Most Options on the Table for the New York Rangers If They Get Off to a Slow Start
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined TSN Radio in Montreal last Monday and was asked about the New York Rangers and what they will do on the trade market if they get off to a slow start.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Host: “Dave. If this team disappoints again and doesn’t live up to expectations. Just what direction do you think the organization goes in? Like, is it? Do they tear it down and started back anew? What’s kind of is your sense there?”
Host: “They’re gonna write a new letter?”
Dave Pagnotta: “Exactly? They may have to. I mean, if they can’t get their act together. You’ve got your goaltender locked in. So you’ve got (Igor) Shesterkin locked in for, you know, the next eight years, they took care of that business. Last year, they’ve solidified that. And the d-corps is they got some good young kids as part of it. Obviously, they traded away, you know, K’Andre Miller, but they’ve added and kind of insulated that, that d-corps a little bit.
It’s the lack of potency that’s been there up front. I think they explore a lot of different options. If they are a team that’s kind of that bubble team, and not making a lot of noise this season, not able to rebound, then I think you look at a variety of different things. I don’t think they want to go through a “rebuild: like they fake did a number of years ago. I think they’re going to want to kind of retool on the fly.
And I think everything would be explored, or almost everything, I should say, would be explored, including (Artemi) Panarin. I think they might pressure (Mika) Zibanejad yet again, we’ll see what happens there again, depending on their season. (Alexis) Lafreniere, do they look at that to try to make a big, bold hockey-type move, and swapping out talent for talent, and going in that direction?
I think almost everything would be under consideration if this team gets off to a poor start.”
NHLRumors.com Note: The New York Rangers need to get off to a good start this season. They can’t have a distracted field season as they did last year. It started last offseason with the Jacob Trouba trade rumours, the Barclay Goodrow mess, Igor Shesterkin and Alex Lafreniere contracts, before the rumours of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Kaapo Kakko, and Trouba came out again.
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Those distractions, along with the players’ inability to trust General Manager Chris Drury, led to their downfall. The players cannot sabotage their own season again. Nobody can get a real read on the Rangers for this season, but if they are out of the playoff mix by the deadline, they could change things up again.
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