New York Rangers: What could have been with Keith Yandle

The New York Rangers’ front office was forced to make a series of tough decisions over the 24 months between the years of 2014 to 2016. Chief amongst them, what to do with defenseman Keith Yandle.

In the course of the New York Rangers’ success this decade, the organization went through a significant amount of turnover. As one of the perennial contenders, this decade the team frequently made trades at the deadline to acquire more talent to supplement the existing roster. On deadline day in 2015, the Rangers traded for Arizona Coyote defenseman Keith Yandle.

Although Yandle only played a year and a half with the organization, there is something about the type of player the defenseman is. Every successful team features glue guys, a player that may not be the most talented member of the roster, yet they have intangible qualities that make them invaluable.

The stories that teammates of Yandle tell about the veteran are that of legend. His proclivity for needing a friend to talk to in the shower following games, his amazing on ice chirping and general colorful personality. Someone like Yandle is invaluable during the 82 game grind of an NHL season.

There probably was no scenario in which the Rangers could have retained Yandle because of the salary cap crunch the team faced. Personal loyalty dictated the priority for contracts and it was ultimately what undid the depth of the team. Since New York did not feature and elite talent aside from Henrik Lundqvist, the team relied on depth to be competitive.

It only took two bad contracts for the Rangers’ core to unravel. Extending Marc Staal and Dan Girardi over Anton Stralman and Yandle were the two moves that forced a premature end to the Rangers’ window of contention.

In addition to forcing the buyout of Girardi this pair of contracts also forced a trade of Derek Stepan to the Arizona Coyotes which ultimately spurred the front office to engage in a rebuild.

Ever since

Although Yandle has yet to make the postseason as a member of the Florida Panthers, his individual performance has improved within the context of his role. In New York, Yandle was given heavily sheltered minutes and played less than 20 minutes per night.

With the Panthers, the Milton, Massachusetts native is playing on the first defensive pair and putting up comparable offensive numbers.

Up in New York, the defense got progressively worse each year since Yandle left. Granted, the unit as a whole lost a considerable amount of talent but, there is an alternate timeline in which the Rangers kept Yandle. The Panthers have all of the young talents in the world but have yet to put it all together at the same time.

The other timeline

It may be a case of the grass being greener on the other side, but the scenario in which Yandle stays a Ranger and Staal gets dealt seems an awful lot more enticing. There is also the added bonus that Stepan likely is held onto and the core of the cup run/ President’s trophy team is kept together to go at it one last time in the 2017-2018 season.

Throw in the added bonus of having Yandle on the same team as life long friend Kevin Hayes and you have pure comedic gold. The Spittin Chiclets podcast episode 96 with Hayes and Yandle from the summer of 2017 is on another level of funny. The stories that the former teammates share delve into a space that fans rarely get a glimpse into.

Learning that Hayes would avoid taking a shower after a game if Yandle and Staal were in there because the Boston College product had a patch of hair on his lower back that resembled a hat for his butt is the type of stuff that keeps the players loose and showing up to the rink enjoyable.

By the end of Alain Vigneault’s time with the Rangers, it was clear that things got too tense and the fun was gone. It sounds obvious to point out, but at a fundamental level, hockey is a game and professional athletes are people. When it isn’t fun to play hockey anymore, issues are naturally going to arise.

This may be the inner fan in me, but what Yandle did in his brief time with the team was noteworthy. There is something about both his style of play and who he is as a person that is enticing. If anything else, the Rangers could certainly use a laugh or two.