The New York Rangers missed out on Kevin Shattenkirk last night when he went to their division rival—and opponent tonight—the Washington Capitals. The team has been rumored to be after a right handed defenseman and may be in even more dire straits as Dan Girardi is out tonight following an ankle injury. Dan Rosen of NHL.com reports that with him out and Kevin Klein still dealing with a back injury, the Rangers are down to just five healthy defensemen with the team. They’ll bring up Steve Kampfer for tonight’s game, but may need a more permanent solution.
While the Rangers may not have acquired Shattenkirk, they have been linked to Brendan Smith of the Detroit Red Wings and could look within their division for a player like Kyle Quincey. Though neither bring the level of play the new Capitals’ defenseman does, both could help provide depth as they get healthy.
- Bob McKenzie of TSN mentioned Smith today on Twitter, saying that it is decision day for the Red Wings. If they do want to extend him, McKenzie believes it would take at least three years at $3.5MM. The Wings recently extended Nick Jensen for two more seasons and have said they want to do the same with Smith. If they can’t get it done today though, they should seriously consider moving him and trying to bring him back in the summer. That team needs as many assets as possible going forward, and with the defense market getting pretty thin, they might do quite well.
- Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports writes that though Shane Doan is still available, he is unlikely to move before the deadline. According to Morgan, teams only view him as a 13th or 14th forward, instead of the capable winger he still believes himself to be. While obviously anything can change in the next 28 hours, perhaps he will finish his career with the franchise (but not team) that drafted him.
- McKenzie also mentions that the Tampa Bay Lightning have likely approached Valtteri Filppula and asked to waive his no-trade clause. Filppula poses a real problem for the Lightning both with their cap crunch and expansion draft plans.
Blues probably wanted one of Krieder, Hayes, Miller in the trade…glad they didn’t move them.
I think it was more to do with the fact that the Rangers honestly feel that Shatty is a UFA lock. He has publicly stated that he wants to play there. So they can save the draft picks and sign him in the summer.
I totally agree. Not worth it for NYR to give up any of their young core or picks. They’ve already used picks in trades to acquire Yandle, St Louis and Staal over the years and finally have some picks for the second round this draft thanks to the Zibenajad deal