The Rangers don’t have a chance to win the Stanley Cup this season, but “Rangers South” might be the favorite.
That would be the Lightning, who added two more former Blueshirts to their roster on Monday when they traded for Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller. They are set to join former Broadway teammates Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan and Anton Stralman on a team that was already atop the Eastern Conference standings.
“They’re a top team in the league now and have been for a long time,” McDonagh said on a conference call Monday. “Especially this season, there’s some big expectations there and I hope to help be a part of.”
McDonagh, 28, was the second Rangers captain in the past four years to be traded to the Lightning, to go along with Callahan’s 2014 deal that brought Martin St. Louis to New York. After eight years with the Rangers, McDonagh called the trade “bittersweet.” Yet with the Rangers rebuilding and with him having one more year at a $4.7 million cap charge on his contract, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.
“I could see it coming,” McDonagh said. “I could feel it coming.”
McDonagh has been out of the lineup since Feb. 7 with an unspecified upper-body injury. He said it would take him “five-to-seven” days to join the lineup in Tampa Bay, but general manager Steve Yzerman told him “no rush.”
Miller made the flight with the Rangers to Vancouver, where they start their three-game road trip on Wednesday night. It’s unclear if he will be available for the Lightning’s game at home on Wednesday against the Sabres.
The Rangers made another small trade, sending defenseman Ryan Graves to the Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Chris Bigras.
Bigras, 23, has 46 career NHL games under his belt after being a second-round pick in the 2013 draft. Rangers GM Jeff Gorton felt a change of scenery might benefit both players, as Graves was never able to work his way out of AHL Hartford to the big club.
“I think you see a lot of these trades now, maybe these guys are in an organization for a while and they’re looking for a better opportunity,” Gorton said. “I think that’s where we got with Ryan Graves and that’s where they were with Bigras.”
The Rangers sent forward Vinni Lettieri back to Hartford to make room for Vladislav Namestinkov, who came over in the McDonagh trade and could be available when the Blueshirts paly in Vancouver.