New York Rangers: Trade Rumors with the Calgary Flames

Johnny Gaudreau

The man known as “Johnny Hockey” seems to have hinted at a divide between him and the Calgary Flames. Pre-pandemic, Johnny Gaudreau removed the Calgary Flames name from his Twitter page and the hockey world took note. Being from Salem, New Jersey, rumors have speculated about a tri-state reunion. However, for a number of reasons, although the Gaudreau rumors remain hot, the odds of him ending up in a Ranger uniform are slim.  More on that later.

At only 27 years of age, Gaudreau has plenty of quality hockey ahead of him and is only a year removed from tallying 36 goals and 99 points in 82 games played. The talented left-winger currently carries a cap-hit of $6.75 million through the 2021-22 season. With 445 points in 464 career games played, that’s more than a discount. For comparison, Kevin Hayes is making $7.14 million for the next seven years and he’s only produced 270 points in 450 career games… Yikes.

The main issue that Flames fans seem to have with Johnny Gaudreau is his “disappearance” during post-season play. In 30 playoff games, Gaudreau has only tallied 19 points and is a minus-8. His size and lack of physical presence don’t translate particularly well to playoff hockey, which ultimately makes Gaudreau the scapegoat.

What it would take:

• Vitali Kravtsov
• 2020 first round pick (from Carolina)
• Alexander Georgiev

Why the Rangers should do it:

They get better now. There may not be room for Kravtsov all said and done and the Rangers could package him in a deal that brings in a bonafide elite scorer. The fact of the matter is that the New York Rangers currently have a shorter window of success than the Flames. Artemi Panarin is New York’s window. Matthew Tkachuk is Calgary’s. Kravtsov would be given more leeway in Calgary and Gaudreau wouldn’t have to shoulder the brunt of the offensive responsibilities in New York.

Why the Rangers should not do it:

Prior to phase two of the NHL draft lottery, this trade made a lot more sense. Gaudreau is a skilled winger who wouldn’t have to be the number one scoring option in New York. However, with the expected drafting of Alexis Lafrenière, this trade seems dead in the water.

For starters, the Rangers depth at wing is already cumbersome. Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider already occupy the left wings on the first and second lines. You could switch someone from the left to the right wing, but Pavel Buchnevich and Kaapo Kakko are expected hold those slots (unless you trade Buchnevich…)

Jesper Fast might be an unrestricted free agent, but he’s a five time consecutive winner of the Players’ Player Award and will likely be brought back (if the price is right). As stated, Vitali Kravtsov is waiting in the wings. Brendan Lemieux provides sandpaper to the roster and Julien Gauthier may be young, but he brings fresh legs and a serviceable 6’4″ and 227 pound frame.

When you throw Alexis Lafrenière, yet another natural left-winger, into the fray, there seems to be very little room left for Johnny Gaudreau or his $6.75 million contract. Is it financially worth bringing Johnny Gaudreau to the New York Rangers? Just because there is an avenue for a potential trade, does it seem worth it? After two seasons at a manageable contract, Gaudreau will demand more money and another contract similar to that of Artemi Panarin could handcuff the franchise.

Listed at 5’9″ and 165 pounds (on a good day), Gaudreau serves a very specific slot. Had the Rangers not resigned Chris Kreider, this might make more sense, but the fact of the matter is that the New York Rangers aren’t in need of an additional top six winger; especially a winger not on a rookie contract.

They are however in desperate need of a center.

Elias Lindholm

If the Rangers could get Elias Lindholm he would be a strong second line center, but it would mean the end of Ryan Strome as a Blueshirt. The 25-year-old former Carolina Hurricane found his game in Calgary and has the ability to play both center and wing and is a top penalty-killer for the Flames. Lindholm played more wing than center this past season, but in 2018-19 he won 54.3% of nearly a thousand faceoffs. In that same season, Lindholm had 78 points and had a plus/minus mark of +30.  A return to center could do wonders for the gifted Swede.

However, the Calgary Flames are likely to hesitate in trading Elias Lindholm as they gave up a lot to get him. In June of 2018, the Flames shipped star defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and then Flames prospect, Adam Fox to Carolina for Lindholm and  Noah Hanifin. The Rangers would trade a second-round pick in the 2019 draft (Mads Sogaard) and a conditional third-round pick in the 2020 draft for Adam Fox. It would cost far more to acquire Adam Fox today.

What it would take:

• Lias Andersson
• Filip Chytil
• Conditional Pick (Contingent on Andersson playing a specified number of games for the Flames)

Why the Rangers should do it:

If the New York Rangers trade away Ryan Strome and can get Lindholm without giving up a key future prospect, then they should do this deal. Lindholm is signed to an affordable $4.85 million for the next five seasons. He’s one-year removed from his 78-point-campaign and still managed to score 29 goals in the shortened season this year while playing right wing. He’s not the most necessary component to the Flames roster and they could be willing to part with him to open up some of that needed cap space.

Now normally, I would not include the wild card that is Lias Andersson in any trade, but the Calgary Flames have shown interest in the quarrelsome prospect. The Flames were big on him in the 2017 draft and thought he would have fallen to the franchise come draft night. However, the Rangers boldly selected Andersson nearly ten slots higher than expected. In hindsight the Blueshirts may have been better off looking elsewhere. Regardless, Lias Andersson could be someone the Flames want to take a gamble on. Andersson would have to agree to an NHL return, though he still under contract and just on loan to his Swedish team.

