“We’ve got to keep the faith and remain true to the program, but at the same time, and this is very important, we have to be respectful of the veterans in the room. There has to be a balance. It’s very dangerous when players lose hope.”
— John Davidson, June 5
The Rangers have a choice as the Feb. 24 trade deadline approaches. More accurately, team president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton will have choices, plural, though choices, difficult, over the next eight weeks.
It is not scripture that pending free agent Chris Kreider must be sent away in a deal for futures. It is not etched in stone that pending restricted free agents Ryan Strome and Tony DeAngelo, both salary arbitration eligible, must be traded because their numbers are too good.
There are 23 games before the deadline hits. This will provide more than enough time for the Blueshirts to declare themselves as legit playoff contenders — or not — and more than enough evidence for management to proceed. There really is no telling which way it is going to go, because for almost every defensive lapse or foolish puck-management decision, there is superior goaltending or a play by Artemi Panarin or Mika Zibanejad to twist things around.
You tell me. If the Rangers remain in the race for eighth but nevertheless move out a handful of their most productive players because of looming cap issues and/or adherence to a rebuild philosophy, you tell me how that is going to play with Panarin or with Zibanejad or with Henrik Lundqvist or Marc Staal … or with a fan base that has embraced the program but should not have to endure a third consecutive deadline purge.
The future may not be now, and it almost certainly is not. But it sure won’t arrive anytime soon if there is constant turnover and if every veteran who reaches a free agent crossroads is summarily dismissed. The Rangers have a choice. The Rangers have choices.
They do not have to trade Kreider. They do not have to trade Strome or DeAngelo. They do not have to break up the Kreider-Zibanejad combination on one line and the Strome-Panarin combination on another unit that have created power-matchup dilemmas for opposing coaches. They do not have to move DeAngelo as he grows into one of the most proficient right-side, blue-line, offensive forces in the NHL.
For draft picks? For assets who might turn into something in three years or four or five? The Rangers have all of their own picks over the next three drafts other than next year’s second-rounder that went to Carolina in the Adam Fox deal. They have an extra third next year from Dallas (Mats Zuccarello), an extra third in 2021 from Buffalo (Jimmy Vesey) and an extra fourth in 2021 from Ottawa (Vladislav Namestnikov).
For prospects? The Rangers have their kids up here and they have Vitali Kravtsov coming, they have Yegor Rykov and Nils Lundkvist, they have K’Andre Miller and Morgan Barron and Zachary Jones and Matthew Robertson and Nico Gross on the rise. They have a pipeline flowing to Broadway. There is no urgency to trade younger veterans for more of them. This is not about five years from now. It’s about next year and the year after and maybe the year after that. It’s foolish to go more than three years out, and especially when you consider that Zibanejad’s contract is going to be up following 2021-22.
Kreider is a culture-driver. Lundqvist almost certainly will be gone after next season. Staal will be gone, too. Their absences will create gigantic voids in the room. So would the removal of Kreider, to whom the kids flock for advice and look up to. There is an added value to that.
There is added value to keeping Strome, who at 26 is channeling the talent and persistence that made him the fifth-overall pick in the 2011 draft, selected by the Islanders a slot before the Senators tabbed Zibanejad. There is added value in keeping DeAngelo, who has taken his game and attitude to another level.
There is added value whether the Rangers remain in the playoff hunt or not.
Now, it is not going to be easy. There are real cap challenges to tackle. The Rangers probably cannot keep Kreider if Brady Skjei remains with the club. So: Kreider or Skjei? They probably cannot keep Strome if Pavel Buchnevich is still here. So: Buchnevich or Strome? And they probably are going to have to pull off a trick or two to keep DeAngelo on a roster that includes either Skjei or Staal, and it is difficult to envision a left side without both of them next year.
But let’s not pretend that the Rangers don’t have choices here. Because they do.
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