As the NHL regular season goes on and the trade deadline gets closer, rumors and speculation are heating up. Could one of the most underrated defensemen in the league end up with the New York Rangers?
It’s obvious that there are some missing pieces on the New York Rangers. They haven’t been able to find a true sense of consistency yet this season. Many fans have been suggesting a shake-up in the front office in an attempt to improve the situation. However, that is seeming more and more unlikely as time goes on.
Another possible way to attempt to light this team up is a trade. While this team is definitely talented, and they have shown that they are capable of great things, something just isn’t clicking lately. Picking up a player with some star-power, particularly a defenseman, could help the team out. Who better to target than one of the few bright spots on a struggling team?
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His career thus far
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is one of the league’s secret weapons, in a sense. He doesn’t get a ton of recognition due to playing in the small, low-ranking market of Arizona. As a Coyote, Ekman-Larsson hasn’t seen a ton of success in his career thus far.
In fact, the franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2012, which was also the first time they had won a playoff series in team history. Technically, the “Arizona” Coyotes haven’t qualified for the playoffs yet; they were known as the “Phoenix” Coyotes until 2014.
They took Oliver Ekman-Larsson as the sixth pick of the first round (sixth overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Since then, he has appeared in eight NHL seasons.
He has not played less than 75 games since the 2012-2013 season. Additionally, he has not put up less than 39 points since the season after that. This year, he is on pace for about 41 points (roughly 13 goals and 28 assists). He has put up impressive numbers for a defenseman, his career high in points (2015-2016) is 55.
Last season (2016-2017) was an off year for the defenseman scoring 39 points (12 goals and 27 assists). However, he had to deal with losing his mother to breast cancer, missing the last three games to go and see her in Sweden before she passed away.
He is one of the hardest working players on the team, playing the most minutes out of all of the Coyotes and against the best competition on the top pair. Although last year was a little bit of a down year for him, that only works in the Rangers’ favor for a potential swap.
How would he help the Rangers?
One of the weakest points for the New York Rangers recently, and for a while, has been the defense. Before this season began, there were many situations when Ryan McDonagh had to put the d-corps on his back and carry the rest of the group through tough games.
When Kevin Shattenkirk was acquired this summer, it looked like McDonagh might finally have a partner on his level. Along with the departure of Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein, the Rangers’ defense appeared to improve drastically. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case.
Alain Vigneault seems to be eager to try any defensive combination, with the exception of McDonagh and Shattenkirk together, though the few times they played together had been great. Aside from two of the best defensemen on the team, Marc Staal and Nick Holden are still regulars in the lineup, which is a huge problem.
Adding Ekman-Larsson could fill up a spot previously occupied by Staal or Holden, or even Brendan Smith, who hasn’t quite been himself yet this season. Too many games this season have resulted in the defense, or the entire team, hanging the goaltender out to dry. Unfortunately, that goaltender is often the aging, exhausted Henrik Lundqvist.
Fortunately, Lundqvist is still a great player, but that can only last for so long. The mistakes of the defense are becoming more evident as time goes on. The addition of Oliver Ekman-Larsson could boost the defense even more, and give the team an excuse to do something about some of the blueliners who have become dead weight.
What would a trade look like?
While the Arizona Coyotes have recently said that they would not trade the blue-liner, sometimes a team receives an offer that they just cannot pass up. That is exactly the kind of offer that the New York Rangers will have to pitch to them.
Fans often see the 26-year-old as the cornerstone of the Coyotes. Plus, he is still young enough to have many successful years ahead of him. Arizona would most likely only trade him if they knew they were guaranteed a substantial return. The goal of this trade should be to keep the best parts of the defense intact, so McDonagh and Shattenkirk should be virtually untouchable.
After a long, grueling rebuild process, the Coyotes finally get to focus on the future. Players like Dylan Strome, Max Domi, Jakob Chychrun, and former Ranger Anthony Duclair, are the centerpieces of this system. They even dropped veteran captain Shane Doan last summer, seen by many as the heart-and-soul of the team.
Arizona will most likely be looking for young players, specifically defensemen, to fill a potential void left by Ekman-Larsson. This could mean having to part with any of Brady Skjei, Ryan Graves, Neal Pionk, Brandon Crawley, and Ryan Sproul. It’s doubtful that they would take Anthony DeAngelo back, but it could be worth a shot.
Now, the question is this; is Oliver Ekman-Larsson worth giving up a huge piece of the New York Rangers’ future? That’s up to fans to decide on their own. If the team does somehow acquire the 2015 All-Star, it will be obvious that they are trying to win now.
Losing in the first or second round of the playoffs again with Shattenkirk and Ekman-Larsson this time would be a terrible embarrassment for the Rangers. It could even lead to the front office changes that so many of us have been praying for.
Next: Revisiting the possibility of a Tyler Bozak trade
But, in the end, this article is all hypotheticals and speculation. As mentioned earlier, the Coyotes have sent the general message that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is off-limits, at least for now. A fan base can dream, though, can’t we?