New York Rangers: Trade Rumors with the Calgary Flames

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.