- Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet points out that the New York Rangers don’t actually have to wait until tomorrow to acquire Patrick Kane, only past today’s salary cap threshold. The cap is calculated on the active roster at 4pm CT every day, meaning the Rangers could land Kane a few minutes later and have him applied to Wednesday’s number instead. All signs continue to point to Kane joining the Rangers this week, potentially even in time to take on the Philadelphia Flyers tomorrow night.
Rangers Rumors
Ryan Carpenter, Braden Schneider Dressed, Not Playing For New York Rangers
As the New York Rangers carefully manage their cap in preparation for the expected addition of Patrick Kane later this week, some interesting decisions must be made. Tonight Ryan Carpenter and Braden Schneider are dressed for the game but are not expected to actually play a shift, according to Arthur Staple of The Athletic.
The reason is that these players will be sent down to the minor leagues in the coming days, allowing the Rangers to bank enough cap space to add Kane before the trade deadline. If either one suffered an injury, the plan—one with very little room for error—would be impossible, and the Rangers would be forced to make a different transaction to accommodate an incoming cap hit.
It does not mean that Carpenter or Schneider are involved in the potential trade (though it doesn’t rule that out, either), only that the team needs to protect their health as the few waiver-exempt players on the roster. Because they will still be dressed, the Rangers won’t get the bonus emergency exception that playing shorthanded usually affords a team.
Playing with just 16 skaters is difficult, but it’s a small price to pay for potentially adding a future Hall of Famer later this week. The Rangers don’t play again until Wednesday. As if taunting the hockey gods, though, K’Andre Miller has taken a match penalty in the first period for spitting at Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, which means the Rangers are effectively playing with just four defensemen. It also will mean an automatic review of the situation by the league and a potential suspension for Miller this week.
Jake Leschyshyn Clears Waivers
Feb 26: Along with the other two players on waivers, Leschyshyn has cleared without issue. He has been sent to the minor leagues in favor of Ryan Carpenter, who was recalled because the Rangers need 18 skaters if they are cap compliant. Carpenter’s $750K cap hit is slightly lower, though, allowing the team to bank a tiny bit of extra space today.
Feb 25: With the Rangers expected to be trying to clear up some salary to make another move to add to their roster, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that Jake Leschyshyn is expected to be on waivers at the top of the hour.
It will be the second time that the 23-year-old is on waivers this season as Vegas put him on the wire back in January when New York picked him up. Leschyshyn has yet to put up a single point in 35 games in 2022-23 between the two teams (22 with the Golden Knights, 13 with the Rangers) although he does have 55 hits and has won a little over 50% of his faceoffs so far. Last season was his first taste of NHL action when he had four goals and two assists in 41 appearances with Vegas.
Notably, Leschyshyn is in the first season of a three-year, one-way deal that carries a cap hit of $766.7K. Teams may be hesitant to commit two years of guaranteed salary to a player whose place on an NHL roster is very much in flux even though starting next season, his AAV will be below the league minimum. If Vegas elects to put in a claim and no one else does, they would be permitted to send Leschyshyn to the minors but if anyone else opted to, he would need to stay on the NHL roster.
Trade Deadline Primer: New York Rangers
The trade deadline is inching closer and is now less than a week away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers went through a roster re-tool for four seasons before launching back into contender status last season. A Vezina Trophy campaign from goaltender Igor Shesterkin, a near Norris Trophy winning season from Adam Fox and a career high in points from Artemi Panarin carried the team all the way to the Eastern Conference Final. They pulled ahead in that series 2-0 before losing four consecutive low-scoring close games to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Rangers headed into this season with high expectations, and are among a pack of six Eastern Conference teams that appear to be the league’s best. They will continue to fight with the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils for the Metropolitan Division crown down the stretch and whoever emerges from that battle in the first two playoff rounds will likely face either the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs or Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final.
It is going to be a battle of wills to get to the Stanley Cup Final from the eastern side and the Rangers have already begun to load up. They acquired Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola from the St. Louis Blues for a conditional 2023 first-round pick, Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner and a 2024 fourth-round pick.
