The COVID-19 pandemic is giving the New York Rangers a chance to take a look at the crown jewels in their prospect pipeline. Their pool of forwards is very thin so this is a period for Chris Drury and his management staff to assess their young defensemen and decide who they will be willing to trade and how much they should ask for.
One thing is certain, Chris Drury will look to improve this team at the trade deadline. It’s a foregone conclusion that, barring an absolute collapse, the Rangers will make the playoffs. Whether it is as one of the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division or as a wild card team, we won’t know until April, but Drury has to be making plans for the team to go on what they hope will be a deep playoff run.
You have to give up quality to get quality and that’s where getting all of these young blueliners some NHL experience is important. So far, we’ve seen Nils Lundkvist, Libor Hajek and Zac Jones with Braden Schneider on deck. You can be sure that at least one if not more of them will be traded.
The only untouchables on the blue line are Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren. Patrik Nemeth has an unmovable contract and Jarred Tinordi is a fill-in. Of the other prospects, Hunter Skinner and Tarmo Reunanen don’t have a lot of value compared to their top four blueliners. You can add Matthew Robertson to the list of prospects with trade value. An important question is what future the team sees for K’Andre Miller.
How have they done?
It’s tough to tell which of these prospects has the most value. K’Andre Miller has the most experience and probably the biggest upside of any Ranger defenseman. His size and raw skills have been on display now well into his second season. He’s in his second year of a three-year Entry Level contract so the salary cap is not a huge issue.
Although he still needs to develop and learn to use his size, he is not even 22-years old and has been a steady presence on the second defense unit. He is one of six NHL defensemen under 22 who have played as many as 30 games this season and compares to young stars like Rasmus Dahlin, Jamie Drysdale, Moritz Seider and Ty Smith. For the Ranger to trade K’Andre Miller it would have to be a huge deal.
The highest draft pick is Braden Schneider and he is very highly regarded, though has not played an NHL game yet. He’s a big bodied 20-year old right shot defenseman who was drafted for his size and defensive skills. While he was drafted by the prior regime, he is the kind of defenseman who comes along rarely and he could easily be in the “barely touchable” class along with K’Andre Miller.
In Zac Jones and Nils Lundkvist, the Rangers have two very similar players. Both are on the small side and are seen as offensive weapons. When it comes to these two, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that one of the will be dealt at the deadline. Lundkvist has played decently in a regular role and was just sent to Hartford to play heavy minutes and get his confidence back.
Zac Jones started the season in Hartford and was one of their leading scorers. He was brought up to the Taxi Squad, then found himself getting three straight starts. He impressed in wins over Tampa and Edmonton at Madison Square Garden, but without the benefit of home ice match ups and paired with Libor Hajek, he had a bad outing against Vegas. It was back to the Taxi Squad where he has been ever since.
The Rangers didn’t want to send Libor Hajek to Hartford at the start of the season for fear they would lose him to a waiver claim. As a result, he was a spectator for the first 26 games of the season. Since them he has played almost regularly with mixed results. He has looked good in some games, but has been overmatched in others. He hasn’t see ice since he was a minus four in the loss to Vegas, replaced by Jarred Tinordi.
The only prospect who is possible trade bait who has not seen any action with the Rangers is Matthew Robertson who has played mostly in Hartford with a stint in the Taxi Squad. Robertson was a second round pick in the 2019 draft (#49 overall) and impressed that fall at training camp and was rewarded with an Entry Level Contract.
Since that time he has been passed on the defense depth chart by Schneider, Lundkvist and Jones, but he still has support in the organization. He’s big at 6’4″, 210 pounds and the Blueshirts have given him time to develop in the AHL.
Trade value?
So far, has anyone greatly enhanced his trade value this season? It’s tough to tell. In all likelihood, their youth and small sample size has reinforced what was already believed. Of all the players, Hajek has proven that he can step in and play regularly, something that was probably a question before the season started.
Now it’s Braden Schneider’s turn to display his promise in the NHL. Will he become an untouchable or will be become a trade target for a Cup contender? Or will he allow the Rangers to be able to deal a more proven player like Miller?
At any rate, something has to give with this logjam of defense prospects. Now is the time to figure out who should stay and who could go. At this point, for most of them it’s still all about potential.
Considering their cap situation next season, it is going to be impossible to add a player on a big longterm contract. That means the bigger question is whether Drury is willing to trade this kind of potential for a short term rental like Reilly Smith, Tomas Hertl or god forbid, Phil Kessel.
He other option is to trade potential for potential to shore up weaknesses in the organization. A lot depends on how the team plays leading up to the March 21 trade deadline. By then we’ll know whether the Rangers are a year away from being a true Cup contender or if they are this year’s version of the 2021 Montreal Canadiens.