The New York Rangers hold the trade market in its hands

Every single year a rebuilding team with expiring veteran contracts holds the NHL trade market hostage. No general manager wants to be the first to dive into the mix.

At face value, navigating the NHL trade market is a daunting proposition. As qualified as you may think you are from years of playing EA Sports NHL series or pontificating from a twitter account, the real world is a totally different beast. 31 different general managers all walking a fine line between trying to rip someone off without burning the potential for a future deal.

The reality of the trade market is simple, no general manager is ever actually going to give away something they don’t want to. Meaning that there’s a reason teams always start with the typical first round pick plus a level A and B prospect. Those serve as the launching points for potential deals that require dozens of hours of phone calls.

Think how long the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning took to unwind a trade centered around Ryan McDonagh. The deal wasn’t announced until after the league’s 4:00 pm eastern standard time deadline but was agreed to in principle before the cutoff.

There’s a reason the Rangers ended up with Libor Hajek and Brett Howden instead of Brayden Point or Mikhail Sergachev. Then Tampa Bay G.M. Steve Yzerman was never going to give up his best talent in a deal. This is what made Yzerman the most effective front office executive in the league for a number of years.

When it came to deadline time, Yzerman had the best pool of prospects in the league, but always managed to talk trade partners down to B and C level talent. Tampa Bay is in a unique position because the organization drafts well and has good executives. The Lightning front office was always able to set the market going rate for a specific asset.

What it means for New York

Now, as sellers, the Rangers’ front office is in the position to dictate the going rate for a variety of different assets. Although Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and a few other pieces are not the marquee names of free agency next summer, they hold significant value for a pair of reasons.

First, they’re two of the few assets up for new contracts next summer not currently on a playoff team. Meaning that sure, Erik Karlsson, Artemi Panarin, Jeff Skinner and Joe Pavelski are all available next summer but none are going to be traded from their playoff caliber team.

The Rangers, on the other hand, have returned to earth and probably will continue to sputter. This makes for a perfect opportunity in which Jeff Gorton can flex his muscles and swing more deadline trades. All things considered, the return for both the Rick Nash and McDonagh trades look considerably better now than they did at the moment.

The draft picks from those trades were used to pick the Rangers’ of the future and to get as many cracks as possible at fixing the defense the cheap and homegrown way. Ultimately, drafting well is the key to long-term success in the NHL. Free agency and trades are not enough to build a team around because of the hard salary cap.

The fact that Hayes and Zuccarello are both producing well in contract years is the perfect situation for New York. Turning one or both of the forwards into draft picks or prospects is as no-brainer a choice as possible. To New York’s benefit, Hayes is one of, if not the best, asset up for grabs at this deadline.

Too bad the Boston native is only a post-deadline rental. With more time on his contract, the bundle could have been substantial. Even so, there is an opportunity to control the market this year.

Gorton has made some good moves and some bad moves. This is a chance to really get the ball rolling on returning to winning hockey at Madison Square Garden.