Teams unwilling to take up Rangers on offer to use cap space; Tony DeAngelo may be solution to other’s expansion problems
The New York Rangers have been willing to let teams use their cap space to facilitate trades for awhile. Thus far they’ve had no takers as we’ve already had around a dozen deals coming into today’s NHL Trade Deadline. So far, many of the deals that required cap help have taken place in the East Division and traditional Eastern Conference.
This GM’s can clearly see the Rangers are stacked with young talent and prospects and are not looking to feed the growing monster.
Rangers and others among teams willing to use cap space to help facilitate trades
Darren Dreger is reporting that several teams with cap space have been willing to let teams use it in order to facilitate complex deals. The Red Wings did so in the David Savard deal between the Jackets and Lightning.
The Devils and Sharks were discussed as another, but the Rangers are a new one. I did some further digging and was informed that they have been offering their cap space for some time now but other teams are unwilling to add to the Blueshirts already deep and talented pool of talent.
Teams not willing to accept the Blueshirts offer of cap help could also extend to the trade front. This is a big summer for the Rangers as they have one main goal – trade for a top center. Jack Eichel remains a target but there’s no official word he will be made available.
There is still a chance that a team out West may opt to leverage the Rangers for help to make an acquisition. The Vegas Golden Knights could be that team as they’ve got zero cap space and are looking to add at both forward and defense.
Tony DeAngelo could be a smart trade add for expansion protection
There are a handful of teams that will be forced to expose a defenseman they don’t want to lose. Tony DeAngelo could be a potential solution to their problems. Anaheim, Nashville, Minnesota, Colorado, and Calgary are just a few teams that are searching for ways to keep their top four defenders.
Some of the teams I just mentioned may be forced to go the 8 skaters and one goalie route in order to protect four defenseman. They still need to expose a defenseman who is under contract with 40 NHL games and has no trade protection. That’s where DeAngelo could come in.
For example the Avalanche would like to protect Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Ryan Graves, and Samuel Girard. They are forced to protect Erik Johnson because he has a NMC. Adding DeAngelo could provide them some options such as making a deal with Seattle to pick DeAngelo for a draft pick in order to protect the names mentioned above.
One potential roadblock may be that the Rangers would like to keep DeAngelo for the same reason. Also they’ve made it clear they won’t eat any of his salary, but maybe for the right draft pick they would. The team that acquires him would likely buy him out for a low cost if Seattle doesn’t take him. DeAngelo makes $4.5 million this season and next but would be a 1/3 buyout because he’s 25 years-old. That would only be a cap charge of $383,333 in 2021-22 and $833,333 in 2022-23.
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