On the New York Rangers …
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The New York Rangers are actively talking to teams that could have protection issues with defensemen or teams that might be willing to trade a top-right handed defenseman. Nothing appears to be imminent.
Avs Tyson Barrie and Jets Jacob Trouba are two defenseman the Rangers have shown interest in, but there is nothing on those fronts at the moment.
The Rangers might also be interested in Nathan MacKinnon, but the Avalanche are asking for a just about everyone.
The Rangers continue to talk with UFA defenseman Brendan Smith and he appears willing to sign before he’s allowed to talk with other teams if the can reach a fair-market deal.
As of yesterday morning, that Rangers hadn’t asked Marc Staal or Dan Girardi to waive their no-movement clauses for the expansion draft. The deadline to ask players is Monday at 5:00 PM.
Keeping both Staal and Girardi, as well as Ryan McDonagh, would mean that Nick Holden would be exposed and may peak the interested of Vegas and keep them away from Antti Raanta, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg and Michael Grabner.
It is believed that the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets are among the teams that talked to the Rangers about backup Raanta.
The Rangers need to sign at least one of Fast, Lindberg or Matt Puempel to be compliant with expansion rules. If they don’t sign another forward contract by the deadline, they could lose a draft pick.
The Rangers are not expected to send qualifying offers to Brandon Pirri or Adam Clendening.
The Rangers will qualify forward Nicklas Jensen.
The Chicago Blackhawks are once again looking to move out some salary.