New York Rangers Daily: Will Borgen among several NHL defensemen traded same day
These days, there’s no “off” when it comes to an off day for the New York Rangers.
Though, the Rangers didn’t practice Wednesday, instead settling into Dallas, where they’ll close out a three-game road trip against the Stars on Friday, they were busy making headlines. The Rangers traded Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen and two draft picks.
It’s the second trade in roughly two weeks made by general manager Chris Drury, who, quite simply, can’t be done yet. At 15-15-1, the Rangers are tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference standings. For those keeping track at home, that’s three spots out of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But here’s the silver lining: the Rangers are only three points out of a wild-card berth in the East, and they have 51 games remaining on the schedule. Of course, they’ve also lost 11 of their past 14 games and played a mind-numbing brand of hockey most of the season.
There’ll be reaction from coach Peter Laviolette and the players after the Rangers practice in the Lone Star State on Thursday, and we’ll have plenty of quality content throughout the day, including trade grades, the Rink Rap podcast, analysis and so much more.
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New York Rangers news
A pair of 22-year-olds were affected by the Kakko trade Wednesday night. The Rangers recalled forward Matt Rempe from Hartford of the American Hockey League and assigned defenseman Victor Mancini to their AHL affiliate.
Before the trade went down, our Tom Castro dug deep into Peter Laviolette’s NHL coaching career and realized there’s a false narrative that’s followed him into his second season with the Rangers.
Our 3 takeaways from the Rangers latest loss, 2-0 to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, included come nuggets on what turned out to be Kakko’s final game wearing the Blueshirt.
Jake Leschyshyn and Matthew Robertson are featured in our latest Hartford Wolf Pack Weekly column.
NHL news
The Kakko trade wasn’t the only one in the NHL on Wednesday. Roughly six months after not giving P.O. Joseph a qualifying offer, the Pittsburgh Penguins re-acquired the defenseman from the St. Louis Blues for future considerations. Dan Kingerski breaks it down and has the reasons why Joseph is back with the Penguins over at Pittsburgh Hockey Now.
But, wait, there was another NHL trade Wednesday! The Montreal Canadiens acquired defenseman Alexandre Carrier from the Nashville Predators for defenseman Justin Barron.
The Minnesota Wild lost defenseman Brock Faber late in their 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers when he was struck in the face by the puck. Wild coach John Hynes expressed concern over the injury, but didn’t have an update after the game.
The Rangers next opponent, the Dallas Stars, were dumped at home 5-3 by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who received a 36-save outing from goalie Joseph Woll.
Speaking of Maple Leafs goalies, two-time Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray may be working his way into the mix. With Anthony Stolarz out 4-6 weeks following knee surgery, Murray could be recalled from the AHL, where’s he’s played very well over eight games, trying to resurrect his career.
Watch Mikhail Sergachev score the game winner late in overtime to help the Utah Hockey Club defeat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2.
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