Jeff Gorton, what were you thinking?

Jeff Gorton has gotten a lot of plaudits for his work this summer as the New York Rangers rebuild accelerated into hyperspeed. There have been some bumps in the road.

While much of Jeff Gorton’s excellent work rebuilding the New York Rangers involved spending Madison Square Garden’s money he has made some very savvy transactions. There are a few that warrant a little criticism and a couple that were outright boneheaded moves.

Oh, those defensemen

Jeff Gorton became the full time General Manager of the Rangers on July 1, 2015. Although he  had input from Glen Sather, Gorton was still responsible for all transactions.  His first two years were filled with relatively minor signings with the biggest the six-year $39 million deal he gave to Derek Stepan. He also signed Chris Kreider for four years for $4.6 million a year, a deal he probably would like redo for longer term.

Trouble came in the summer of 2017 when he signed impeding free agent Brendan Smith to a four year $17.4 million contract and marquee free agent Kevin Shattenkirk to a four year $26.6 million contract.

Granted, both signings were met mostly with enthusiasm, but they have both become onerous cap burdens resulting in the buyout of Shattenkirk this summer.  Shattenkirk endured two injury ridden seasons on a team that he thought was to be a Stanley Cup contender and began a rebuild in his first season.

Brendan Smith is another story.  Acquired at the 2017 trade deadline from Detroit, Smith excelled in the playoffs against Ottawa and earned a new contract as a result of that work.  Big mistake.  He came to camp that fall out of shape, played his way to the AHL and in his two full seasons in New York has become nothing more than an expensive seventh defenseman and utility forward.  It’s important to note that the team gave up a 2017 third round pick and a high 2018 second rounder (#33 overall) to get him.

It’s ironic that Gorton had to buy out Shattenkirk who was the better of the two defensemen.  He had no choice as finances dictated that the Rangers needed the cap space this year.

So, signing Smith and Shattenkirk weren’t great moves, but the worst was yet to come.