The New York Rangers moved on from K'Andre Miller during the summer, and replaced his spot on the roster by signing Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency. As part of the trade of Miller to Carolina, they acquired defenseman Scott Morrow who seemed like just what the team needed. Based on practice rushes it seems like Morrow is slated to start the season in Hartford, and Urho Vaakanainen will be making the cut instead. This is a move the team could come to regret, because they've already seen what Vaakanainen is capable of.
The Rangers took a chance on Vaakanainen by acquiring him in Trouba trade
The Rangers offloaded Jacob Trouba last season and freed up some much needed cap space. In the trade they acquired Vaakanainen, a player who was selected in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft. In theory they needed another defenseman once Trouba was shipped out, and it made sense to see if they could get something out of Vaakanainen that Anaheim didn't.
The extended sample was not good for Vaakanainen
Vaakanainen appeared in 46 games for the Rangers and averaged 16:43 per game while posting a line of 2-13-15 which ended up being a career year offensively for him. Everything beyond that was quite bad for Vaakanainen, and explained why the Ducks were willing to move on from a first round draft selection.
In 721 minutes at 5v5, Vaakanainen posted an 43.86 xGF% which was worst among roster regulars on defense per Evolving-Hockey. He also had a 46.09 CF% which was eighth worse among defenders (Braden Schneider, Chad Ruhwedel, and Victor Mancini were only ones worse).
In fairness, Vaakanainen did finish with a 54.6 xGF%, which was second best among roster regulars on defense, but that was more luck than ability when you look at the disparity between his GF% and xGF% numbers. His inability to generate offense at 5v5 negates a large portion of the limited defensive impact he has, and makes him a net negative player overall.
The Rangers are poised to run it back with Vaakanainen and Schneider
It seems like the Rangers want to run back their defense from last season, with the only difference being Gavrikov taking a spot on the top pair. If that's the case, it means Vaakanainen will be paired with Braden Schneider.
Vaakanainen was paired with Schneiderfor 524 minutes, and the duo collectively generated a 53.78 GF%, a 47.33 CF%, and a 47.24 xGF%. This isn't ideal, and it remains peculiar that a team as bad defensively as the Rangers were last season are so keen on entering the season with Gavrikov being the only change/upgrade.
The best case scenario sees a player like Vaakanainen improve with a better structure under Mike Sullivan. That might be wishful thinking. In any case, one of the biggest weaknesses the Rangers had last year was lack of puck movement and scoring from their defense. Morrow's addition was a perfect fit to address that, but for the interim it appears he will have to wait.