Trade deadline leverage…the Rangers don’t have much

Other assets

Gorton could look to move some of his Restricted Free Agents, most notably Anthony DeAngelo and Ryan Strome.  Both players are in line for a big raise based on their current records, but that’s where leverage rears its ugly head.  Every NHL general manager can see the Rangers’ cap situation on capfriendly.com and it doesn’t take a degree in finance to know that the Blueshirts have a problem.

While DeAngelo and Strome could be attractive additions to any Cup contender, they won’t overpay knowing that the Rangers have to solve their payroll problem.  However, when it comes to Strome and DeAngelo, a deadline deal could actually be better for the Rangers.   If a playoff-bound teams loses a vital center or offensive d-man, they may be desperate for help.

The same goes for everyone’s favorite trading chip, Brady Skjei.  He still has a solid reputation around the league as a good young defenseman, but at $5.25 million, he’d be a big salary for a contender to take on.   And again, with other GM’s knowing the Rangers’ situation, they won’t be offering much for Skjei.

If the Rangers wait until this summer, they could find themselves in the same situation as last off-season when they had to buy out Kevin Shattenkirk and basically gave away Jimmy Vesey in order to get under the cap and sign Lemieux and DeAngelo to practically the minimum NHL salary.

Don’t forget that in October they traded Vlad Namestnikov to Ottawa in a salary dump for a fourth round pick.  Not much return for a player on pace to score 18 goals.

Their best trade bait

The Rangers best trade bait will have to wait until the season is over and that is when Gorton will be free to offer some of his prized draft picks.   After his showing at the WJC, Nils Lundkvist’s value may never be higher and with Jacob Trouba, DeAngelo and Adam Fox ahead of him on the depth chart and with Joey Keane in the wings, he could be had for the right price.  On the left side, the Rangers will be looking to replace Marc Staal with K’Andre Miller, but they also have Libor Hajek, Matthew Robertson and Yegor Rykov as blue chip prospects.   Putting together a package  including one of these young blueliners could bring a solid return.

The Rangers also have a surplus in goal with Lundqvist, Shesterkin, Georgiev in the NHL and Adam Huska in the AHL.  Tyler Wall of U.Mass-Lowell is a Hobey Baker Award nominee and has had one of the best years for a college goalie.  Perhaps he could bring a return from a team looking for a goalie of the future.

You can be sure that Gorton will try to work his magic and his first objective will be to find a team willing to take on the last year of Brendan Smith‘s contract (he has a modified no trade clause) so he can free enough money to keep RFA’s Strome, DeAngelo and Lemieux.   Good luck with that. Unless he’s willing to throw in a high draft pick or a defense prospect, no one will even answer the phone.

It’s not a pretty picture and it would be wise for Ranger fans to lower their expectations this February.  This is not fantasy hockey, it’s a real cutthroat business world and no one is going to be charitable.  Just as Jeff Gorton is looking to fleece one of his colleagues, they are looking to fleece him.  Let the games begin.