Buyers or sellers? Rangers face crucial question after latest injuries
It’s no secret that the New York Rangers seek help in the trade market, trying to improve their roster and work their way back into a playoff position. They were in on star defenseman Quinn Hughes before the Vancouver Canucks sent him to the Minnesota Wild last month, and they’re reportedly interested in Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood.
But with No. 1 goaltender Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve and sidelined for at least a week, and top defenseman Adam Fox on LTIR and possibly out until after the Winter Olympics next month – both with lower-body injuries sustained in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth on Monday — the new question is whether the Rangers outlook before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6 changes from buyer to seller.
The reported cost for Sherwood is, at minimum, a first-round draft pick (they have two) – and likely more. That’s a big price, but the Rangers need offensive help desperately – they’re 30th in the NHL with an average of 2.59 goals per game. Sherwood has 17 goals in 42 games and is second in the NHL with 202 hits, so he can help them in two areas. He carries a cap hit of $1.5 million on his expiring two-year deal, and can be an unrestricted free agent after this season.
The Rangers (20-18-6) aren’t light years away from a playoff spot – they enter their home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday three points out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference that’s currently held by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The problem is that the five teams between the Rangers and Pens each has games in hand on the Blueshirts.
And did we didn’t even mention that the Rangers have the second worst points percentage out of 16 teams in the East.
New York owns its own first-rounder as well as the Dallas Stars’ top pick, so general manager Chris Drury has some cards to play if he wants to go shopping. At the same time, the Rangers have one of the League’s weakest prospect pools – 20-year-old forward Gabe Perreault hasn’t shown much since being recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League, and no one else in the system appears ready to make an impact.
So is it time to buy or time to sell? The only certainty for Drury is that he can’t stand pat – either he buys to make a playoff push or sells to bolster the pool of young talent.
Why Rangers should be buyers
The Rangers are not a young team. Shesterkin just turned 30 and backup Jonathan Quick turns 40 this month. Top forwards Artemi Panarin (34), Mika Zibanejad (32), Vincent Trocheck (32) and J.T. Miller (32) are all 30 or older — as are depth forwards Jonny Brodzinski (32), Conor Sheary (33, on LTIR), and recent recalls Justin Dowling (35) and Anton Blidh (30).
Top-pair defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov is also 30, and second-pair blueliner Carson Soucy is 32. Even goalie Spencer Martin, called up from Hartford after Shesterkin’s injury, is 30.
It’s the kind of lineup that screams “win now.” Panarin, Zibanejad, Miller and Trocheck each has a no-move clause in his contract, meaning that he can’t be traded, waived nor sent to the minors without his consent. Thus, there’s a case to be made that the time to buy is now.
The Rangers are a top-heavy team that lacks quality depth. Panarin is the only player averaging at least a point per game (16 goals, 46 points in 43 games), and he can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Help is needed — quickly — for the Rangers to make the postseason.
If Shesterkin returns sooner rather than later, that’s another reason for the Rangers to buy not sell. He gives the Rangers an elite No. 1 goalie, a difference maker in net, that most of the other mediocre teams in the tight playoff race simply can’t match.
Why Rangers should be sellers
It’s too early to say the Rangers won’t return to the playoffs after missing them last season. It’s not too early to say that they’re more likely than not to miss the postseason in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The upper-body injury that sidelined Fox for 14 games in December sent the power play into a funk, and it’s hard to see how that won’t happen again now that he’s on LTIR. He is their lone effective puck-mover on the blue line, and with 28 points (four goals, 24 assists) in 30 games, is the only D-man who concerns opponents with his offensive abilities.
Shesterkin leads the NHL in games started (34) and shots faced (946); there’s no word from the Rangers as to how long he’ll be out. Quick is a fine backup goaltender, but he’s no Shesterkin at this stage of his career. How he handles the heavier workload may determine the Rangers fate. Martin spent his career bouncing between the AHL and NHL.
And let’s face it, even with Shesterkin healthy, the Rangers struggled to find any kind of consistency in the season’s first half.
Then there’s Panarin. Still a dynamic offensive player, he’s the biggest chip the Rangers have to help restock their roster. Extension talks gained little traction earlier in the season, so if the Rangers continue to flounder, Drury must approach Panarin about waiving his no-move clause.
If Drury opts to sell, it sounds like he’ll have owner James Dolan’s blessing. Dolan told WFAN on Monday, before the injuries to Shesterkin and Fox, that, “As an owner, you have to be patient. The guys (Drury and coach Mike Sullivan) set out a plan. When I get impatient is when we veer off the plan and reach for the shiny thing.
“I’m being patient. We’re not out of it by any means. We’re still very much in it. Don’t give up on my team this year.”
