Matthew Tkachuk was never a realistic option for the NY Rangers

It is fun to fantasize. That, there is no doubt. Whether it is dreaming of sitting on a beach in Hawaii or simply constructing an NHL Be-A-GM-Mode hockey team, we are all victims of fantasy. Unfortunately, this is where the Matthew Tkachuk to the NY Rangers pipe dream began and ended; as a fantasy.

For it can be stated with indisputable proof that the Rangers could not have possibly made a deal to acquire the young and tenacious forward from the Calgary Flames.

Not enough cups in the cupboard

After all, hindsight is 20-20. With the return the Flames got for Tkachuk widely viewed by the public as a king’s ransom, there is simply no way the Rangers could have afforded to pay that price.

Jonathan Huberdeau (the NHL’s second-leading scorer in the 2021-22 season with 115 points), Mackenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a 1st round draft pick in 2025. That is the massive haul the Flames received from the Florida Panthers in the deal.

Tkachuk is certainly a unique player with a very unique skill set. Few, if any, can play the agitating and grinding style of play Tkachuk brings while also being able to score a goal between their legs. It would be a fair observation to state that Tkachuk and Brad Marchand are the only two players in the NHL who bring that style to the game.

Yet, the price the Florida Panthers paid to bring in Tkachuk’s services was not only an overpay in my personal opinion (despite the 42 goals, 62 assists, 104 point season Tkachuk just had), it is also a price the Rangers simply could not pay.

The Rangers are a team filled with superstars and young talent. However, they do not possess a player of Jonathan Huberdeau’s ilk. That is one of the league’s best playmakers at the ripe young age of 26. Unless General Manager Chris Drury was willing to offer up star defenseman Adam Fox (don’t make me laugh), there is really no way New York could have pulled off this deal.

Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko are both talented young players, but neither has produced much at the NHL level to date. It is also highly unlikely that Calgary would want 52-goal scorer Chris Kreider as part of the imagined return, even if he could have been swayed to waive his No Movement Clause (NMC).

Needless to say, while Tkachuk was a player that Rangers brass would certainly love to add to the roster, they simply did not own the pieces necessary to beat what the competing Panthers offered.

The cap crunch

The other reason the Rangers never seemed like a logical destination for Tkachuk is due to the current cap constraints Drury finds himself in. With contracts like Artemi Panarin and his 11.642 million dollar average annual value (AAV), along with Fox ($9.5M AAV), Mika Zibanejad ($8.5M AAV), Jacob Trouba ($8M AAV) and Kreider ($6.5M AAV), it would be mighty difficult to squeeze another $9.5M AAV contract under the cap, which is the price Tkachuk signed for in Florida.

Keep in mind, Drury will have to find a way to finagle the cap when K’Andre Miller, Filip Chytil, and Lafreniere are all due for new contracts next summer. As of now, you can expect Miller to earn quite a pay raise, while Lafreniere and Chytil will get one as well should they have productive seasons in 2022-23.

Right now, the Rangers have approximately $4.8M in projected cap space to sign Kakko. Even if Kaako was used in this make-believe scenario, that still would not clear anywhere near enough space to fit Tkachuk under the cap.

Moving Trouba’s contract would likely have cleared the room, but he is the proud owner of a NMC himself so he will not be going anywhere without his approval. Furthermore, the addition of Vincent Trocheck’s 7-year, $5.625M AAV complicates matters even further.

While the contract is not necessarily bad, it is still a decently high cap hit for a team with very little space to begin with. No, the real time to make a move for a big name player will be the 2025-26 offseason, when the cap is expected to make a significant jump (can anyone say Auston Matthews?).

For now, any potential big name players requiring significant money to sign can essentially be scratched off the list as targets for the New York Rangers. Having Matt Tkachuk on this Rangers squad would have been nice, but it is a luxury this team cannot afford.

The addition of any star players will almost certainly have to come from within the organization. Yes I am looking at you, Lafreniere. All there is to do is cross fingers, eyes, and toes in the hopes that Lafreniere Kaako, and Chytil all develop into the impact players they were drafted to be.