Does Jeff Gorton deserve blind faith?

Does the New York Rangers’ general manager deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to any move he makes?

The New York Rangers had been grooming Jeff Gorton to take the reigns once they hired him from the Boston Bruins. It was his tenure there that showed he had what it takes to build a Stanley Cup roster, with Tuukka Rask, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and others joining the organization during his time there. Now, since The Letter, he’s been tasked with doing the same thing with the Rangers. There are some fans that criticize some of his moves, but is that warranted? Or, has Gorton earned our blind faith? Let’s analyze some of the major moves.

The hits

The Mika Zibanejad trade – The Mika Zibanejad trade–Derick Brassard and the Rangers’ seventh-round pick for Mika Zibanejad AND the Ottawa Senators’ second-round pick–is a master-class on how to sell high while planning for the future. This trade is almost as good for the Rangers as the Scott Gomez-for-Ryan McDonagh trade was. Zibanejad is an undisputed number-one center in the league. Brassard scored 39 points for Ottawa, then was unceremoniously shipped off. A big win for Gorton.

Signing Artemi Panarin- Artemi Panarin is all that he was advertised to be–and more. The fact that Gorton got Panarin to sign for less than other teams offered is knowing exactly how to play your cards. What more can be written about Panarin that hasn’t been said about him already? He’s a superstar, and the Rangers got him to play on Broadway throughout his prime.

The Jacob Trouba trade– This is a little bit nuanced. The trade itself–Neal Pionk, an undrafted offensive defenseman with major defensive liabilities, and a late first-round draft pick for a burgeoning number one defenseman in Jacob Trouba–is a home run. It’s a great example of strong asset management with selling Pionk at his peak, and taking advantage of your team’s cap space and another team’s cap restrictions.

The Ryan Strome trade– You want to talk about winning the lotto? Gorton took a flyer on swapping one struggling Ryan–Ryan Spooner–for another Ryan–Ryan Strome. Spooner is out of the NHL, while Strome put up a career year as Panarin’s pivot. Impressive. Lucky? Maybe, but absolutely impressive.

The Rick Nash trade– The Rangers traded Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins for Ryan Spooner, Ryan Lindgren, Matt Beleskey, and a first-round and seventh-round pick. Lindgren has developed into a hard-nosed defensive defenseman, and may be partnered with Adam Fox for the next decade on Broadway. The Rangers packaged the first-round pick–along with the second-round pick they acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the Michael Grabner trade–and sent it to Ottawa for the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 draft. The Rangers chose K’Andre Miller.

But, Gorton’s tenure with the Rangers doesn’t include all hits.

The misses

Re-signing Brendan Smith- Brendan Smith played well after coming over from the Detroit Red Wings. So, Gorton decided to re-sign him for four years at $17.4 million. This move was suspect from the start because 1) Ryan Graves was a similar player who was in the Rangers system, and could have been a cheaper option but was never even given a sniff at cracking the Rangers’ roster 2) Brendan Smith was maddeningly inconsistent in Detroit, which was why the former first-round pick was made available by Detroit. The contract has backfired tremendously on the Rangers.

The Lias Andersson saga– What, you thought you’d get through an article without reading about Lias Andersson? Look, you can do everything right, and sometimes prospects just don’t work out. It happens. But, here’s why this is such an unmitigated disaster. Andersson was found to be too immature to have a serious future on Broadway. This, despite that every one of the Rangers’ scouts, draft team, and Gorton himself, touted his character as the reason why they chose him seventh overall. Then, enter David Quinn. Quinn didn’t exactly agree with their findings, and chose to bury him on untalented lines–or not play him at all. At the end of the day, either your entire organization was wrong about the kid–or your head coach was. If it’s the former, it’s terrifying that everyone can be so wrong on what they view top 10 talent.

The Ryan McDonagh trade– At the time, the Rangers went for quantity over quality. While in theory, that’s not necessarily terrible, the early returns so far don’t favor Gorton. Libor Hajek and Brett Howden have both struggled to the point where it’s fair to question whether either of them will have long careers in the NHL. The first round pick in the deal became Nils Lundkvist, so maybe this can turn around, but yeesh. Not good.

Shipping off J.T. Miller– Not only did the Rangers not demand the Tampa Bay Lightning’s best prospects in the McDonagh trade, they added J.T. Miller to the deal so they could acquire Vladislav Namestnikov. Tampa rightfully sold high on Namestnikov, who was playing with Steven Stamkos at the time, while the Rangers were frustrated with Miller’s lack of maturity and stalled progress in their minds. They had no intention of re-signing Miller, so they added him to the package. Tampa traded Miller before the start of last season to the Vancouver Canucks, where he put up 72 points. The Rangers traded Namestnikov to Ottawa, who moved him to Colorado last season.

There are some other major moves that are still up in the air.