Vincent Z. Mercogliano of Lohud: New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said that he’s talked to teams about the first overall pick but added:
“I would say our eyes are on taking the pick right now.”
After buying out Henrik Lundqvist and trading Marc Staal, the Rangers have a bit more breathing room with $23 million in projected salary cap space with 15 players under contract.
The Rangers have five restricted free agents that are owed qualifying offers – Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux, Anthony DeAngelo, Alexandar Georgiev and Phil Di Giuseppi. Di Giuseppi is only one that may not receive a qualifying offer.
GM Gorton said that he has held some talks with the agent for Jesper Fast. When asked if Fast will end up hitting the open market.
“It’s getting closer and closer so, I couldn’t say for certain he is,” Gorton said. “I would say that we’ll continue to try to see if there’s something there to keep him here, but it’s certainly possible he does hit the open market.”
Gorton on the idea of using their draft picks as a trade asset – to move up or down or acquire a player.
“Similar to the past, I think we’ll look to do some things,” he said. “We’ve had several picks over the last few years, and if we can find a way to help our roster now and maybe get an NHL player for a pick or something, we will look to that. If there are other scenarios where we have to move down in the draft, or move up in the draft to package picks or get more picks, we’ll look at all those scenarios. But similar to what we did last year to move that first pick to get (defenseman Jacob Trouba), I would think we’d be looking at all those scenarios right now; right to the end.”
A centerman is an obvious need unless they bring back Strome. After moving Staal, adding a veteran defenseman is another area of need in a trade or free agency.