Rangers acquire defenseman Carson Soucy in trade with Canucks
With the NHL Trade Deadline less than 24 hours away, the New York Rangers made their second deal of the day Thursday by acquiring defenseman Carson Soucy from the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
That pick was acquired by the Rangers earlier in the day from the Vegas Golden Knights, along with center prospect Brendan Brisson in exchange for veteran forward Reilly Smith. The pick is the San Jose Sharks’ selection in the third round this year, so it’s closer to the second round since the Sharks are at the bottom of the NHL standings.
In essence, Rangers general manager Chris Drury added Soucy and Brisson for Smith, a pending UFA whom the Rangers had no interest in re-signing this coming offseason.
Soucy is a big (6-foot-5, 208 pounds), physical, left-shot defenseman, who’s not a rental. The 30-year-old has another season to go on a three-year contract that averages $3.25 million annually.
In the midst of a down season, that includes a minus-13 plus/minus mark, Soucy was made available by the Canucks after they acquired defenseman Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins and then signed him to a five-year contract that begins next season and has an AAV of $4.025 million.
“Big left shot D,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette told reporters Friday. “He can take down some minutes. A lot of experience. He’s a good defender. It’s a good pickup.”
Soucy averaged an NHL career-high 18:22 TOI in 59 games this season. He has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) and 42 penalty minutes, and was second on the Canucks with 92 blocked shots and fifth with 86 hits.
The veteran of 349 NHL games played two seasons with J.T. Miller, whom the Rangers acquired in an earlier trade with the Canucks on Jan. 31. He also was teammates with Rangers defenseman Will Borgen with the Seattle Kraken for two seasons (2021-23). Borgen came to the Rangers in a December trade with Seattle for forward Kaapo Kakko.
“I certainly like his versatility. We think there’s a lot of possibility with Carson, whether it’s with (Schneider) or (Fox) or (Borgen) or even having him on the right side at some point. We’ll see how it plays out,” Drury said Friday. “I’m glad we were able to get him. I was excited about the term, excited about the number to start. He’s not a rental.”
The Soucy trade is the sixth made this season by the Rangers and third in the past week heading into the trade deadline Friday. The Rangers acquired defenseman Calvin de Haan, center Juuso Parssinen and two draft picks from the Colorado Avalanche this past Saturday for defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey. Like Smith, each of those players was a pending UFA the Rangers were not going to re-sign this summer.
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Rangers have glut of left-shot defensemen after trading for Carson Soucy
Soucy is the fourth defenseman acquired by the Rangers this season, joining Borgen, de Haan and Urho Vaakanainen. All but Borgen are left-hand shots, and now the Rangers have a glut of lefties on the roster since they also have K’Andre Miller and Zac Jones.
So, where does Soucy fit? He’s here this season and next, so Drury is counting on Soucy being a mainstay on the blue line. Miller is due a big raise as a pending RFA with arbitration rights this summer, but it appears he’ll be part of the core moving forward. Vaakanainen and Jones are restricted free agents at season’s end. De Haan is a pending UFA who’s not expected to be part of the Rangers after this season.
When Adam Fox returns from IR later in the season, the right side seems set with him, Borgen and Braden Schneider. That threesome should be back intact next season. But perhaps that’s in question, too, since righty Chad Ruhwedel was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Thursday.
It should be noted that Soucy has played the right side before, as have Jones, Vaakanainen and de Haan.
Does Drury have another trade up his sleeve, perhaps flipping de Haan before the deadline now that the Rangers have Soucy? Or could Jones, in the lineup now because Fox is injured, be the odd man out? Remember, he’s spent most of the season in the press box as a healthy scratch. And Jones did say two months ago he might approach the Rangers for a trade.
Some of those answers could come tomorrow by 3 p.m. ET or before, when coach Peter Laviolette speaks with reporters and will surely be asked about his lineup plan with the defense corps.
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