New York Rangers: Reports of a Jimmy Vesey trade possibility

Cons to trading away Jimmy Vesey

There was much excitement when the New York Rangers won the race to sign Jimmy Vesey as a free agent back in 2016.

And understandably so. The left-wing was hot property having carved out quite the impressive resume during his collegiate career.

In four years at Harvard University in the NCAA, Vesey finished his collegiate career with 144 points (80 goals, 64 assists) in 128 games and was crowned the ECAC 2014-15 Player of the Year.

He was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award in 2015 alongside the University of North Dakota’s Zane McIntyre and Boston University’s Jack Eichel, with the latter going on to win the honor.

But Vesey would go one better the following year as he was named the winner of the 2016 Hobey Baker Award following a season which saw him post 24 goals and 22 assists for 46 points in 33 games.

As a result, expectations were high for Vesey once he eventually entered the NHL and he hit the ground running in his very first training camp, winning the Lars-Erik Sjoberg Award given to the best Rangers’ rookie in training camp.

He enjoyed a lightning quick start to life in the NHL and wrote his name in the history books on Nov, 8, 2017 with two goals in 29 seconds against the Boston Bruins, the quickest number of goals scored by a Rangers player since the legendary Jaromir Jagr achieved the feat in 2006.

Since then, Vesey has had his fair share of ups and downs but he’s proven that he’s got the skill and the weapons in his armoury to be able to become a very good playmaker in the NHL.

And he perhaps came a step closer to reaching the peak of his powers in 2018-19 after carving out career highs in a number of categories.

He tallied 18 goals and achieved a career high in assists (18), points (35), games played (81), average total minutes of ice time (16:03) and shots (154).

There was also a dramatic improvement in Vesey’s play in the defensive zone with the forward buying into head coach David Quinn’s all-in philosophy.

Vesey dished out 79 hits, blocked 34 shots and had yet another career-high in takeaways with 50. He was a more polished player in 2018-19 and began to iron out the wrinkles in his game that had hindered his progress.

And, at 26-years-old it is fair to argue that Vesey’s best years of hockey could be ahead of him which means that you risk trading away a player who is still a work of progress and could still have plenty of room to morph into an elite talent.

There’s also the caveat of, having turned down Buffalo’s advances once before, there is no guarantee that Vesey would re-sign with the Sabres once he hits free agency in 2020, which could limit what the Rangers get back in return in any potential trade.

Conclusion

At the moment all of this is speculation but someone of Elliotte Friedman’s caliber is normally on the money with this kind of stuff, so don’t be surprised if this particular rumor heats up as the week goes on.

As is the case with any trade, there are always pros and cons which we have mapped out in the previous two slides and Jimmy Vesey is an interesting case given his age and body of work in the NHL so far.

He has improved in each of his three years in the majors and it would be a shock if that upward trend didn’t continue going forward.

Not only can he score goals but Vesey can create them too and he’s also able to put the body on and hit like a train with his 6’3″ 199 lb frame.

He was brilliant for the Rangers from a production standpoint in 2018-19 but, with Vitali Kravtsov waiting in the wings and elite talent Kaapo Kakko all but on his way (barring a shock in Friday’s Draft), Vesey could find himself falling down the depth chart once training camp opens.

So, as long as the New York Rangers can negotiate a return package of prospects, picks and maybe a top-four blueliner, then trading away Jimmy Vesey wouldn’t be the worse idea given the embarrassment of riches they have on the wings already.