Yesterday may have been one of the craziest off-season days in recent league history and thankfully, the Rangers were apart of it in a good way. With the expansion draft just a couple of days away, teams were in a frenzy for last minute moves before submitting their protected lists. There weren't that many trades, but some of the craziest news came from who isn't being protected by their teams. Carey Price, Jonathan Quick and Vladimir Tarasenko to name a few. In regards to protected lists, the biggest question for the Rangers was who is going to be the seventh protected forward and will the Rangers trade for a defenseman to protect instead of Libor Hajek?
The New York Rangers ended up trading a 7th round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the rights to pending UFA and two time Stanley Cup Champion, Barclay Goodrow. In addition to that, the Rangers sent Brett Howden to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for AHL defenseman Nick DeSimone and a fourth round pick.
Barclay Goodrow is an amazing get for the New York Rangers. The Rangers made it very clear their goal is to get grittier and more experienced, primarily on their fourth line. Barclay's a bigger body, will fight, can provide secondhand scoring, can kill penalties, is great on both ends of the ice, can win face-offs, and arguably most importantly, is coming off back to back Stanley Cup Championships with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 55 games, Barclay netted six goals and 14 assists for 20 points last season, not bad for a third/fourth line guy at all. In a nutshell, he is everything the Rangers were looking for not named Jack Eichel. Now the reason the return was only a seventh is Goodrow is a pending UFA, therefore he needs a new contract and will need it sooner rather than later.
It would be a wasted move for the Rangers to trade for his rights and not sign him immediately. Granted, it would only be a seventh but you have to believe Chris Drury is planning on protecting him with that seventh slot and is already working on getting him locked up on a new deal. If he isn't, not only would it be a waste of a draft pick but it would be a waste of a protection spot. Now the word around the league is Goodrow was looking for a six year deal if he became a free agent. You have to wonder if that ask changes now that he's with the Rangers but chances are the Rangers are going to look at a Colton Sissons kind of deal to lock Goodrow up. If we can keep the salary closer to two million than three, I'm okay with whatever term they give Goodrow. Worst comes to worse, we try selling him in a couple seasons when cap once again becomes an issue.
Nick DeSimone is an interesting pick up because like Goodrow, he is a pending UFA and not one the Rangers really need to sign. The Rangers must have come to the realization that Howden isn't in their future plans and wanted to get some kind of a return instead of just letting him walk or holding on to him just to play in Hartford. Good asset management by Drury, it'll be interesting to see if DeSimone signs with the Rangers or is just occupying a roster spot to meet expansion requirements.
There were also talks that a one for one deal with Vancouver almost happened. The supposed trade was Pavel Buchnevich for Bo Horvat, straight up and honestly, I would've done that deal in a heartbeat. Despite how good of a player he's become it seems that all signs point to Buchnevich being on the move and honestly, it might make more sense to trade him straight up for a center like Horvat then to trade him and a bunch of other pieces for the expensive risk known as Jack Eichel. Especially if the Rangers have already made offers and trade talks have been going on for over a year, if Buffalo isn't budging it makes sense to explore other options.
Nevertheless, all trade talks will be on hold until Seattle picks their team. It'll be interesting once all the official protected lists come out and we get a better idea on what each team could be losing. For the Rangers, expect them to have protected Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, Strome, Chytil, Buchnevich, Goodrow, Trouba, Lindgren, Hajek and Georgiev. Leaving as we all expected, Blackwell or Gauthier to be chosen by Seattle.
Chris Feldman
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