It has been an up and down kind of season for the New York Rangers Hockey Club, and this season will be the first in over ten years that the boys in Blueshirts will NOT be chasing Lord Stanley’s cup this summer. With all the moves they made before the trade deadline as well as calling up a number of rookies, we tend to wonder what will happen to the future of this team.
Prior to the NHL trade deadline, the team made a couple huge moves. First, general manager Jeff Gorton traded power forward and empty net king Michael Grabner to the New Jersey Devils for two prospects. They also traded forward Rick Nash, who had a high cap hit of nearly $8 million, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Ryan Spooner, Matt Beleskey, and three young prospects. While Beleskey is still down in Hartford, Spooner has been making quite the name for himself and could potentially re-sign with New York this summer.
Perhaps, the biggest trade and bombshell of all happened on the final day, with just under ten minutes left of the 3:00PM deadline. Captain Ryan McDonagh and forward J.T. Miller were traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Russian forward Vladislav Namestnikov, two prospects, and two draft picks. The team also called up a handful of rookies, namely Neal Pionk, Lias Andersson, and Filip Chytil, all who have impressed thus far as well as netting their first career goals as members of the Rangers.
Another couple considerations the team will have to make is whether to keep or cut Brendan Smith. The 29-year-old Toronto native was sent down to Hartford in early February, but recently had his season ended due to fighting with teammate Vinni Lettieri, which resulted in a fractured hand. The front office also must decide how to handle the fate of head coach, Alain Vigneault. Many fans have been displeased with his lineups this season as well as how he has handled the play of potential superstars, such as Pavel Buchnevich.
No matter how you look at it, the New York Rangers had a rough and abysmal season to say the least. Henrik Lundqvist, as always, was the reason this team was still somewhat in the playoff race. The future is definitely bright with the rookies as well as the leadership of Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello. It will be an interesting, and perhaps, team-changing summer, for the New York Rangers front office.
