Yesterday before the New York Rangers were defeated at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers 2-0, Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote a column discussing how the Rangers could be in a position to make a trade soon.
Larry Brooks is known to be eccentric but he is one of the longest standing columnists for the Rangers. With that being said he is usually one of the first in New York to learn about certain situations. Most recently he had the inside track on “Jagr Watch” due to his personal relationship with the dynamic forward.
"The Rangers’ sound of silence regarding Marc Staal is deafening.
The standard “nothing new” becomes more ominous by the day as it relates to the health of the 24-year-old defenseman, who apparently still is feeling after-effects of the concussion he sustained on a hit from his brother, Eric, in Carolina eight months ago today."
Brooks continues to say that with the absence of Michael Sauer growing longer each day, the Rangers could seek a potential trade.
The Rangers are getting by, but McDonagh, Del Zotto and Erixon are being asked to do more than they’re able to. This experience will be a benefit over the long haul of their respective careers, but the Rangers may not be able to adequately cope with all of the associated growing pains as the season evolves without Staal in the lineup
This is why management is expected to begin a serious hunt for a defenseman to fill a top four spot, and maybe even a top pair spot with Girardi so the team can reunite McDonagh with Sauer.
The obvious place to begin the search is in Nashville, where the Predators are facing a very difficult scenario under which defenseman Ryan Suter and goaltender Pekka Rinne are both eligible to become unrestricted free agents on July 1 while defenseman Shea Weber will become a restricted free agent coming off a $7.5 million arbitration-earned contract.
Suter carries a $3.5 million cap charge, a number easy to accommodate. The Rangers have approximately $1.55 million of space available but could add to that by placing Staal on long-term injured reserve. The team would have to do some maneuvering to gain maximum advantage and space by moving Staal’s pro-rated $3.975 million off the chart, but it can be done without all that much fuss.
Brooks however explained how the Rangers would have to potentially pay a significant price
There would, however, be a significant price in personnel to pay for Suter, not to mention Weber (for whom the Rangers would have to move at least one significant contract the other way), not to mention any NHL upper-echelon defenseman.
General manager Glen Sather and his personnel people, including assistant GMs Jim Schoenfeld and Jeff Gorton and coach John Tortorella, will have to weigh whether it is necessary to move young blue chippers--the Predators would obviously inquire about Del Zotto, Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Kreider and Dylan McIlrath, presuming Erixon and Ryan Callahan are off limits)--to fill an immediate need on defense.
Listen, maybe next week there will be good news on Staal. Maybe the week after or the week after that. Maybe the Rangers won’t have to move anyone.
But maybe not. Maybe Staal won’t be able to play this year."
We sure don’t know. The Rangers don’t either. This is one case where no news is not good news, not good news at all.
I know this is a lot to digest but the fact remains that no one knows what is going to happen with Marc Staal. There hasn’t been a recent update so fans are starting to get anxious.
In my opinion the Rangers should not pay a king’s ransom for an impending UFA like Ryan Suter. A proposal for Suter should look like this.
New York Rangers Receive: Ryan Suter
Nashville Predators Receive: Dan Girardi, Christian Thomas, and a second round draft pick
If Chris Kreider, Dylan McIlrath, Ryan McDonagh, or Tim Erixon enter the conversation, Glen Sather will most likely walk away from negotiations.
The Rangers will have to give something in order to get something. Girardi will become the most expendable over the next few years because he will be 31 when his contract is up. At that point— Staal, McDonagh,Erixon,Sauer, and McIrath will be on the blue line. A part of me still believes Michael Del Zotto could be in the mix but he could be involved in another deal.
If the Rangers don’t go the Nashville Predators route, they could be looking at the Minnesota Wild or Vancouver Canucks.
Michael Russo tweeted the following yesterday
@RussostribMichael Russo
Former #mnwild GM Doug Risebrough also on press row scouting for #nyrangers
via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet
The Canucks just made a trade yesterday in acquiring David Booth. That move really pushed the Canucks to the cap. Could the Rangers be interested in inquiring about Sami Salo or Keith Ballard. Both defenseman could free up some of the Canucks cap space but at this point it isn’t clear who was being targeted.
At this point, if I’m Glen Sather, I am either going to go big or not go at all. There is no sense paying an arm and a leg for a stop gap defenseman who will eat a lot of minutes if it means parting with some blue chippers.
The time to cash those chips in is when a Ryan Suteresque player becomes available. If that doesn’t happen then the Rangers can reevaluate at the trade deadline.
Ultimately we are just a few games in but the Rangers haven’t played well. They desperately need to get things together. Outside of Brad Richards, Marián Gáborik, and Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers have not looked good so far this season. Brandon Dubinsky and the battery line continue to look lost on the ice and it is not a pretty sight.
This Ranger team is pretty much the same team from last year. The major additions were Brad Richards and Mike Rupp and the subtractions were Alex Frolov and Evgeny Grachev.
This same team found a way to make the playoffs last year. It sounds redundant but this same team looked better last year than they are now. Am I worried? No, I am a diehard Met fans so I definitely realize that things could be much worse. It’s still to early to hit the panic button but there is still some cause for some concern.
Do you think the Rangers will make a trade? Who would you put on your no trade list? Who would you like to see the Rangers acquire?
Leave a comment or question in the section below to get the conversation going.
Tom Urtz Jr is an NHL Featured Columnist. For more NHL free-agent news, updates and alerts about players:
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