New York Rangers: Don’t overthink the Carl Hagelin trade
Former New York Ranger Carl Hagelin has found a home with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers had to trade Hagelin because they were facing a salary cap crunch. If they never made the trade, would Hagelin have blossomed in New York?
The salary cap is a cruel reality of the modern NHL. Salary rules artificially depress player wages until they can reach unrestricted free agency. This often results in players jumping from earning somewhere between two and three million dollars to more than four. This puts teams in an impossible position where they often price themselves out of their own players with bridge deals.
In the case of Hagelin, he was earning $2.25 million per season on his bridge deal. Following the 2014-2015 season, the Rangers knew they didn’t have the money to extend the University of Michigan Alumni. On draft day, New York sent Hagelin to the Anaheim Ducks for a second round pick and forward Emerson Etem.
In retrospect this trade was a fleecing. Neither Etem or that second round selection, Ryan Gropp, made an NHL impact. In fact, Etem is out of hockey just three years after the deal. Yet, the Rangers managed this situation okay being that they recouped something for a player they would not have been able to keep.
This practice of moving expiring assets for fresh ones is a practice that ensures the longterm health of an organization.
Hagelin gets a break
Things didn’t pan out for Hagelin in Anaheim, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins before the end of the 2015-2016 season. On January 16th 2016, the forward was traded to the Penguins for David Perron and Adam Clendening. In Pittsburgh, Hagelin has made a home for himself. During the 2016 postseason, Hagelin was a key component on the team’s playoff run.
Alongside Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino, he thrived. It’s not that Hagelin wasn’t good with the Rangers in the postseason, it’s that he wasn’t nearly as strong a player. In 24 postseason games with the Penguins, Hagelin recorded 16 points including six goals. In his previous 73 playoff games with the Rangers, he only had 26 points.
Chalk it up to playing alongside better talent or playing on a better team, but Hagelin was a totally different player with the Penguins. With the Rangers he was a middle six or even third line level player. In Pittsburgh, he’s found another gear in the postseason and it’s part of why the Penguins have formed a juggernaut.
What might have been?
Had New York found a way to keep Hagelin, the subsequent roster impact would’ve been direct. If the Rangers extended Hagelin at the hit he signed in Anaheim, $4 Million, they would not have been able to sign several players to extensions. That figure would have prohibited the Rangers from signing Jimmy Vesey, Michael Grabner or taking on Brendan Smith’s contract.
So, let’s reimagine the Rangers bottom six two years ago as Oscar Lindberg, Jesper Fast, Matt Puempel, Kevin Hayes, J.T Miller and Hagelin. This would be a more talented contingent of players than Hagelin had access to in his time with New York. However, it is doubtful he would have been able to substitute the production of Grabner.
Next: Pros and Cons of trading Mats Zuccarello
Dwelling on the past is a natural inclination, especially when the Rangers are out of the playoffs. However, the Hagelin trade shouldn’t occupy too much space in the realm of what-ifs. He’s a replacement level middle six player, not an elite player the team gave up on too soon. Just because Hagelin found success in Pittsburgh does not mean he’d have done the same in New York.