The New York Rangers have traded disgruntled defenseman Nils Lundkvist to the Dallas Stars for a top 10 protected 2023 first round pick, per multiple reports.
UPDATE: Trade is now official per New York Rangers
The conditions per the New York Rangers press release is as follows:
- If the Stars pick in the 2023 draft is in the top 10, the Rangers will get Dallas’ own first round pick in the 2024 draft instead and the pick will be unprotected.
- If Lundkvist produces 55 points cumulative over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, Dallas will transfer its own third-round pick in 2025 instead of the fourth-round pick in 2025.
New York is now slated to have seven picks in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft in Nashville, including two first round picks, one in the second (from Winnipeg) and third round (from Colorado) as well as two six round picks (one from Winnipeg) and a seventh-round selection.
Rangers trade Nils Lundkvist to the Dallas Stars
I have to give Nils’ agent Claude Lemieux a ton of credit on this one.
Over the weekend, I wrote how Lundkvist was taking a big risk by not reporting to training camp in order to force GM Chris Drury into a trade. The overriding thought was that Drury’s track record with trade requests directed his way normally backfire.
There’s a laundry list of examples from his time as GM of the Wolf Pack, but his two most recent were Vitali Kravtsov and Alexandar Georgiev. Both asked to be traded last offseason, with Georgiev finally moved a year later and Kravtsov prepping for training camp.
Well, I couldn’t be more wrong and kudos to Lemieux.
Lundkvist, 22, was taken 28th overall in the 2018 Draft and has two years left on his entry-level contract with an AAV of $925,000.
The former Borje Salming Trophy winner as the SHL’s best Swedish-born defenseman struggled in his 25 game NHL stint last season registering 4 points. However, he has an elite shot and is projected to be a top-four defenseman that can quarterback a power play.
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