The New York Rangers have been both buyers and sellers at the trade deadline. With the prospects of making the playoffs this season slipping away, they will be sellers and are expected to be active in the trade market.
As we head toward the February 25th NHL trade deadline, let’s look at the top 10 deadline deals in New York Rangers history. These deals had both a positive and negative impact in terms of how the acquired players helped the Rangers for the playoff of run or helped restock the cupboard of prospects and younger players.
The list covers six decades of trades dating back to the 1967 expansion days when it wasn’t surprising to see players go back and forth between teams under gentleman agreements to protect them from being exposed to waiver pickup. Then GM Emile Francis would routinely make his trade deals in the November timeframe to send a message to shake up the team.
Nowadays the trade deadline is used to obtain payers to get teams into the playoffs, fill in gaps in scoring or defending depth or to obtain future assets for players in their “walk year” with the advent of free agency.
The list was aided by the source nhltradetracker http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/GM_list
Some criteria that were used in putting together the list considered:
- Trades took place in the week(s) leading up to the trade deadline
- Trades that involved marquee players
- Trades with immediate returns as well as long-term benefit
Let’s take a look at the biggest trades in New York Rangers history starting with the ones that just feel a bit short of the top ten.