Rangers trade deadline strategy should be about near future, not making run at Stanley Cup
For all the agita-inducing moments this 2024-25 New York Rangers season has caused for their fans, it remains entirely possible that the Blueshirts could find their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
For these Rangers, though, such an outcome would actually be besides the point. Hardly anyone believes this group can win four postseason rounds, that they have a 2023 Florida Panthers-type run to the Stanley Cup Final in them – or anything even close.
The best situation for the franchise is if the front office also holds that opinion, that making expensive, splashy adds ahead of the March 7 trade deadline in a long-shot attempt to not only get into the playoffs but win a championship is counterproductive.
Chances are that general manager Chris Drury doesn’t harbor any such delusions, and the moves he makes will be driven by a concession to that reality. Their acquisition of center J.T. Miller, whose contract has five seasons to run beyond this one, reflects a strategy of positioning the team for a restructuring in personnel and playing style that should gain steam this summer.
Drury wants to make his team bigger, faster and meaner. Miller’s acquisition represents all of that in what is likely the first salvo in reshaping the veteran core to make it competitive for a Stanley Cup in near-future seasons – and probably not this one as a result.
So Drury should be active before the deadline, looking to pull off some obvious moves – and perhaps some unexpectedly big ones – that will better position the Rangers for 2025-26 and beyond.
There are three points of focus Drury should follow with the deadline bearing down:
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Rangers game plan ahead of 2024 NHL Trade Deadline
1. Trade pending UFAs Ryan Lindgren, Reilly Smith and Jimmy Vesey to replenish draft capital
Lindgren’s time in the Big Apple is almost certainly over, given the Rangers’ apparent lack of interest in extending the gritty defenseman beyond this season. The 27-year-old, however, is an ideal rental property for contenders, his physical, all-out style capable of toughening up a team’s blue line and injecting a roster with emotion for a long playoff run.
The Blueshirts dealt away a lot of draft picks to fortify for just that in each of the past three springs. They moved their first-rounder to the Vancouver Canucks in the Miller trade, and they don’t have a second-rounder in any of the next three drafts. Lindgren probably won’t fetch a first-round pick, but a hot market for him could bring back one of those much-needed second-round selections.
Of course, the Rangers might have to abandon this part of the plan if defensemen K’Andre Miller and/or Adam Fox, both of whom were injured in a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday, are out long-term. Drury doesn’t want to let short-term issues derail his longer-term goals, but he also can’t leave his current team with hardly any viable options on defense.
There’s also no reason not to trade versatile veteran wingers Smith – who cost the Rangers a 2027 second-rounder and a 2025 fifth-rounder last summer – and Vesey, with both players likely to draw interest from deadline buyers in exchange for mid-round picks. Maybe Smith is worth a third, and the Blueshirts don’t have a pick in the fourth round in 2026 or 2027.
Whether they’re used to bolster the farm system or as future trade ammunition, the Rangers simply need to get back some draft choices. Those three players, as well as pending restricted free agents, such as defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and forward Arthur Kaliyev, represent an opportunity to do just that – one that shouldn’t be overlooked or sacrificed in pursuit of a playoff spot.
In the same vein …
2. Use their 3 salary retention slots to broker trades for other teams
While Lindgren, Smith and Vesey don’t exactly reside at the top of the trade market, the Rangers ample deadline cap space of $15 million or more provides a chance to increase their haul of futures, be it picks or prospects. With all three retention spots available, the Blueshirts should have no trouble retaining the maximum 50 percent of player salaries to make trades work for capped-out contenders – for the usual price of doing that business, of course.
It would probably be foolish for Drury to agree to take on retained money beyond this season, the kind of move that would fetch a higher return in trade. Brokering deals as a third party for pending UFAs, however, should in theory bring back some decent additional mid-round picks to go with whatever they can extract for their veteran rental players.
As with the need to not hold onto tradeable veterans because of an unrealistic belief in this team’s chances to make the playoffs and win it all, the Rangers shouldn’t squander the chance to play trade matchmaker – something they might not be able to do for a while if the club returns to Stanley Cup contention next season.
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3. Explore larger trades Rangers will try to make this summer
It’s true that it is more difficult to pull off major deals during the season, when teams tend to have less salary cap space and sometimes take a while to decide whether to make a run at the playoffs or look to next season. That said, doing so is certainly possible, as evidenced by Drury’s ability to acquire Miller, a point-per-game player in five-plus seasons with the Canucks, on Jan. 31.
There’s no harm in Drury being open to anything – though he should probably learn his lesson and do that verbally and not over text message this time – to start transforming the core, because he’s going to attempt to do that this summer anyway. So thinking big isn’t bad. If there’s enough concern over Fox’s current health or long-term dip in effectiveness this season, painfully highlighted by his alarming Four Nations Face-Off performance, does Drury want to get a head start on at least laying the groundwork for a possible trade ahead of Fox’s no-move clause kicking in July 1?
Likewise, is Alexis Lafreniere, who has provided mostly regressive play and effort since inking a seven-year extension with the club early this season, a trade candidate when he still has value and perceived upside at age 23?
Is Drury unsold on the highly-talented but maddeningly inconsistent K’Andre Miller as a staple of the team’s future? There seems little downside to at least testing the waters with possible trade partners who, like the Rangers, might want to get a jump on the offseason by potentially pulling off rarer in-season blockbuster trades.
Even if Drury ends up being very busy on the trade front, his team, locked in a crowded battle for a wild-card berth, could make it into the tournament even with significant personnel changes before the deadline. A fourth consecutive postseason appearance, however, should be ancillary.
With his trade for J.T. Miller, moving out of overpriced veterans Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba and signaling (albeit clumsily) that he’s open for business on other players, the Rangers GM has made clear what’s coming soon. The Rangers are in perfect position to begin executing those changes almost immediately. They shouldn’t hesitate to do so.
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