If the Rangers could somehow make the cap numbers work for next year, perhaps by bringing a third team (Arizona) into it, would you do whatever it takes to acquire Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks?
Would you get Kane if it cost you Kaapo Kakko (but not Alexis Lafreniere), Nils Lundqvist (or Zac Jones or Matthew Robertson but not Braden Schneider), Vitali Kravtsov (but not Will Cuylle or Brennan Othmann) and a 2022 first-rounder?
Would you go for it if you were general manager Chris Drury, knowing that acquiring Kane would give the Rangers a Super Line with one-time running mate and old BFF Artemi Panarin on the left and No. 10’s new BFF Ryan Strome in the middle?
Would you push your chips into the middle and go for it off of what you have seen through this getaway that hit a speed bump in Wednesday’s 7-3 defeat to the potent and dazzling Avalanche at the Garden in front of fourth-string goaltender Adam Huska in an effort that was not becoming of a 17-5-3 team.
(That’s OK, you don’t have to decide right now. The trade deadline does not arrive until March 21. And by the way, the 1993-94 Rangers lost a 7-3 game to the Blackhawks at the Garden on March 18 of their season.)
Would you channel Neil Smith, who dealt Tony Amonte, Doug Weight and Tony Granato to end an historic drought? Would you channel Cat Francis, who sent away Syl Apps, Jr., Curt Bennett, Moose Dupont and Don Luce to try to end it? Would you make like Glen Sather, who traded his team’s first-round selection in four straight drafts in order to bring the chalice to Broadway?
Would you go all in for the Rangers’ second Stanley Cup in more than eight decades, knowing that these next two seasons — before Kane would be eligible to hit the open market in 2023 — will likely represent the apex for the high-end core quartet of Panarin, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jacob Trouba, who will be between ages 28 and 31 before the playoffs begin in May?
The Rangers really are on a bifurcated timetable here. They’re young in a lot of important places, beginning with Kakko, Lafreniere, Lundkvist, Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and Filip Chytil. They’ve got prospects in the system such as Schneider, Cuylle, Othmann, Jones and Brett Berard that might be ready to make a significant impact by the middle of the decade. And they have a couple of top-end middle-ish 20s in Strome and Igor Shesterkin.
This is not a case where the window is about to close and Drury would be obligated to make this kind of a deal. But when the kids are coming close to reaching their most productive days, where will Zibanejad, Panarin, Kreider and Trouba be on the curve? When do the X and Y axis on the Blueprint intersect?
Is this the time, or would this simply be an example of the “Same Old Rangers” reflex that might be a cause and not an effect of the paucity of championships in franchise history?
Understand, there is no word that the Blackhawks are interested in moving Kane, the 33-year-old winger whose contract expires at the same time as Chicago captain Jonathan Toews. But management of this disgraced organization will likely have to face the reality that dealing Kane — who has a no-move clause — will become necessary in order to jump-start a necessary reconstruction. Question is, would the move be more beneficial next year or now?
The Rangers have kind of come out of nowhere. They have miles and miles to go. They have not yet established themselves against the league’s upper echelon. This one against Colorado came at the worst of moments. The Blueshirts played like a team that left its brains — never mind its legs and attention span — in Chicago the previous night while the Avalanche were resting in Manhattan. We don’t quite know yet, do we, even as they just keep winning?
The summer remake in personnel engineered by Drury that was not at all popular and mocked in some quarters has led to a reshaping of attitude. The homogeneous roster and white-collar approach are things of the past. The respect demanded by and accorded to head coach Gerard Gallant has dramatically changed the face of the Rangers. In a lot of ways, this team reminds me of the 2011-12 Black-and-Blueshirts, who also pretty much came out of nowhere. There is the attitude. There are the role players whose assignments are defined but not limiting. There is the swagger.
The team is not complete. Fortification is needed. A defenseman or two will need to be added. Depth will need to be added for a long run in the tournament. And there is a need for a top-six right wing. That is the need that would be filled by Patrick Kane.
Is this the time? Is this the year? Is this the team?
Would you do it?
