The New York Rangers will be sellers at the trade deadline in less than a month. With nine trades in the last two weeks, we are starting to get a picture of what the return may be for the Ranger assets.
Last season there were only three transactions in the month of January, all of minor interest. This season there has been a flurry of deals and it looks like contending teams are making moves early to ensure playoff positioning.
The big Ranger deals last season all came in the last two days before the deadline, including the McDonagh trade to Tampa that was consummated with minutes to spare before the 3pm deadline. With a number of trades already on the board, we are getting some guidance on what to expect when the Rangers start dealing.
Most of the trades this month were one-for-one deals between contending teams, intended to benefit both sides. That’s the case in the Carolina-Minnesota deal (Victor Rask for Nino Niederreiter) and the trade between Anaheim and Minnesota (Pontus Aberg for Justin Kloos). One other deal was made as a set up for future moves. That’s the trade of Jamie Oleksiak from Pittsburgh to Dallas. The Penguins are clearing cap space as they look for a third line scoring center. However, there was one trade from a lottery team to a playoff contender that could serve as a model for a future Ranger deal and that was the trade of Jake Muzzin from Los Angeles to Toronto.
The Muzzin trade
The Los Angeles Kings sent defenseman Jake Muzzin to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a first round draft pick and two prospects. This was a case of a top contender filling a gaping hole in their lineup. He looks to slot into the top defense pair with Morgan Rielly who is having a career year. He will replace 38 year old Ron Hainsey who will move down to the third pair. Muzzin is 29 years old and makes a manageable $4 million and is signed through next season.
The Leafs gave up a first round pick that should end up anywhere from 25th to 31st overall. Of the two prospects, forward Carl Grundstrom is rated the fourth best prospect in the Maple Leafs system and defenseman Sean Durzi has been rated as high as sixth.
What Toronto did not give up were any of the top prospects or any of their highly rated rookies Timothy Liljegren is the top defense prospect in the Leafs organization. Forward Andreas Johnsson and defenseman Travis Dermott are in the latter category.
That Toronto was able to get a top pair defenseman for this season and next on a cap friendly deal in exchange for three warm bodies that weren’t going to have an impact for at least three years makes this a win-win for Toronto. The consensus is that Los Angeles didn’t get enough.
For Ranger fans this sounds an awful lot like the return the Blueshirts got from Tampa in the McDonagh trade. Of course, Ryan McDonagh is a much better hockey player than Jake Muzzin and that was why the team got two high draft picks along with two prospects, but the quality of the prospects is what is similar.
The key question is whether Los Angeles jumped the gun in dealing Muzzin. If they had held out until closer to the deadline could they have upped the ante? Were they afraid that Toronto would fill their void in their defense with another option?
These are the questions that are facing Jeff Gorton and the Rangers over the next 26 days. They know which teams need a strong two-way center like Kevin Hayes. They know which teams are looking for a creative passing wizard like Mats Zuccarello. And they know which teams are looking for a tough veteran defenseman with a Stanley Cup pedigree like Adam McQuaid. It’s a game of chicken and how it is played will go a long way towards determining the future of the New York Rangers.