New York Rangers: Covering all of their bases before the deadline

Just four days before the NHL trade deadline, the New York Rangers’ front office is in the process of covering all of its bases. In fact, it should go even further.

With the New York Rangers set to take on the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, the team will be just four days away from the NHL trade deadline. There is a variety of moving parts around the league outside of New York’s control that is just a reality of the business.

As of now, the team’s front office is in the midst of simultaneously negotiating potential trades of both center Kevin Hayes as well as winger Mats Zuccarello while also trying to extend both. The logic being that if the team does not get a suitable offer that makes sense before Monday’s deadline, both players will remain with the organization.

Yet, the team needs to go an extra step further and take extra precautions. It’s going to be upsetting to those who have tickets for Thursday’s game against the Wild and Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, but it’s simply a necessary step in this process.

It would be outright negligence for the front office to allow both Hayes and Zuccarello to play in either game prior to the trade deadline. The team cannot in good faith negotiate with other teams while exposing both of its assets to the dangers of an NHL game. There are too many chances for fluke injury that would derail a potential trade.

The Ottawa Senators sat forward Matt Duchene out of the team’s last game and has yet to announce if he will return to the lineup before the deadline.

The truth

In addition to upsetting those with tickets for the Rangers next three games, sitting out the two forwards is the responsible choice. If the front office does work out long-term pacts with both or either, the player could simply return to the lineup for next Wednesday’s contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

There is simply too much that could go wrong exposing both players to the unpredictable nature of a game. As Zuccarello himself would tell you, a single redirection or errant shot could change a person’s entire life.

As the league inches closer to the crunch of the deadline, more dominos are sure to fall. Last year, the Rangers didn’t move their big chip, Ryan McDonagh, till the last ten minutes of the deadline. In fact, it wasn’t until after 4 pm that the team actually confirmed the trade because things were so hectic.

Let the pair dress for Thursday’s game for warmups, make the announcement well in advance of game time and as director Spike Lee would want, do the right thing