If the Rangers trade Tony DeAngelo they need to maximize the return
The Rangers have yet to have any substantial discussions with their restricted free agents. One in particular has garnered most of the headlines and pondering from the beat writers and analysts. Tony DeAngelo is the RFA that people believe will cost too much and the Rangers need to move on from. I couldn’t disagree more, but for the sake of this article let’s contemplate a trade.
The argument for trading Tony DeAngelo
A week ago, Larry Brooks didn’t even bother with a build up in his last Slap Shots. He just flat out opened it with here’s why you need to trade Tony DeAngelo.
Here is another reason, perhaps the most significant one, that the Rangers won’t be signing impending restricted free agent Tony DeAngelo to a multi-year contract and instead are seeking to trade the 24-year-old righty defenseman. That is because a contract of longer than one year for DeAngelo would all but ensure losing 20-year-old righty defenseman Nils Lundkvist to unrestricted free agency on June 2, 2022, without ever getting the Swede to Broadway.
Larry Brooks, NYPost
Aside from the reach for the reason, to which a team source simply answered my inquiry with a question that indicated they weren’t concerned with Lundkvist not signing his ELC. “Do you recall the last time a player, a first round pick no less, actually did that?”, I was told.
What shouldn’t be lost is that Brooks wrote the Rangers are “seeking to trade” him. That’s because they need to do their due diligence, it doesn’t mean they will. Jeff Gorton still needs to see what he can get for any free agent, especially if they can’t work out a deal.
Trading DeAngelo needs to make sense
So if the New York Rangers trade DeAngelo, what would make sense? Let’s be clear, they aren’t going to give away a 24 year-old right handed rearguard who finished 4th in scoring among defenseman. That means he won’t be given up for a team’s first round pick and/or prospect.
To me it is very simple, if you are trading Tony DeAngelo you are improving your top six. Think trading him to Toronto for William Nylander if the Leafs miss out on Alex Pietrangelo.
Yes, it would take more than DeAngelo to get a Nylander and that has cap implications that will be felt all over the lineup. Still, that is the kind of deal you move him for and anything less needs to be disregarded.
For me, you sign Tony for two to three years at around $5 million per season. He’s worth every penny, and if you don’t feel he can move to the left side to accommodate Nils Lundkvist in 2021-22, then you trade him. Not because you are afraid that Nils may not come, that’s simply not rational.
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