Hindsight is 20/20 right? Well Ryan McDonagh only has his sights on his two Stanley Cup Championships just three years after being traded by the New York Rangers. The former Blueshirts Captain was hands down our best defender during the height of the Rangers playoff runs but has almost gone under the radar in Tampa. Kind of easy to do that on a team with Victor Hedman who seems to be locked in to Norris Trophy consideration year in and year out. Nevertheless, Mac has been an instrumental piece to the Tampa Bay Lightning who are potentially on the brink of becoming a dynasty. As we all watched him lift the Stanley Cup for the second year in a row the question had to be asked. Was trading him away really worth it? No matter how you slice it, the Rangers lost that trade on paper. At the time, it made sense to an extent. The Rangers organization sent out a letter to it's fanbase saying we're shifting gears, we're going to rebuild this team in hopes of winning. Not just winning for a year, but winning like the Penguins and Blackhawks have over the last decade. With that came some tough decisions like trading Zucc, Nash, Stepan and eventually buying out Henrik Lundvist. Looking back on it, we won most of those trades and Jeff Gorton's work has certainly impacted our franchise for the better. However the McDonagh/Miller trade seems to only get worse with age. So let's look at the trade. On February 26, 2018 the New York Rangers trade Ryan McDonagh and JT Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Vlad Namestnikov, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, a 2018 First Round Pick (Nils Lundkvist) and a 2019 Conditional Second Round Pick (Karl Henriksson) I've had many thoughts on this trade over the years. At the time, I kind of hated it. The Rangers gave up two key guys and while at the time, it seemed like a haul of a return, it still just felt like we could've gotten more out of the deal or only involved one of our guys. Which led me to my next thought where maybe we should've just sent McDonagh and gotten picks and one of Howden/Hajek/Namestnikov. JT Miller became a legitimate top 6 forward following the trade, however that could've been due to the change in scenery. He may not have broken out the way he has had we kept him in New York but with a coaching change you never know. Brett Howden might be Manny Malhotra round two minus being good at faceoffs. Both were first round picks who struggled to live up to their potential in the NHL, Howden who is now approaching his mid twenties has still yet to prove he's an NHL caliber guy. Don't get me wrong, he's a great penalty killer but when you're drafted where he was and acquired for what we gave up, he has to do more than skate up and down the ice, kill penalties and look pretty. Much of the same can be said for Libor Hajek, about the same age, still looking to prove himself and with the Rangers prospect depth on the back end, Hajek really isn't in the long term plans at this point. With Vlad Namestnikov things didn't really work out and you could even make the argument that Brett Howden is on track to be just like him, a high draft pick who didn't live up to potential. Nils Lundkvist and Karl Henriksson still have plenty of time to become NHL players but it's a tall order for them to surpass or at least match McDonagh and Miller. Not to mention Nils Lundkvist will probably be used as trade bait so we I suppose until that happens we can't truly assess the trade. If we include Lundkvist in a fair package for Eichel then the results of the McDonagh trade tree could be more clearly worth it. Now, playing the what if game is always a slippery slope. Had we held on to McDonagh and Miller, even just one of them, a whole row of dominoes could've fallen and we may not have been able to sign Panarin or make other moves. At the end of the day though, when you look at this trade on paper and weigh all the different variables, what had the potential to be a great trade turned out to be the opposite. We traded our top defenseman who went on to become a 2x Stanley Cup Champion, with Conn Smythe Trophy votes, and a young forward on the cusp of his prime for three duds, an elite prospect who will probably be traded, and a potentially bottom six center. Nevertheless, you can't undo what's done, we'll see what the future holds for Lundkvist, Henriksson and hope for the best.
Chris Feldman
Comments