The New York Rangers officially announced the signing of defensemen Yegor Rykov on Monday morning. The team’s blue line is way too crowded going into the 2019-2020 season.
It’s not exactly a secret that the New York Rangers defense was the team’s Achilles heel the previous two seasons. The combination of weak scheme and one-dimensional players made the unit as a collective a liability and held back individual players who should have played better. But, thankfully, the front office addressed the problem tenfold.
If you thought last year’s clown car of a blue line was overcrowded, the Rangers have upwards of 15 blueliners who have a chance of making the opening night roster going into training camp. While the financial investment tied to more veteran players likely gives someone like Marc Staal or Brendan Smith the inside track over Ryan Lindgren or Libor Hajek, there are alternatives.
In all likelihood, New York’s summer frenzy of activity needs to start with cleaning up the back end. There’s way too much redundancy amongst the talent pool that hinders the ability of the team to get better. If several players all excel at moving the puck and creating transition but only one is good at holding the blue line, that one should get priority.
However, there is no magic wand to simply make a player go away because they don’t fit the plan going forward. It’d require either a buyout or a trade to create opportunities for the younger players that the team is supposed to be built around.
Here’s how movable each Ranger defensemen with at least one year of NHL experience that have questionable futures and at least one year of NHL experience rank.