Say goodbye to Brett Howden as Rangers make two trades

The New York Rangers pulled the trigger on two deals as the trade freeze loomed on the day that teams needed to decide who to expose in the Seattle expansion draft.  They traded for Barclay Goodrow of Tampa, defenseman Nick DeSimone of Vegas and also acquired a fourth round draft pick from Vegas.  They gave up a seventh round pick and Brett Howden.

The Tampa deal

Barclay Goodrow is a New York Ranger and that is a good thing, but he is also a pending Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) and he will be free to sign with any team in the NHL.  In exchange for a seventh round pick, the Rangers did get exclusive negotiating rights to Goodrow until the free agency window opens on July 28 and they will do everything they can to sign him before he becomes a UFA.

Goodrow is a big (6’2″, 215 pounds) right winger who would fit perfectly on the bottom six and fills the team’s need for players hard to play against. He scored six goals and 20 points in 55 games for the Lightning this season and he has played 43 playoff games the last two seasons.  He was a trade deadline acquisition from the San Jose Sharks in February 2020, costing Tampa a first round pick.

He is coming off a two-year deal he signed with San Jose with an AAV of $925k and will be looking for a sizeable raise.  The Rangers will not protect him in the upcoming expansion draft and Seattle could take him, but he would be free to sign with any team (including the Rangers) after July 28.

Acquiring Goodrow is a gamble, but is one worth taking with the only exposure a seventh round pick.

The Vegas deal

The Rangers were clearly going to expose Brett Howden in the expansion draft and didn’t want to lose him for nothing, so they swapped him to Vegas for defenseman Nick DeSimone and a fourth round pick.

The real return on this trade is the draft pick as DeSimone was included to get the Golden Knights reserve list compliant.  He is about to become a Group Six UFA and the Rangers have no plans to sign him.

The consequences

Not much changes when it comes to the expansion draft.  The Rangers didn’t acquire anyone that they will need to protect and that means that they still have to decide between Kevin Rooney, Colin Blackwell and Julien Gauthier.  They must have assume that there was some interest from Seattle in Howden so they got a draft pick for him.

As mentioned, Goodrow is a gamble worth taking with the only exposure a seventh round draft pick if he doesn’t sign with New York.   The Ranger have until July 28 to sign him although Hockey Night in Canada reporter Chris Johnston reported that several teams are interested enough to offer term as long as six years.

As for Brett Howden, the fanbase’s favorite target is headed west for a fresh start.  He tenure has to be seen as a disappointment considering he was one of the cornerstones of the 2018 deadline deal with Tampa.  That trade is looking more and more like a bust though prospects Nils Lundkvist and Karl Henriksson were the players taken with the draft picks acquired and they both just signed with the Rangers.

By trading Howden, it’s very clear that the David Quinn influence on the roster is gone.

Other deals

It wasn’t a crazy day like trade deadline day during the season, but there were a few notable transactions.  Here they are.

Ryan Graves

(defense) from Colorado Avalanche to New Jersey Devils for

Mikhail Maltsev

(left winger) and 2021 second round pick.