Should The Rangers Deal Now Or Deal Later?

Jonathan Marrero Updated: Nov 9, 2018

Folks, let’s talk New York Rangers trades. Sure it’s only November and the Rangers have only played 15 games, but it’s a pressing topic. Coming into this season the belief was another year of selling. Of course, this idea has not changed, however throughout the course of a season factors cause change. If the team is to sell later on in the year anyway, why not start trading now?

Better Late(r) Than Never

Some might want to see the team begin the wholesale as soon as possible. It may seem like a good idea to sell the “rental players” now to get the most value. It makes sense for the Rangers to explore trades for Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, and Adam McQuaid as all three players have higher trade value now than it will be in February.

There is a bit of an issue with selling this early, however. Selling this early doesn’t truly allow teams to get into a bidding war. These bidding wars allow teams to yield a higher return than what may be expected. Come trade deadline time, teams truly know their identity. Meaning that teams will be able to diagnose if they need center depth. Maybe they need an undersized winger from Norway with the heart of a lion. Currently, though teams are still finding out their identity, including the Rangers.

On top of the return being more likely to be value equivalent, as opposed to being able to “fleece” another team, there also is the factor of the Rangers needing to decide who will be part of the team long term. Sure maybe Jeff Gorton has an idea of who he wants going forward. On the other side, Coach Quinn is still trying to figure out who fits his system. The longer that the season goes on the more that he can assess who will stay.

It would be a mistake to sell this early in the season. The team needs to adapt to the new coach, new system and to find their identity. Once these things are assessed then it is time to make moves, but at this current juncture, it is not the time.