Headlines

  • Blues Waive Nick Leddy
  • Nikolaj Ehlers Expected To Sign Today
  • Oilers Sign Andrew Mangiapane To Two-Year Deal
  • Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers
  • Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93
  • Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Partners
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rangers Must Continue To Upgrade Their Defense

May 13, 2018 at 10:33 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 4 Comments

The New York Rangers still have to hire a coach, but the team’s top goal is to continue to improve its blueline this offseason. Just a year ago, the Rangers invested heavily into a veteran defense that was expected to be among the best in the league. The team went out and signed highly coveted free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and re-signed Brendan Smith to go with captain Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal and a rising Brady Skjei.

Instead the defense struggled mightily as they were ranked fourth in goals against, allowing 3.21 goals per game during the 2017-18 season. Now with McDonagh gone and the team in a rebuild, the Rangers must make more changes to improve their struggling blueline.

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman (subscription required) writes that a few pieces are certain. A healthy Shattenkirk should boost the team’s defense after the team shut him down in the middle of the year with a torn meniscus. Throw in a much improved year for Staal and the Rangers have a couple of solid pieces to aid them. The team still has high hopes for Skjei, despite his second-year struggles, but Smith is a complete unknown as it will be up to him to get into game shape and prove he was worth the four-year, $17.4MM deal he signed last offseason. The team did like the way rookie Neal Pionk played in his 28-game trial at the end of the year. Even defenseman Anthony DeAngelo showed improvement at the end of the year as well. The team also added a number of new young d-men at the trade deadline that aren’t too far off, including Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek and Yegor Rykov.

Regardless, the team could use a boost from an experienced young defenseman that can help stabilize last year’s crew or at the very least, more young talent that will be ready within a year. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the team should consider offering up either Kevin Hayes or Mike Zibanejad in exchange for defensive help, assuming the player they get back is a current or future top-four defenseman. While he believes that Dougie Hamilton would be the perfect trade target, he doubts the Calgary Flames would move him. However, Calgary is loaded with defensive prospects that are stuck behind their veteran defense, suggesting the Rangers go after prospect Adam Fox, who is a top defenseman at Harvard University, and who was the former partner of Lindgren. Trading one of those young veterans could work as centermen are in high demand right now with few available on the free agent market and with the Rangers putting much of their hopes on both of last year’s first-round picks in Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil at center next season.

No matter what, the team will have to make some changes if they hope to improve on their disappointing 2017-18 season.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

Calgary Flames| New York Rangers Anthony DeAngelo| Brady Skjei| Brendan Smith| Dougie Hamilton| Kevin Hayes| Kevin Shattenkirk| Marc Staal| Neal Pionk| Ryan McDonagh

Dubas Has Many Decisions To Make In Toronto
Main
Eastern Notes: Backstrom, Bjork, Vinik, Mantha
View Comments (4)

Comments

  1. padam

    7 years ago

    First off, defense wasn’t the problem, it was offense. Signing Shats was to improve the offensive capability of the defense at the line and PP. Secondly, the defensive numbers suffered and ballooned when the selloff began. You’ll see the correlation with Lundqvist’s numbers.

    The recommendations mentioned in which they trade offense for defense is ridiculous. At this point they need offensive prospects to complete this rebuild they began – preferably a franchise type player. They have enough defensive players and prospects for now. Perhaps moving some of the crazy contracts they have like Smith and Staal would help open things, though getting anyone to take those contracts on will be near impossible without attachments.

    What comes out of the press vs what the Rangers are doing/saying (note to fans) makes me question if there is enough dedication to any one particular strategy to right the ship.

    Reply
  2. acarneglia

    7 years ago

    The Rangers defense will be much improved last year.

    You have three players who will definitely be there opening night: Staal, Shattenkirk, and Skjei

    Pionk is probably a lock as well.

    Then you have Hajek, Deangelo, Rykov, and Lindgren to sort through.

    Reply
  3. Rob L. 2

    7 years ago

    Why do people continue to throw Dougie’s name out there? Stop it. Might as well start writing crap like “Connor McDavid would be a perfect addition for (insert team) at center, but he’s probably not available.” Stupid!

    Reply
  4. ericl

    7 years ago

    Shattenkirk has never been & never will be great defensively. It isn’t who he is. He is a risk taker. If the Rangers insist on playing him top pair minutes, they will not be in a good position. He isn’t a shut down d-man. The Rangers would be better served to find a shutdown pair & move Shattenkirk to the second pairing where he belongs. Shattenkirk played his best hockey in St. Louis when he was on the 2nd pair and was allowed to do his thing offensively. He wasn’t relied on to be the shut down guy & that allowed him to produce.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Blues Waive Nick Leddy

    Nikolaj Ehlers Expected To Sign Today

    Oilers Sign Andrew Mangiapane To Two-Year Deal

    Hurricanes Acquire K’Andre Miller In Sign-And-Trade With Rangers

    Alex Delvecchio Passes Away At Age 93

    Sabres Sign Ryan McLeod To Four-Year Deal

    Rangers, Will Cuylle Agree To Two-Year Deal

    Kings Sign Cody Ceci, Brian Dumoulin, Anton Forsberg

    Ducks Sign Mikael Granlund To Three-Year Deal

    Islanders Sign Jonathan Drouin To Two-Year Deal

    Recent

    PHR Live Chat Transcript: 7/2/25

    Islanders Sign Emil Heineman To Two-Year Deal

    Devils Sign Cody Glass To Two-Year Extension

    Penguins Sign Alexander Alexeyev To One-Year Contract

    Wild Sign Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Matt Kiersted, Cal Petersen

    Red Wings Re-Sign Elmer Soderblom To Two-Year Contract

    Oilers Sign Curtis Lazar To One-Year Deal

    Devils, Sharks Swap Shane Bowers, Thomas Bordeleau

    Penguins Sign Rafael Harvey-Pinard To Two-Way Contract

    Jets Sign Walker Duehr, Samuel Fagemo, Isaac Poulter To Two-Way Deals

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2025’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents
    • Sam Bennett Rumors
    • Nikolaj Ehlers Rumors
    • Mitch Marner Rumors
    • Marco Rossi Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 Free Agent Focus Series
    • 2025 Offseason Checklist Series
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Active Roster Tracker
    • Coaching Staff Directory
    • Draft Pick Tracker 2025
    • Key Offseason Dates
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls
    • Waiver Claims 2024-25

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version