Unfortunately, not every team lasts in the Stanley Cup playoffs. As it currently stands, the second round is in for a thrill. In addition, the landing spot for Connor Bedard has been revealed. Now that that is underway, teams can now focus on their future plans. One team that has made the headlines recently is the New York Rangers. There has been a buzz around this team regarding salary cap moves and a new coach. Given their cap crunch, potential trades are bound to happen.
Potential Trade Candidates For The Rangers
The latest buzz surrounding the Rangers personnel is cutting bait with two promising young players. In a way it makes sense, but in the long run, it is puzzling. Given the state of the team, the majority of this core is locked up for the foreseeable future. But in a salary cap world, only so much money can go around. There are hurdles to go through when making salary cap moves as players carry no movement clauses in their deals. This is a Rangers team that made the Conference finals last season but followed it up with a disappointing first-round exit. After two straight 100+ point seasons, a cap crunch has happened. In order to comply with the salary cap, here are potential trade chips that make sense.
The Potential Trade Chips
Kaapo Kakko/Alexis Lafreniere
This would be the toughest pill to swallow. Two promising young talents to be the nucleus of what you are building could be sent out the door. This is the latest buzz surrounding the team. You can chalk this up to they rushed their rebuild and did not develop properly. Or you can chalk this up as they are key contributors on a deep-contending team. This is all given their production of course. Both have been underwhelming given their draft status, but both had career seasons for the Rangers. Kakko set a career-high in goals and points, whereas Lafreniere set his career-high in points.
Lafreniere currently needs a new deal, while Kakko has one year left before needing a new deal (RFA in 2024-25). It will remain to be seen what the Rangers do in this regard. It is not an ideal scenario, but getting draft picks could help the organization forward.
Jacob Trouba
This is likely an unrealistic scenario for many reasons. This is your captain and he has a no-movement clause in his contract. He is one of many on this roster with a NMC in the contract. However, from a pure salary cap standpoint, this makes sense. Trouba makes 8 million dollars per season and is signed for three more years. Moving the contract will be hard, even if you have to eat half of it to help facilitate a trade. Trouba is a fearless leader and is no stranger to playing a physical brand of hockey.
Adam Fox is the franchise defenseman. Ryan Lindgren is the best shutdown defenseman on the team. K’Andre Miller is in need of a new contract and has played top-four minutes alongside Trouba. A trade like this helps free up the money and opens for the door for increased roles. Braden Schneider could see an increase and a guy like Zac Jones could make the leap to the big club. It is very unlikely a player like Trouba gets moved, but from a cap standpoint, it makes sense.
Barclay Goodrow
One New York Rangers trade chip is Barclay Goodrow. After trading for his right and signing him to a seven-year deal, he is a player that could be moved. His salary is not high as he accounts for 3.641 million against the salary cap. However, he does have a modified no-movement clause in his contract. This does include a 15-team no-trade list. Drury would need to approach him in a scenario like this, but much more doable than Trouba.
Goodrow is an effective hockey player. He forechecks hard, kills penalties, and won 45.9% of his faceoffs. Typically a fourth-line role, Goodrow has been bumped down the depth chart. The intangible things he brings such as experience and a winning pedigree is what makes him valuable. But when you have Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, and Filip Chytil as your top three centres, paying a fourth-line centre that much is a hard pill to swallow. If the Rangers truly want to save the money, that would be a good place to start.
Team Needs To Be Better
Regardless of what the New York Rangers trade chips are or who is the bench boss, the team needs to be better. New York has an elite goaltender who has stood tall for them the last two seasons. Igor Shesterkin still leads the league in goals saved above expected (8.8) this playoff year and finished first last season (18.6). During the 2021-22 regular season, he finished with 34.1. In addition, relying on your power play and elite goaltending is not a sustainable recipe for success. If the other team is not committing penalties, you are getting beat. It was evident in their first-round series this year. In fact, they were the worst team at 5v5 New York was slower and not effective at 5v5. In fact, the last two seasons at 5v5 in both Corsi For and xGoals. The last two seasons have been below average. Here is what it has looked like the past two seasons:
- Corsi For: 47% (25th)
- XGoals: 47.12% (23rd)
- Corsi For: 49.8% (17th)
- XGoals: 48.4% (22nd)
The Rangers as a team have been chasing the game. Not only are they being out-attempted, but they do not generate many chances as a team. Their lack of goal-scoring in round one was eye-opening. Shesterkin can only do so much. And for a team that is a playoff team, that is not ideal. This season, New York had the 7th best power play unit, whereas last season was 4th.
They have the firepower and the personnel. Regardless of the moves to be made, the team needs to be better in front of Shesterkin. He deserves it.
All Salary Cap Comes From Cap Friendly
Main Photo: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
