Are the New York Rangers in play for Tyler Seguin?

The New York Rangers are always in play when it comes to elite players. Could a disgruntled Tyler Seguin jump to the Rangers next summer?

There’s something about teams that play their home games at Madison Square Garden. Somehow, their fans always convince themselves that they are in play for elite free agents even though there is no substance to the thought. New York Knick’s fans are waiting for next summer to come when Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving are going to bring the team back to the postseason.

When it comes to Ranger fans, they have their eyes set on three elite talents. First, there is the headliner of next summer’s free agency, Ottawa Senator’s defenseman Erik Karlsson. It isn’t often that the best player at a position hits unrestricted free agency in the NHL and the Swede figures to cause a seismic shift in the balance of power in the league.

Then, there are two forwards, Artemi Panarin of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars. Both are elite forwards with the potential for 100 point seasons with the right line mates. While there may be some credence to the Panarin rumors, the interesting situation is Seguin and the Stars.

On Tuesday August, 28 Seguin voiced his displeasure with the fact that he and the Stars have still not come to terms on a long term extension. Could three truly game breaking talents that are all upset with their current situation be unrestricted free agents come July,1 of 2019? Should that happen, the NHL would devolve into pure pandemonium as teams scattered to try and swoon one of the three players.

How good is Seguin?

The Boston Bruins really should’ve tried to get a give back for Seguin about ten minutes after the trade went through. Make what you will about Seguin’s lifestyle habits as a Bruin, but it was clear from a very young age that he was going to be an impact player in the NHL. At just 19 years old he was a regular on a Bruins team that made it to the Stanley Cup final. In 13 playoff games the Brampton, Ontario native posted seven points in just ten minutes per night.

Since Bruin’s G.M. Peter Chiarelli mystifyingly traded Seguin for a bag of pucks, the center has blossomed into one of the league’s premier players. As a member of the Stars, the center has never posted less than 72 points in a season and is a member of one of the league’s best tandems with Jamie Benn.

As a collective, the two play 20 minutes per night against the other team’s toughest defensive players. To play at nearly a point per game pace as a top line player is something that the Rangers have sorely missed in recent years. The highest point total of any Ranger in the past five seasons was Mats Zuccarello’s 61 point season during the 2015-2016 season.

Raining on the parade

In all likelihood, this is just a negotiating tactic from Seguin. Player’s don’t voice their discontent without an agenda. If the Stars were to lose Seguin for nothing come next July it would be setting the franchise back several seasons in terms of contention. Without Seguin on the team, Dallas would be in the bottom ten teams in the entire league.

Should the center make it to free agency, the Rangers would have to be in play simply by the way the team does business. Back during the summer of 2016 when New York was in a major cap crunch, the front office still tried to make a play for UFA Steven Stamkos. So if the Star’s all-star makes it to July,1 the Rangers would figure to at least make the phone call.

But, aside from John Tavares leaving the New York Islanders in free agency, elite players typically don’t leave in free agency. Teams are too incentivized to get a return on value that they’ll trade the player on the expiring contract to a contender to extract some value. Think of how the Rangers executed their fire sale, the team needed value to stimulate the team’s future.

If the Stars were going to lose Seguin, it’d force the team to start from scratch. Being that it’d be starting from scratch in terms of window of contention, it’d need prospects to work with for the future.

The Rangers would be extremely fortunate should Seguin hit unrestricted free agency. Being that a lot has to happen for that to come to fruition, it’s not wise to go banking on the center being a free agent. But, in the narrow event that Seguin is their on July, 1, the Rangers would absolutely be in play.