Late Saturday, the New York Rangers made a trade that no one expected. They swapped winger Brendan Lemieux to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a 2021 fourth round draft pick. It’s a move that will undoubtedly infuriate Ranger fans who valued Lemieux’s physical play, but from a practical point of view, it was a roster driven move.
We’ll get back to the Lemieux trade shortly, but first, the Rangers will be playing a must win game against the Washington Capitals. Their 2-1 loss to the Flyers was bad enough, but compounded with wins by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins, it was a disaster.
They are facing a red hot Washington Capitals team that has won 11 of their last 12 games. The only loss was to the Rangers eight days ago. The Rangers outplayed the Capitals in their two game series and could easily have won both games, except for a brief outburst at the end of the first game. They will need to be just as good today.
The Lemieux deal
Brendan Lemieux’s trade was clearly a roster move. In all likelihood, he was going to be exposed in the expansion draft and this was way for the Rangers to get something for a player that they were going to lose. If not that, they would have lost another player if they protected him in the draft so at least they got a return.
OFFICIAL: #NYR have acquired a fourth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft from the LA Kings in exchange for forward Brendan Lemieux.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 27, 2021
Lemeiux’s Ranger career ends with a stat line of 109 games, 11 goals and 31 points. He totaled 214 penalty minutes and his plus/minus was -14. The 25 year old played with emotion and was often a target of the referees, more by reputation than for good reason. He was one of the players who made the Rangers harder to play against. He leads the Rangers with 59 penalty minutes, Ryan Lindgren is second with 27 minutes. He leads the team with three fighting majors and two misconduct penalties.
So, why was he traded? The expansion draft was surely a reason. With the arrival of Vitali Kravtsov, the Rangers are facing roster and cap issues and swapping a contract makes sense. Of all the forwards on the team who could have been traded, he makes the most sense with his annual $1.55 million cap hit.
Lemieux makes more money than Colin Blackwell, Phil Di Giuseppe, Kevin Rooney, Brett Howden or Julien Gauthier and if Kravtsov is going to get a slot in the lineup, Lemieux might have found himself watching more games than playing.
The interesting thing is it is an early indication that the Rangers have read the tea leaves and know that making the playoffs will be probably a pipe dream. After Saturday’s results, their odds grew more slim and they face two games against the hottest team in the NHL. It looks to be another off-season of lottery madness.