New York Rangers: How to properly execute a fire sale

So, you’re the general manager of an NHL franchise and your team is going nowhere fast.

The job of an NHL general manager is one of hypocrisy and oxymorons. The job requires an ability to juggle the immediate needs of your day to day roster as well as the long-term future. Continued success over a prolonged period of time translates to job security. In the fast-moving world of NHL executives, job security is the most important leverage a G.M can have.

The general manager of a team is liable to be bullied into making bad trades if they might be fired. At the midway point of the NHL season, the league’s general managers are sizing each other up for the next four weeks. The trade deadline this year falls on February 26th so the vultures have begun to circle the dying teams.

There are teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning that are firmly in a playoff spot and could stand pat with their roster and roll the dice. For a team on the fence like pretty much any team in the metropolitan division, adding a piece could be the difference between a playoff appearance and watching from the couch.

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Then, you have the teams resigned to their fate of being home for the summer by the first week of April. This season the New York Rangers have read the writing on the wall. They are a patient in the hospital who’s playoff aspirations are on life support. The injuries have been outright overwhelming and proved to be insurmountable to the players that remain.

Biting the bullet

There are several players on the Rangers who are under team control until July 1st of this year or of 2019. The General Manager of the Rangers, Jeff Gorton, must proceed with caution in unpacking his assets. Last year on draft day, the general manager seemingly panicked into dealing Derek Stepan for the first offer he got.

The move seemed impulsive because Stepan had a no-trade clause that was about to go into effect. The trade was not fair value for what Gorton gave up. Gorton got just one draft pick and Tony DeAngelo in return for his best center and superb backup goalie. When you compare this to the litany of assets the Avalanche got in return for Matt Duchene, you have to scratch your head.

In the real world, a fire sale is the selling of the remains of a house fire at a discounted price. It is a tad more complicated than just getting rid of what’s left over in the sports world. As it currently stands, the Rangers have a solid core of players with substantial playoff experience that have never made it over the hump.

Committing to a full-scale fire sale means parting with some of the best roster players you have to sure up the organization’s long-term health. In Larry Brook’s bombshell story from January 26th, the columnist described a total commitment to building a sustained winner going forward. This does not mean that Gorton should just trade away the players because he has limited leverage.

The Model

The current dynamic and level of parity within the NHL allow for teams to get back into contention quickly. There are two different models to build a sustained contender in the league, through the draft, and via trades. The Rangers had a first-round pick in the top ten last June for the first time in seven years. Of course that last top ten pick, Dylan McIlrath, never panned out at the NHL level.

This is where the danger in a rebuild comes into play. Trading known assets for draft picks or prospects is a risky proposition. This is why it is absolutely critical that the Rangers recoup as much value as possible for the players they move. The team has always made the big splash at the deadline and landed one of the biggest names available.

The front office needs to use that experience as an inside look into the thought processes of the teams they negotiate with. In the past, the Rangers have given up bounties of draft picks and prospects for proven NHL stars. To pry Keith Yandle away from the Arizona Coyotes three years ago, the Rangers parted with an NHL talent, an NHL ready talent, a first and a second round pick. Should the Rangers trade Ryan McDonagh, they would need at least a pair of first-round picks and a prospect ready for the league.

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There is no such thing as an easy trade for the Rangers to make. They have valuable assets that other teams desire, but they need to ensure their own future. If the wholesale change is to be considered a success, the Rangers will at minimum need to have stockpiled a hand full of first round picks.