While the crickets from the front office of Madison Square Garden chirp a little louder each passing summer day, the New York Rangers remain a team loaded with redundant assets.
The roster awaits Chris Drury’s first modifications upon the Seattle expansion draft, free agency and a possible blockbuster swap or two. With Jeff Gorton’s deep bag of prospects, a couple exchangeable vets and the No. 15 overall pick at his disposal, there are innumerable avenues that can be taken in leapfrogging the NHL to serious playoff competitors as soon as October.
Of course, the main objective of executing these transactions are refacing the identity of the Rangers into an edgier and more succinct threat. And whether that means parting ways with one of the top-line forwards—Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich—or not, it is time to break up the popular Alain Vigneault/David Quinn trio.
The Rangers premier line for four years consists of the three longest tenured Blueshirts. While this period of drastic change has swirled around them, they have managed to forge an effective chemistry that can contend with the league’s best lines. But for every game they stay together, they hinder the progress of a handful of bright young forwards beneath them, and it’s time to push go.
The ‘development years’ are behind us now. With Gerard Gallant at the helm, it’s time to commit to exposing these inhibited players in important roles. Alexis Lafrenière, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil are all top-six talents; they need to be treated as such. Vitali Kravstov, Julien Gauthier and Morgan Barron are not to be left in the shadows, either. Lest we forget, there’s still last season’s “1B” line of Artemi Panarin, Ryan Strome and Colin Blackwell in the mix.
So obviously, even if you move Kreider, Zibanejad and Buchnevich around in the lineup, it’s too crowded. Gorton compiled too many top-six-type players and now Drury must fix this log-jam. Jack Eichel (or some other marquee addition) could be joining the equation, which would mean at least someone of the aforementioned bunch would depart.
Buchnevich is coming off a breakout campaign, so it could make sense to ship him out anyway. Zibanejad and Kreider also have No Movement Clauses in their contracts and that limits the Rangers’ options.
But with Eichel filling in as a top-six center, someone else—perhaps such as Kravtsov—would have to accompany him to help alleviate this congestion. It would cost that plus a defenseman and high draft asset to acquire Eichel as is. And from the Buffalo demands being rumored, Drury would be lucky to land that.
The burden David Quinn was left to work with was that most of his forwards weren’t meant to play in the bottom-six, and it’s why the Rangers lacked the right structure. This obsessive quest to stock young skill and speed in the system shot the Rangers in the foot. Squeezing these dynamic kids onto the end of the bench to play less than 10 minutes wasn’t helping anyone on either side of the contract.
Drury is sure to add some grit and grind to mimic what the Lightning and Islanders (possibly players from either) have and finally implement a fourth line that serves its real purpose. And that’s why Brett Howden should be browsing Seattle real-estate listings this very moment. Howden has reached his ceiling in New York. There is no sense in forcing another year of this sunk cost from Ryan McDonagh. Let him find new life for his young career in a more compatible organization.
Once things are less clustered, whatever combination of Kreider, Zibanejad and Buchnevich that is still present will have to adjust to playing different parts in a different chemistry. Breaking up the KZB line and shedding some excess fat is the first basic step in transforming this team into one that will a) use it’s talent correctly and b) not be beat up-and-down the block in five of the last six games of the season.