Who could be traded at the deadline?

Analyzing the available – Tony DeAngelo

We can sum up Tony DeAngelo in one paragraph.  If a team is willing to give anything for DeAngelo, Gorton will make that trade.  Right now he is destined to be exposed in the expansion draft and if not selected, he will be bought out.  A team offering anything for a player who has been sitting at home for two months in disgrace is a positive return and the Rangers will take it.

Wild cards

That’s it for the list of trade-able Rangers. It’s always possible that a bigger deal will materialize, but the odds of that happening are slim.   It’s also possible that a team will want players like Kevin Rooney, Colin Blackwell, Tony Bitetto or Keith Kinkaid, but the return would have to include players who fit the criteria for expansion draft exposure. That means they would have to get a player in return who has played in 27 or more NHL games in 2020-21 or has played in 54 or more NHL games in 2019-20- and 2020-21 combined.

Gorton could also try to work the expansion draft to his advantage.  He could acquire a player a team is in danger of losing, protect that player in the draft and then trade him back to the original team and get assets in return.

The trade deadline is 3pm on Monday, April 12.   It doesn’t look like there will be a huge exodus of players in the next week, but it’s very likely that Jeff Gorton will not sit on his hands and make no moves.