New York Rangers: The Ever-Growing Rick Nash Trade Tree

The Distant John Moore Branch

So, we’re still kicking this can down the road, and this is about to get really difficult to follow. So, the only branch on the Rangers side we have not exhausted is the John Moore Branch that came from the second trade with the Blue Jackets. This is where it becomes somewhat messy because Moore is actually about to become part of the Mark Messier trade tree from 2004. If you read the piece I did on it you may remember, but let’s follow this anyway.

For those interested, the 2016 1st became Dennis Cholowiski, and the 2015 2nd became Oliver Kylington. Neither of which is relevant here, but it’s the middle of the summer so the Rangers cannot cause you any pain on the ice right now so allow me to rub some salt into those gaping wounds from the postseason.

Let’s start with the 2016 4th rounder the Rangers got back from Arizona. The Blueshirts used it to pick Tarmo Reunanen. A defenseman that never quite made the big leagues and is now back in Finland. However, he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes at the AHL deadline in the season before last for Maxim Letunov.

Yandle himself was actually a really good Ranger. He obviously held the NHL record for the longest amount of games played consecutively before that was broken by Phil Kessel this past season. Otherwise known as the NHL’s Iron Man streak, he played in almost 1000 consecutive NHL games for multiple different teams in his career. He would be sent to Florida for a 2017 4th and a 2016 6th. That 4th became Scott Reedy while the 6th became Tyler Wall.

However, Reedy was not drafted by the Rangers. That pick was traded for a 2017 4th and a 2017 6th. The 2017 4th became Brandon Crawley who was just a miss. The 6th became Morgan Barron however, and if you remember the 2022 NHL trade deadline, you know there is another massive deal involved here that I have to get to here.

This 2022 2nd is actually the one that the Rangers got from the Buchnevich trade that I mentioned earlier so that is where Elias Salomonsson ended up. This 2022 1st became Brad Lambert for anyone that wants pain, and the 5th was used by the Jets to select Thomas Milic. If anything becomes of Milic, that’s just great scouting by the Jets but the other two are more directly responsible.

This isn’t because Copp was a bad player for the Rangers, he was a big part of the Rangers playoff success a few seasons ago as they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Carolina Hurricanes. Even when the Rangers were giving the Tampa Bay Lightning everything they could handle, the Rangers were still seeing the best of Andrew Copp and it turned out to be a smart pick-up.

That 2023 6th was used by the Rangers to select Dylan Roobroeck at this most recent draft about a month ago. So, there is another part of the Rangers organization that can trace its roots back to the Rick Nash deal all those years ago. It might be a kind of forced link between the two, but it is still quite cool to think about.