The off-season of 2019 will go down as one of them most important in New York Rangers history. Stars were acquired, prospects were drafted, players were signed and disappointments were bought out. How did Jeff Gorton do?
Thanksgiving is a good time to take a look at the tumultuous off-season of 2019. The New York Rangers were one of the most active teams, doing a lot of business. It’s way too early to form a final opinion, but so far, it’s been working out.
Here’s a day by day look at what happened and we’ll grade each transaction.
April 9 – NHL Entry Draft Lottery: Grade: A+
Gorton gets no credit for this, it was all luck. Well, maybe taking Steven McDonald’s NYPD shield with him to Toronto did it, so let’s give him some credit for winning the lottery and getting the second pick in the draft, a pick that turned out to be Kaapo Kakko.
April 30 – Trade with Carolina for Adam Fox: Grade A
Again, this is one that fell into Gorton’s lap. Adam Fox wanted to play for the Rangers and was play his senior year at Harvard in order to become a free agent in a year. Gorton could have waited, but he pulled the trigger on a deal with Carolina, acquiring his rights for two second round draft picks.
At the time, critics said that the Rangers should have waited a year and gotten Fox for nothing but cash, but considering the rookie’s performance this season, trading for him was the right move. Fox is the future foundation of the blue line and was a bargain for two second round picks.
May 2 to June 5 – Fox, Kravtsov, Reunanen, Rykov and Shesterkin sign Entry Level Contracts: Grade A
These were mostly no-brainers, but by getting these five players under contract, the Blueshirts can map out their plans for the future. Tarmo Reunanen had to be signed or the team would have lost his rights. Adam Fox’s signing was inevitable after the trade. Getting the trio of Russians under contract guaranteed that they would leave the KHL, not necessarily a sure thing. While Igor Shesterkin is the only player having an impact in North America so far, Yegor Rykov is recovering from a preseason injury and Vitali Kravtsov will eventually make it back to be an impact player for New York.
June 17 – Jacob Trouba trade: Grade A
This grade is for the trade, not the contract (we’ll get to that shortly). In Trouba, the Rangers acquired the top pair defenseman they had been looking for since trading Ryan McDonagh. Trouba has been all of that and more. With the development of Fox and Tony DeAngelo, Trouba has been able to focus more on being the shutdown defenseman the team has needed for years while still chipping in offensively. He is playing 22:37 minutes per game, a full two and a half minutes more than anyone else on the team.
As for the deal itself, the price was fair. Neal Pionk is a good young defenseman, but nowhere near Trouba in terms of physical play and while losing the first round pick was tough, it was the one they got in the trade for Kevin Hayes.
June 21 – NHL Entry Draft: Grade A
By drafting Kaapo Kakko, this was a grade A draft. The team also was able to get some potential in Matthew Robertson and Karl Henriksson. After the top three, it’s always a crapshoot and some of the team’s later picks are showing promise.