On the New York Rangers, Rick Nash, and their rebuild …
Mike Johnston on SportsNet: An emphasis was placed on how New York would handle the Rangers’ forward. The Rick Nash sweepstakes might come down to ten teams. There is an overall net of teams that likely are greater than the 12 Nash has listed, however.
This echoes the mantra from many in the media. Some sensible destinations include Dallas, St. Louis, and even Columbus. There are connections in all three of those locations. Again, Winnipeg makes some sense too as they would have pieces to make a better deal than say a Nashville or a Washington. Calgary and San Jose would be interesting choices too. For the Sharks, it would hinge a lot on the prognosis of Joe Thornton. That is an unknown quantity at this time.
“So what happens if they make deals, they get all these pieces, and Nash comes back, and/or Grabner comes back, and say Kovalchuk comes over. Plus, they’re going to have cap room and you know what happens when the Rangers have this situation. Maybe they’re looking at Boston and saying, ‘Hey, if we get some kids and we can add some pieces to it depending on who comes back or if Kovalchuk comes over,’ I wonder if they’re looking at this as a very, very quick reset and seeing if they can give it a shot next year.”
Alas, this may come down to if they trade Ryan McDonagh. Stay tuned!
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Bob McKenzie on NBCSN touched on the Rangers reset in terms of the lowercased “r” type of rebuild. This is not a bottoming out process for New York. The only untouchable player would be Henrik Lundqvist. Things could change but that was part of the “Gorton Plan”.
Nash would cost a first-round pick, a player, (or higher end prospect) and prospect right now. A more realistic haul would be around the Martin Hanzal haul that Arizona received last year. Prices can change between now and the deadline. A McDonagh trade would fetch closer to what Nash could. After that, the rentals from New York expect to bring less and less (mostly picks). That goes even for Michael Grabner.
Jim Cerny of The Sporting News: Another oddity of the letter from Thursday is this. New York, as it stands now, is just a few points out of the second wildcard spot. Why do this now? Part of it stems from a realist attitude that New York cannot advance far as structured now.
Their style of play has put them in this position. When the goaltending goes awry, then the issues are magnified. Scoring, creating chances, and suppressing those chances have been greatly compromised all year. That was when the team was healthy. Now they are not with five players on the shelf. Deals will be looked at from a longer-term perspective and not this season. That is why Brendan Smith was waived. The feel is this is a quicker rebuild err retool.
Craig Custance of The Athletic: Executives are intrigued and buzzing. It is all anyone hears now. Rick Nash is the big piece of the pie, but there are so many other pieces. This was the game changer most were waiting for when it comes to the trade deadline.
How much haggling occurs and what impact does that have? Nash, like other Rangers, have had flashes of greatness mixed in with disinterest. Does a change of scenery give those players an unexpected boost? Paying for potential is always dangerous and it is why some are skeptical with New York.
Is it a bigger rebuild or something more on the fly again? New York may be fishing here. However, the difference with Nash is the salary retention (even with McDonagh potentially). That is another game changer. Nash’s reputation and McDonagh’s carry some weight too. When the first domino falls, that is when there will be a greater sense of what the Rangers are doing.
