Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers: Brady Skjei traded to Carolina for a first round pick

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 10: Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal at 5:31 of the second period against Sam Montembeault #33 of the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden on November 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 10: Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal at 5:31 of the second period against Sam Montembeault #33 of the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden on November 10, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 20: Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal at 14:04 of the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on December 20, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 20: Brady Skjei #76 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal at 14:04 of the first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Madison Square Garden on December 20, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The New York Rangers finally pulled the trigger on a deal, swapping Brady Skjei for a first round draft pick.

The New York Rangers made a massive move to free up cap space by trading defenseman Brady Skjei to the Carolina Hurricanes for a first round draft pick.   By eliminating his $5.25 annual cap hit, the team will have the dollars to pay Kreider on his new deal and will also be able to re-sign their RFA’s.

This was Skjei’s fourth season in New York and he has been a disappointment ever since he signed his big six year $31.5 million contract in 2018.  He has had issues playing on the top pairing with his pal Jacob Trouba and with the Rangers depth on defense, Skjei became expendable.

All in all, the Rangers are lucky that the Hurricanes were willing to trade for Skjei.  The only question is which of the two first round picks that Carolina owns will be the pick that goes to New York.  Carolina has their own pick along with Toronto’s which is a conditional pick.  The conditions are that if the Leafs’ pick ends up a top ten pick, it turns into the 2021 Toronto first round pick.

In 60 games this season, Skjei has eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points.  The Rangers will not see the Hurricanes again this campaign as they finished the season series on Friday night.

The question is who will slot into the left side on the blueline to replace him.  The Rangers have Ryan Lindgren, Marc Staal and Brendan Smith on the big league roster and Libor Hajek is playing in Hartford.

Home/Rangers News