It’s Draft Day for the New York Rangers and the NHL and there’s been some news
The Columbus Blue Jackets just made a trade with the Montreal Canadiens, swapping Josh Anderson for Max Domi and a third round draft pick. That deal probably puts a bullet in two New York Rangers trade rumors.
One rumor was that the Blueshirts were interested in acquiring right winger Josh Anderson, due for Unrestricted Free Agency after this season, most recently by Larry Brooks in the New York Post. Anderson is an arbitration eligible Restricted Free Agent coming off an injury plagued season for the Blue Jackets. One year after potting 27 goals for Columbus he was limited to 26 games and scored only one goal.
Center-winger Max Domi’s name had been mentioned whenever there was talk of the Canadiens trying to make a bid for the Rangers’ top overall pick.
Both Anderson and Domi are gritty players who would have fit well into the Rangers’ desire to find player that are “hard to play against.” On NHL Radio, Mike Rupp likened Anderson to Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals, one reason why the Rangers were interested. As a change of scenery deal, this trade could be beneficial for both players.
So far today there have been three deals with the San Jose Sharks trading a 2021 third round pick to Minnesota for forward Ryan Donato and in another deal with the Wild, acquiring goalie Devan Dubnyk and a seventh round pick in2022 for a 2022 fifth round pick.
On Monday, the Chicago Blackhawks traded defenseman Olli Maata to the Kings in exchange for forward Brad Morrison. Maata had been mentioned as a potential left-shot defensive acquisition to bolster the Rangers’ blue line.
This won’t be the last of the deals that will happen today, but some names that had been mentioned as potential Rangers targets are now off the table.