They also moved Vitali Kravtsov to the Vancouver Canucks for Will Lockwood and a seveth-round pick in 2026. Jake Leschyshyn was also put on waivers earlier today. Both of these moves seem to be made to maximize the team’s cap space for an upcoming trade.
Record
33-17-9
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$1.67MM, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2023: DAL 1st, NYR 2nd, COL 3rd, NYR 6th, WIN 6th
2024: NYR 1st, NYR 2nd, NYR 3rd, NYR 5th, NYR 6th, NYR 7th
Trade Chips
The Rangers 2023 first-round pick is tied up in a conditional trade for Tarasenko. The Blues will get the later of the Rangers pick or the Dallas Stars first-round pick that was acquired for Nils Lundkvist. Either way, they still have a 2023 first-round pick and their own 2024 first-round pick as well as their second-round picks in 2023 and 2024.
Brennan Othmann was the Rangers first-round pick in 2021. He is having a great season in the Ontario Hockey League, where he has scored 24 goals and 55 points in 44 games for the Peterborough Petes. He was solid at the past two World Junior Championships, scoring a combined 12 points in 13 games for Canada and winning a pair of gold medals. If the Rangers are going to add another big name, Othmann would allow them to add just about anyone on the market.
Will Cuylle is a 21-year-old left winger who is playing his first AHL season. He has scored 17 goals and 26 points in 48 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack after a tremendous Junior career. He was taken in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft and with all the wingers likely to be with the Rangers long term, like Panarin, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko, the Rangers could afford to move Cuylle.
Matthew Robertson is a promising young defenceman who is going to have a hard time finding a full-time role with the Rangers. The 21-year-old has a nice mix of size and skill, but the Rangers already have a deep crop of blueliners. At 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, Robertson is tough enough to defend his own zone and has 20 points in 48 AHL games, showing a bit of an offensive side as well. Rebuilding teams love young NHL-ready defenders and Robertson fits that description.
Other Potential Trade Chips: Zac Jones, Adam Sykora, Bryce McConnell-Barker
Team Needs
1) Top-six winger: The Rangers have already added Tarasenko and he is playing on a line with Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. They also have a tremendous “kid line” as their third line with Filip Chytil between Lafreniere and Kakko. Vincent Trocheck is playing on a line with Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey. The odd-man out here would be Vesey who has 21 points in 58 games. The Rangers are heavily rumored to be in on Patrick Kane, and he would round out the team’s top six perfectly.
2) Left Defenceman: The Rangers have a big question mark hovering over them now as defenceman Ryan Lindgren was injured in today’s game. If he is out long term, the team could place him on LTIR and add a player matching his cap hit of $3MM. Even if he is not out long term, the team could add a depth piece on defence, as any contender likes to do at this time of year. They are certainly not lacking on the back end with Lindgren, Fox, Jacob Trouba, K’Andre Miller, Mikkola and Braden Schneider, but picking up a veteran who can fill in for injuries would be helpful.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Ryan Lindgren Leaves Game With Injury
- New York Rangers defenceman Ryan Lindgren left the team’s afternoon game early today after a questionable hit by T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals. Oshie was not penalized for his hit, but contact appeared to be from behind as Lindgren fell awkwardly into the boards. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported after the game that Lindgren had his left arm in a sling. There was no further update from the team.
Canucks Acquire Vitali Kravtsov
The Canucks are expected to be adding a young forward to their lineup as they’ve acquired winger Vitali Kravtsov from the Rangers. Going to New York is winger William Lockwood and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick. Both teams have announced the deal.
Kravtsov was the ninth-overall pick in 2018 but has struggled in limited NHL action and has just three goals and three assists in 28 games this season. He also played in 20 games back in 2020-21 and produced at a similar rate, notching two goals and two helpers in 20 contests.
Last season, Kravtsov opted to return to the KHL instead of reporting to New York, picking up 13 points in 17 games with Traktor Chelyabinsk during the regular season before adding seven goals in 15 playoff contests. That was enough for New York to give him a one-year, one-way $875K contract for this season. He’ll be arbitration-eligible this summer and will be owed a $840K qualifying offer.
