3 players the New York Rangers should target before the trade deadline

Ivan Barbashev

One of the major parts still remaining on the trade rumor mill at this time of year remains St Louis Blues forward Ivan Barbashev. Despite the rumors swirling around regarding his availability, the Blues have started to sell off everything they can in order to recoup assets to help them get back into contention as quickly as they can. Having already made one trade with the St Louis Blues in this window, perhaps Drury would be akin to returning to Doug Armstrong.

Despite only having 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points in 56 games, this is perfect for the kind of player that the Rangers could use on their fourth line. With the ability to play across the lineup wherever he is needed, the Russian winger would make this team a lot stronger in terms of depth production. St Louis is open to moving him so why not see if it makes sense to bring him to the Big Apple?

With Barbashev making just 2.25 million against the cap, that would be 1.125 retained down. New York could make that work by including one of their bottom six or waiving a player to make the room for him. There’s not a lot to dislike when it comes to making the money work. It doesn’t take a ton of work to make it all click into place and adding Barbashev’s production to this roster would perhaps make the difference.

Is there anyone you’d like to see the Rangers go and get that I didn’t mention? Perhaps there’s a different need you feel the Blueshirts need to address ahead of the deadline. Depth scoring and adding a little bit more in terms of size and muscle couldn’t be a bad thing. I’m fully expecting this to be outdated by the time you read this part anyway, so I do not expect anything here to hold meaning.