On the New York Rangers and Ryan McDonagh …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Pierre LeBrun was on 1260 last week talking about Ryan McDonagh and the New York Rangers. LeBrun believes the Rangers trading McDonagh was at the right time as it could have been harder to do so later.
“I really think that had they held onto McDonagh until the summer, which was certainly an option because he wasn’t UFA, that they would have run into the Karlsson and potential OEL trade markets if Ekman-Larsson doesn’t re-sign in Arizona. He may very well re-sign, but I’m saying if he doesn’t you don’t want to have all of those defensemen up at the same time at the draft in the same trade markets. So I think it was really important for the Rangers, if they were going to move him, to move him now. And I thought they got a lot out of Tampa. Fair deal, given that it might help Tampa win the Cup.”
The Rangers have more cap space now and a bunch of extra picks, and adds that they could potentially go after Erik Karlsson.
On the New York Islanders and John Tavares …
Chris Nichols of FanRag Sports: Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet 650 last week talking about the New York Islanders and their lack of movement at the trade deadline.
notes that at the draft last year they traded Travis Hamonic in a deal that included first-round pick and the plan may have been to flip it for help. That pick may now be a lottery pick. If the Islanders are not able to sign Tavares to an extension, they may need that pick.
“And so he wasn’t interested in doing it unless it was for a rental.
“We’ve all talked about goaltending there. I think they feel they needed defense more. Boychuk has been hurt, he was back. De Haan, who is an underrated player, is out for the year. I don’t know.
“It’s funny. I checked around. ‘What are the Islanders doing.’ And I didn’t hear much of anything. Now, I could have totally missed it. I don’t hear everything that’s going on out there. But I don’t know. I really think that it just doesn’t sound like there was a ton of activity out there that I heard of.”