The New York Rangers kicked off a mini roster overhaul in June by trading Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to Arizona. While New York received the 2017 seventh overall pick and Tony DeAngelo for them, they might have sold low. How would the Rangers look if Jeff Gorton hadn’t pulled the trigger on that deal, though?
In his seven years as a Ranger, center Derek Stepan produced consistent, but unspectacular results. He never scored less than 44 points in a season and broke the 50 point barrier five times. Fans often criticized him, especially in the postseason, but this year’s squad undoubtedly misses him.
Aside from Mika Zibanejad, the 17-18 squad faces tons of questions and few answers at the center position. Kevin Hayes struggles to play the matchup center role Alain Vigneault cast him in. And a lack of depth has forced J.T. Miller back into the middle, away from the wing where he thrives.
Stepan isn’t setting the world on fire with 13 points in 25 games, but he’s also suffering through the worst shooting slump of his career at 4.2 percent. Those numbers would put Stepan second on the Rangers in center points behind Zibanejad (or third if you count Miller as a center).
Despite playing on the worst team in the league, his other numbers remain respectable.
Corsi (CF %) tracks the percentage of shot attempts a player’s team manages while they’re on the ice. Stepan leads all Arizona forwards with a 49.8 five on five CF%. Arizona’s five on five CF% drops by over four percentage points when he leaves the ice.
Clearly, Stepan remains the same solid presence as always, but what would the rest of New York’s roster look like without the trade?
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Juggling the cap
Derek Stepan carries a $6.5 million cap hit and the Rangers have less than $4 million in cap space. In the days following the Stepan trade, New York committed a combined $11 million in space to Kevin Shattenkirk and Brendan Smith over the next four years.
Keeping Stepan around doesn’t mean the Rangers couldn’t have signed those two defensemen. It does mean the Rangers would’ve needed to create cap room some other way, though.
The most obvious solution would have been to buy out Marc Staal’s contract. The first buyout window closes before free agency opens, but a second one occurs after arbitration cases settle. Since teams can go over the cap in the offseason, the Rangers could have still signed Smith and Shattenkirk before buying out Staal.
While following that plan would’ve made for a tight fit, the Rangers could’ve made it work. With Henrik Lundqvist set to turn 36 in March, the Rangers should’ve taken the plunge to build a deeper roster.
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A question of age
In some ways, the Stepan deal and the Shattenkirk signing serve directly opposing goals. The trade made this year’s Rangers severely worse to potentially set them up better in the future. The signing added an elite, offensive defenseman in his prime to the current team.
Win now and win later collided into a pile of win sometime, maybe (we hope). The deal is no sure thing to improve the New York’s future either.
Tony DeAngelo predictably struggled to find a place in Alain Vigneault’s lineup before they sent him to Hartford. DeAngelo has two points in eight games there and recently spent three straight games as a healthy scratch. DeAngelo’s presence also likely cost someone such as Neal Pionk or Ryan Graves an early season look at the NHL level.
The Rangers used the seventh overall pick to select Lias Andersson. The Swedish center had a slow start to his year with Frölunda HC, but a recent streak has him up to 11 points in 18 games in the world’s third or fourth best league.
Also, if the Rangers don’t have the seventh overall pick to take Andersson, do they still use the 21st overall pick on Filip Chytil? Although analytics view balancing safe and risky picks as a flawed strategy, the idea still carries sway in some circles.
Andersson profiled as a very safe pick, whereas Chytil rated as more of gamble on raw talent. Chytil briefly made the Rangers out of camp and has posted some eye popping numbers down in Hartford. He’s already close to untouchable as a prospect.
If Andersson was a prerequisite for Chytil, then the Stepan trade becomes a little more palatable.
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It comes down to the Cup
Ultimately, it’s hard to get past how the Rangers sacrificed the chance to ice a very deep roster in a Metro division that’s for grabs. Adding Stepan to this Rangers team slots Hayes and Miller back into much more fitting roles.
Additionally, the Rangers could have used Antti Raanta to add another piece to improve their standing as contenders. Or they could have kept Raanta and eased Lundqvist off what looks like his heaviest workload in years.
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Andersson and Chytil could very well lead the next wave of competitive Ranger teams. DeAngelo could even turn his season around and finally realize some of his potential.
I can’t help but feel like the Rangers cut short their current window by trading Stepan, though. And if Lundqvist retires without winning the Stanley Cup, Jeff Gorton may regret it.