Who could be traded at the deadline?

Analyzing the available – Julien Gauthier

Julien Gauthier, 23 – RFA after this season

Would the Rangers even consider trading Julien Gauthier just over a year after getting him?  The play of Vitali Kravtsov over the next four games could tell us a lot.  Gauthier has the kind of size and speed that teams covet and he has proven this season that he can use both to his advantage in the NHL.  The problem for Gauthier is he sits fourth or fifth on the depth chart at right wing and his future is not as fourth line right winger on a checking line.  He’s a scoring forward and needs to play for a team that will use him that way.

A lot depends on what happens with Pavel Buchnevich and Kravtsov.  Kaapo Kakko isn’t going anywhere and if Gauthier ends up third on the depth chart he could have a long career in New York.

What would it take?

It took a top right shot defense prospect to get Gauthier from the Hurricanes and he has increased his value this season.  His willingness to crash the net, his age and his history as a scorer in the AHL all make him an asset a contender would want.  Gorton won’t be giving him away and if all he could get for Brendan Lemieux was a fourth round pick, a trade isn’t likely.

The impact

A Gauthier trade would make David Quinn’s job that much easier.  He could slot Kravtsov into the third line and keep Brett Howden in the lineup on the wing on the fourth line. Despite Gauthier’s potential, his role moving forward this season is limited so the impact of trading him could be negligible

Analyzing the available – Brett Howden

Brett Howden,23 – RFA after this season

With the trade of Lemieux, there is no risk of losing Howden in the expansion draft so keeping him should be a no-brainer, especially considering that he isn’t exactly the kind of player that teams would interested in trading for.

His pluses are the fact that he is a center, can do a decent job on faceoffs and can kill penalties and is also an NHL veteran in his third season. The biggest negative is that he has shown no propensity for offense, but if a team is looking for a checking center, he could be sought after.

It’s hard to see Howden getting much more than a third round pick at best.  Arguably, he has a higher upside than Brendan Lemieux so he could garner more in a deal.  Would Jeff Gorton want to get rid of an important piece of the 2018 trde with Tampa?  And would Quinn want to surrender a player he relies on?

Brett Howden has missed a number of games due to the COVID protocol and to be honest, there hasn’t been much of an impact.  Some will say that his penalty killing has been missed, but for the most part, the Rangers surplus of fourth line players has lessened the impact.