Three trade deadline day targets to fill the right wing hole for the New York Rangers
The New York Rangers were in conversations with Kyle Dubas about Jake Guentzel until the end, but time has run out on the Rangers chances to acquire the winger after he was dealt to the Carolina Hurricanes. Still looking for a top-six winger to fill the hole on the right wing, the Rangers are going to be active in the trade market on trade deadline day. This is going to be a day where a lot of teams will be looking to acquire pieces to bolster their cup chances.
On the right wing, Kaapo Kakko has been linked with an exit, but providing that the Rangers opt to keep everyone on the active roster together, what is going to be available for the blueshirts? Knowing that assets and cap space will be limited for the Rangers, it's going to be a couple of hours of chaos before 3 p.m. Eastern when the window slams shut. Drury is going to have a lot to do as this roster needs help.
With the strengthened Carolina Hurricanes chasing the Rangers, the shopping list needs to be completed with some haste. Targets are going to fly off the board today. With the major need for a right winger, this is one of those days where everything is going to depend on the speed of the Rangers front office. Can they beat other teams to the punch and acquire the players they need to become Stanley Cup Champions?
So, what's on the table? Well, Guentzel is now in Carolina, which means he's gone. With Anthony Duclair arriving in Tampa Bay and Anthony Mantha's trade to Vegas, the market is thinning. While there are some options remaining that might make sense for the Rangers, there aren't many. So, here are the three that make the most sense at the 2024 NHL trade deadline.
Pavel Buchnevich
This is the obvious one, as former New York Ranger Pavel Buchnevich is going to be on the market for the next eight hours. He's got an extra year on his contract making $5.8 million until the end of the 2025-26 season. With that term, he's going to cost more than a pure rental would. The certainty of the control of this player is something every team will want. It's going to be an expensive asset.
Buchnevich has sat at the point per game mark since the final season he had in New York. He's still an incredible defensive winger and knowing that the player is on the market is going to bring in a lot of interest. There's a few teams that are going to have a lot of interest in the Blues winger. Knowing that this is a down year in his production will also likely allow teams to come in a little lower than they would in other years.
In 61 games this season, Buchnevich has collected 24 goals and 24 assists for 48 points. He's done this on a Blues team that has struggled to score at any meaningful rate. With the Blues willing to retain to increase the return available to them, this is a player that could be extremely valuable due to the extra year on his deal. Another year of 25+ goals from a winger to play alongside Mika and Kreids is everything this team has needed since they traded him to the Blues.
With retention, something like the 2025 first-round pick with Brennan Othmann could interest the Blues and give Chris Drury the chance to fix the mistake he made when he gifted the Russian winger to St Louis all those years ago. Bring him back to an organization he knows, a fanbase that is familiar with him, and a building he found great success in after he was drafted by the Rangers back in 2013.
Frank Vatrano
Another former Ranger cropping up, but this one is far less prominent in the recent memory of the Rangers faithful than Buchnevich is. Frank Vatrano is having quite the season out in Anaheim, and the Ducks could be looking to cash in on thier prize asset who is scoring at an unsustainable rate. It's probably the only chance they will have to get this kind of return for someone they thought would be a depth piece.
Next to former Rangers like Ryan Strome, Vatrano has put up 29 goals and 20 assists for 49 points in 62 games. That's impressive enough, but now remember he's doing this on the offensively challenged Ducks. There's a good chance he comes in and finds even more success in this career year he's having since there will be much more offensively gifted linemates in New York than he has in Anaheim.
Like Buchnevich, Vatrano has another year making $3.65 million meaning that this production comes at a nice cap hit for what he adds. When he walked away from the Rangers organization in free agency a few years ago, he left a team that picked him up cheaply from the Florida Panthers in the hope he could bolster the depth scoring, but he turned out to be a great fit on the top line. That familiarity with the top line is one of the draws to the player.
Given his term, this is going to be an expensive trade target, probably requiring a first-round pick at least. Although, Jake Guentzel didn't get a certain first-round pick so what do I know? There have been all sorts of rumors linking the Rangers with a Vatrano reunion. Anaheim know that their rebuild is stalling and they need to find a way to add more top end pieces to the organization.
Alexander Barabanov
The only pure rental on the list is the only one that is not a former New York Ranger. Alexander Barabanov is the player in question as the San Jose Sharks forward was held out of their game last night against the New York Islanders for trade protection purposes. When we get into the meat of the rumors with him, it's probably for a depth addition in a team that wants a little boost and not to fill a hole on the top line of a top three team in the NHL, but let's have some fun with this.
Barabanov came across to the NHL after he was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs under the leadership of Kyle Dubas. After struggling to get into the Leafs lineup, he was sent off to the San Jose Sharks, where the Russian started to show the offensive upside he has as a playmaker. Passing the fourty point mark once, and hitting 39 in another season, he's shown he's got talent, but this has been a down year for the forward.
In 38 games, Barabnov has three goals and seven assists for ten points. It's not great, but this is also a San Jose Sharks forward. He's not exactly blessed with offensive weapons around him, and he's shown a willingness to play a 200 foot game which would get him a lot of respect in New York. Playing with two premier goal scorers like Kreider and Mika could bolster the confidence of this player too.
As a cheap option that only makes $2.5 million until the end of the year, this is a player that might make the roster better going into the playoffs. Adding him for something like a fourth-round pick seems like it could be viable. There's not much ground for Mike Grier and the Sharks to ask for much more right now, so it's a good budget option for Drury if he opts to go that way.