To make room for Kravtsov on the roster, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that center Curtis Lazar has been placed on injured reserve. It’s the second trip to the IR for the 28-year-old who has five goals and 124 hits in 45 games this season.
As for Lockwood, the 24-year-old has been up and down this season, getting into 13 games with Vancouver where he picked up an assist along with 37 hits while averaging just over 10 minutes per game. He has been more productive with AHL Abbotsford though, collecting a dozen goals and six assists in 26 contests. He’s on a one-year, two-way deal with $750K in the NHL and should remain in the minors with his new team.
It’s certainly an underwhelming return for Kravtsov, once viewed as a key piece of the future for the Rangers. However, his struggles in the NHL and the potential for him to return to the KHL certainly deflated his value. But this move, coupled with the waiving of Jake Leschyshyn earlier today, will open up some extra cap space for New York to try to add another piece down the stretch; Chicago winger Patrick Kane has been speculatively linked to them recently and these deletions would be enough to squeak him in at 25% of his AAV. Meanwhile, it’s about as low-risk an acquisition as possible for Vancouver who will now try to see if Kravtsov can become more of an impact player with a new organization.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Kravtsov was being traded to Vancouver.
New York Rangers To Scratch Vitali Kravtsov, Jake Leschyshyn
The New York Rangers have announced that forwards Vitali Kravtsov and Jake Leschyshyn will be held out of tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings for “roster management reasons.”
While they used a less direct phrase, this move has presumably been made for the same reasons players such as Vladislav Gavrikov, Jakob Chychrun, and Dmitry Orlov, among others, have been healthy scratched: the team has a trade in mind they want to make, and doesn’t want to risk injuries to players they’re looking at trading throwing a wrench in their plans.
While they obviously have not yet been traded and it’s definitely possible that this is simply a precautionary measure, this is also the most official indication given out to this point that Kravtsov’s time as a Ranger is coming to an end.
The big 23-year-old winger was the ninth-overall selection at the 2018 draft, and was viewed as one of the centerpiece prospects from the Rangers’ rebuilding phase. The team envisioned him being the type of power forward that is becoming all too rare in the NHL, but since being drafted Kravtsov has largely disappointed.
There were significant challenges in his development process, with Kravtsov’s 2019-20 season spent mostly in the AHL as the standout point of tension. It was widely reported that Kravtsov was not comfortable developing his game in an AHL setting, and those reports were in large part confirmed when he departed Hartford mid-season to head back to the KHL. Kravtsov eventually made a trade request, but ended up remaining in the Rangers’ organization and developing in the KHL.
This season, Kravtsov finally made the Rangers out of camp and had a real shot to seize a valuable role given New York’s paper-thin depth at the right winger position to start the year. He hasn’t done much with that opportunity, though, and has scored in total six points in 28 games. His inability to seize the moment led to the Rangers’ acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues, and the team remains interested in Patrick Kane to further add from the outside to their right-wingers.
Kravtsov still has intriguing physical tools and has at times looked very impressive in the KHL. But his performance in North America has left much to be desired, and it’s likely that a change of scenery would be the best path for both parties moving forward.
As for Leschychyn, he was a relatively recent waiver claim by New York who has played 13 mostly anonymous games for the Rangers. He’s averaged 8:21 time on ice per game for coach Gerard Gallant, and is likely being scratched due to cap reasons, as the Rangers would likely ship his salary out in any trade for a pricey incoming player.
New York Rangers Acquire Tyler Motte
Tyler Motte is back on Broadway. The New York Rangers have acquired the veteran forward from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Julien Gauthier and a conditional 2023 seventh-round pick, per a team announcement.
The Senators have announced the conditions on the deal: if the Rangers win a playoff series in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, the pick will improve to be the lower of the Rangers’ two 2023 sixth-round picks. (The Rangers also own the Winnipeg Jets’ sixth-rounder from last year’s Andrew Copp trade)
Senators GM Pierre Dorion gave the following statement regarding Gauthier, the centerpiece asset his team is receiving in this deal:
Julien Gauthier is a hard-working, good skating winger with a big body who routinely goes to the opponent’s net. His north/south game should be a nice addition to our lineup.
