What the Rangers did at the deadline that they’ve failed at before

Trade deadline acquisitions are a roll of the dice.  A general manager makes a trade in the hopes that the newly acquired player will be a catalyst for his team. Think Butch Goring for the Islanders,  Ron Francis for the Penguins, Rob Blake for the Avalanche and even Stephane Matteau for the Rangers.  But since the 2004-05 lockout,  the New York Rangers have not had a great track record when it comes to deadline acquisitions. Is this the year that they reverse the trend?

First off, none of the players picked up since 2005 by New York led them to a Stanley Cup championship so we are going to look regular season performance, the final 20 or so games when these trade pick-ups made their debuts on the bright lights of Broadway.  On examination, it looks like Chris Drury has not just done well, but he’s struck gold with two players he acquired, Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano.

What they’ve done

Andrew Copp has played 13 games since coming over from Winnipeg for Morgan Barron and several draft picks. In those games he has meshed perfectly on the second line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome.  He has five goals and 13 points in those games including two game winners and one short handed goal. He’s won 50% of his draws, but even so, it is usually Strome taking faceoffs.

Frank Vatrano has played 16 games since his trade from Florida and he has scored seven goals and added four assists for 11 points. He’s been a shot in the arm for the Blueshirts’ even strength scoring with all seven goals coming that way. He’s already seventh in goals among Ranger forwards in just under four weeks.

How does Copp’s scoring line of 5-8-13 and Vatrano’s 7-4-11 compare to other late season acquisitions?

We’ll start by looking at a couple pretty good defensemen.