turning UFA that they believe will re-sign–makes sense. If this is the plan, their deadline grade would go from a C- to an A for me, and any fan in their right mind as well.