Why the Rangers should not do it:

All said and done, the question is this: How much better is Lindholm than Ryan Strome?  If the Rangers can resign Ryan Strome under $5.5 million then is it worth trading away young assets? Also, you can’t guarantee Lindholm and Panarin will have similar line chemistry as Strome and Panarin. It would be a gamble. You’d essentially be giving up at least one NHL player and one elite prospect for a second line center. Lindholm could develop into a first line center, but so could Filip Chytil and Andersson. Elias Lindholm is far and away the best player in this trade, but would the Rangers be giving up too much for him?

Sean Monahan

The most surprising Flame in the rumor mill is Sean Monahan. When was the last time you saw a team trade their first-line center? Tyler Seguin was traded prior to being the Tyler Seguin of today. Matt Duchene or Ryan O’Reilly, maybe? However, Duchene was behind MacKinnon at that point and Ryan O’Reilly hated playing in Buffalo (and Colorado). Jack Eichel seems to want out of Buffalo as well, but regardless, the point is that it rarely happens. In every example (minus Seguin) the player wanted out of the franchise, not the other way. The rumor is that the Calgary Flames are actively shopping their assistant captain. One of the reasons that may be is that after this season, Monahan’s contract has a modified-NTC.

In the NBC Sports article that I mentioned earlier, the author, Adam Gretz, highlights a very interesting statistic.

Gretz writes, “Since the start of the 2014-15 season both players (Monahan and Gaudreau) are among the top-50 point-per-game forwards in the league (minimum 100 games played). Players that produce like that don’t typically get traded unless there is a contractual issue, or their team overreacts and does something dumb. If you look at that list of top-50 scorers (forwards) you will find that only eight of them have been traded at any point in their careers. Those players: Artemi Panarin, Blake Wheeler, Tyler Seguin, Taylor Hall, Mark Stone, Jakub Voracek, Phil Kessel, and Ryan O’Reilly.”

So, if Calgary is willing to do something “dumb”, the Rangers should at least pick up the phone if/when they call.

What it would take:

• Adam Fox
• Brett Howden
• 2022 First-Round Pick

Why the Rangers should do it:

Despite a down year, Sean Monahan is an elite-center who already has three 30-plus goal seasons under his belt at only 25 years of age. The Rangers need a player who can create opportunities other than Panarin and Zibanejad. Sean Monahan has proven he can do that at a top tier level.

Monahan and Mika Zibanejad are fairly equal in ability and could co-exist nicely. Monahan could lineup between Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich, while Zibanejad could center a line featuring Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko.  Sean Monahan’s 52.6% faceoff win percentage from this season would be far and away the best percentage on the Rangers roster. With a cap hit of only $6.375 for the next three seasons, the Rangers could easily move on from Ryan Strome, which they would have to do.

Why the Rangers should not do it:

You have to give talent to get talent. If the price is too high, which it probably will be, then this would simply be poor asset management. The New York Rangers would be giving up far too much talent for the young center. Outside of goaltending the biggest need for the Flames is on the blueline. Flames captain, Mark Giordano, is 36, his numbers are finally on a decline and he carries a NTC for the final two years of his contract. The Flames have four veteran defensemen (TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson) with expiring contracts and need to make some decisions about them and quickly. I don’t see the Flames relinquishing Monahan for anything less than a young, NHL-proven defensemen. Tony DeAngelo will be too costly once resigned, Jacob Trouba isn’t going anywhere and Ryan Lindgren doesn’t have enough value to get the deal done. That leaves the Rangers most valuable young player, Adam Fox.

I’d like to be clear, there is no way in hell the Rangers trade Fox. Adam Fox might be the only untouchable defenseman on the Ranger’s roster. I think Calgary would ask for Fox, as they should. The Flames initially drafted Fox and upset the young skater enough for him to say that he would not play for them – hence the trade to Carolina. SO, what could the Rangers counter offer with?

Counter Offer A:

• Tony DeAngelo
• Brett Howden
• 2022 First-Round Pick

Though the Flames are tight on cap, signing DeAngelo for $6.5 million is cheaper than resigning both TJ Brodie and Travis Hamonic. The Flames could opt to resign only one of those players and then bring back Forbort and Gustafsson on agreeable contracts.

Counter Offer B:

• Brett Howden
• Nils Lundkvist
• 2022 First Round Pick
• Alexander Georgiev

If the Flames decide to go through a minor rebuild and shed some cap, this is the deal. As stated, their window is Matthew Tkachuk. This would be a no-brainer for the Rangers. They could turn around and recoup assets by trading away Ryan Strome. They could then attempt to offer DeAngelo a bridge deal until they can get the Marc Staal and Brandon Smith contracts off the books.

But, would Calgary be interested in either deal?

Though the need for a top six center is real, if the asking price for Monahan is in fact Fox, the New York Rangers front office should hang up the phone. Especially if a few other centers around the league wind up in the 2021 and 2022 free agency like they’re projected to.

Let us know what you think. Would you try and trade for any of these players?

Comment below.