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What do the New York Rangers need to fix their defense?

By Jennifer Moglia

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 23: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers makes a save against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on December 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 23: Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers makes a save against the Philadelphia Flyers at Madison Square Garden on December 23, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: Adam McQuaid #54 and Kevin Shattenkirk #22 of the New York Rangers combine to hit Casey Cizikas #53 of the New York Islanders during the third period at the Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 12: Adam McQuaid #54 and Kevin Shattenkirk #22 of the New York Rangers combine to hit Casey Cizikas #53 of the New York Islanders during the third period at the Barclays Center on January 12, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Who should leave?

Adam McQuaid, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith, Fredrik Claesson, Marc Staal

Next, we identified which players no longer have a place on the New York Rangers. First up is Adam McQuaid.

Early in September, New York gave the Boston Bruins Steven Kampfer, a 2019 fourth-round pick and conditional seventh-round pick in exchange for the defenseman. Since then, he’s played 21 games with the Rangers and recorded just three points, but has racked up 17 penalty minutes and his fair share of fights as well.

At this point, the 32-year old seems like more of a potential trade piece than a longtime asset for New York.  As an unrestricted free agent, he’s perfect deadline tradebait.

As for Kevin Shattenkirk, he hasn’t quite lived up to the hype since coming here.

From injuries to slumps to just getting older, the 29-year old simply hasn’t been himself. Similar to the McQuaid situation, Shattenkirk’s name probably holds more value than how he is playing at the moment, with just two points in his last six games.

Moving on to Brendan Smith, he, like Shattenkirk, hasn’t been the same since becoming a Ranger. His season last year became a perfect storm of obstacles and bad luck, including being a healthy scratch for about a week, never getting back to normal after that, being put on waivers, being sent to the AHL, and suffering a season-ending hand injury after fighting teammate Vinni Lettieri at a practice.

He is on a pace similar to last year but has had a few more healthy scratch situations again this season. He is signed through 2021 for just over four million a year with a modified no-trade clause, so a buyout would be a pain  The Rangers would be lucky if they could find a team that would take him in a package of draft picks or another (more skilled) player in a trade.

Fredrik Claesson came to the Rangers this offseason when he was shockingly not tendered a contract by the Ottawa Senators, an organization he had been with for six seasons. He signed a one-year deal worth $700,000 with New York on “free agent frenzy” day, July first.

Since coming to New York, Claesson has been one of the best parts of the defense. He’s on a better pace offensively than he was last year, even after missing some time, and is just generally reliable both offensively and defensively.

However, the one-year deal from the summer made it seem as if the Rangers weren’t quite ready to commit to him, and they probably won’t be ready to do that unless he has a phenomenal second half.

Because he has been playing a bit better than usual, Claesson most likely has more value as “trade bait” than he does as a part of this team. A restricted free agent after this season, many expect him to be moved by the trade deadline next month.

Finally, the last defenseman who does not belong on the Rangers anymore is Marc Staal. While he has definitely been better than usual this season, that only brings him to where he should be, since he had been below average for the past few years.

Now, this isn’t Staal’s fault; he is simply feeling the effects of time and hard work, along with a terrifying eye injury from a few years ago. However, he holds virtually no trade value anymore unless packaged with players who are exponentially more talented.

He’s under contract for two more years at $5.7 million per year with a no movement clause. .  The best decision here would be to buy him out of his current contract though that would mean they’d be paying him out for four more years though at a much lower rate.

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