Dorion’s strategy with this trade mirrors how he approached the trade of Nick Paul last season. Rather than simply aim for the best draft pick possible, Dorion instead identified a player on the buying team’s roster that he believes can contribute to the Senators immediately.
Last season, the team acquired pending restricted free agent Mathieu Joseph. This year, it’s Gauthier, who is also a pending restricted free agent.
Both Motte and Gauthier have scored nine points this season, but for the Rangers this trade is about more than just scoring. After the acquisition of Vladimir Tarasenko from the St. Louis Blues, the Rangers’ need for a scoring-line right winger was met. Their biggest need heading into the deadline became an upgrade to their fourth line, as they were relying on relatively unproven commodities such as Gauthier and Jake Leschyshyn.
Now, they’ve added a player who not only brings a different flavor to their fourth line than what Gauthier could provide, but also brings a more well-rounded game and valuable playoff experience. Gauthier has just three playoff games on his resume, while the 27-year-old Motte helped the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final last season and got into 17 playoff games for the Vancouver Canucks in 2019-20.
Motte is the Senators’ leading penalty-killing forward and should be able to help a Rangers penalty kill that at the moment ranks just 15th in the league. He’s tenacious, always energetic, and a forward Rangers fans came to greatly appreciate despite his limited time on their roster. Both the New York market and head coach Gerard Gallant will surely be pleased that Motte is back in the fold.
For Ottawa, this trade is all about Gauthier. Motte got the Canucks a fourth-rounder in a trade last season, and while he’s not quite having as good of a season as he had last year, it’s hard to say that his decline alone causes his value to drop from a fourth-rounder all the way to a sixth or seventh-rounder.
Instead, this seems to be a case of Ottawa simply seeing something they like in Gauthier and preferring to add him to their roster over a slightly improved draft pick. The 25-year-old winger is, as Dorion noted, a player with size and strong skating ability. He’s routinely attacking the net when he gets offensive chances, but his ability as a finisher leaves much to be desired.
While he showed flashes in New York of the talent that made him a 2016 first-round pick, he ultimately was not able to find the night-to-night consistency to earn the trust of David Quinn or Gallant. Now, Senators head coach D.J. Smith will get a chance to see if anything can be made out of Gauthier’s impressive physical tools.
Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Vitali Kravtsov Reportedly Made Available For Trade
- Another new name to enter the trade deadline mix is that of 2018 ninth-overall pick Vitali Kravtsov, with Friedman reporting that the 23-year-old Russian “has been made available” to other clubs for trade in the aftermath of his being healthy scratched for the team’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Kravtsov has been given opportunities to shine in New York this season and had an opportunity to establish himself in the NHL given the openings the Rangers had at right wing before the Vladimir Tarasenko trade. With Tarasenko now in the mix, it seems Kravtsov’s leash is beginning to run short, and with just six points in 28 games a change-of-scenery trade could be in order.
Libor Hajek, Linus Hogberg Clear Waivers
Feb 10: Both players have cleared waivers. That means Hajek can be sent to the minor leagues, and Hogberg is free to pursue other opportunities overseas.
Feb 9: As we await the official announcement of Vladimir Tarasenko to the New York Rangers, the team has started clearing some space. Libor Hajek has been placed on waivers, according to Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets. The Philadelphia Flyers have also placed Linus Hogberg on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination.
Hajek, 25, came into the Rangers organization with high hopes as part of the return for Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller, but never lived up to expectations. The 2016 second-round pick has 110 games played over parts of five seasons (all with New York), and has produced just 12 points, averaging fewer than 15 minutes in his appearances.
While he was never supposed to be a big offensive threat, the 6’2″ defenseman hasn’t been effective in his own end, either, At this point, he was a potential candidate to go unqualified in the summer. That doesn’t guarantee he’ll pass through, though, as teams often give high draft picks (especially defensemen) extra chances to prove their worth at the NHL level. On a one-year, $800K contract, it might be worthwhile for a rebuilding club.
Hogberg, meanwhile, played just five games for the Flyers last season and had been buried in the organizational depth chart this year, sitting in the press box even at the AHL level. The 24-year-old will likely return to Sweden to continue his career overseas after the short stint in North America.