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New York Rangers To Acquire Andrew Copp

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As originally reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, the New York Rangers are set to acquire forward Andrew Copp from the Winnipeg Jets. Per Dreger, the trade is as follows:

NYR receives: Copp, 2023 sixth-round pick
WPG receives: F Morgan Barron, two conditional 2022 second-round picks, 2023 fifth-round pick

One second-round pick, the Rangers’ 2022 pick, can be upgraded into a first-round pick if the Rangers make the 2022 Eastern Conference Final and Copp plays in 50% of the team’s playoff games. Winnipeg can opt for the other second-round pick to be the Blues’ 2022 second-round pick or the Rangers’ 2023 second-round pick.

Winnipeg ended up being both buyers and sellers at the Trade Deadline this year, making this deal after acquiring Mason Appleton back from the Seattle Kraken. It’s inarguable, though, that the departure is a more significant sign as to the current direction of this team.

While Winnipeg is 6-3-1 in their last ten games, they’ve had an inconsistent year and still sit four points back of a playoff spot. Keeping Copp was a gamble, as the 27-year-old is an unrestricted free agent this offseason with no guarantee that the Jets would be able to afford his new deal. Whether the Rangers invest money into Copp past this season remains to be seen, however.

But for the Rangers, Copp is well worth the rental, especially without having to give up a guaranteed first-round pick or one of the organization’s true top prospects. Copp is an extremely versatile forward who can really slot in anywhere in their middle-six forwards, helping create a depth matchup against other teams that’s been missing all season in New York. He’s now strung together back-to-back 30+ point seasons and is likely to hit the 40-point mark this year. Copp is also an extremely effective penalty killer who can help the team in that regard.

Sharks, Rangers Swap Nick Merkley, Anthony Bitetto

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The San Jose Sharks have acquired defenseman Anthony Bitetto from the New York Rangers, who will be sending Nicholas Merkley in return.

Bitetto, 31, has been nothing more than a minor league depth option for the Rangers this season, seeing all game action in the AHL. His 39 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack are actually the most AHL games he’s played since 2014-15, when he had still yet to even break into the NHL with the Nashville Predators. He perhaps will get a chance to see some time with the Sharks after their trade of Jacob Middleton, though things are still rather crowded there. If he does go to the San Jose Barracuda, it could be in an attempt to steal the last AHL playoff spot in the Pacific Division, which is currently the San Diego Gulls just five points ahead.

Interestingly, Merkley’s addition could be the much more impactful one. The 24-year-old forward has just 41 games of NHL experience under his belt, but has been great for the Barracuda this season with 36 points in 43 games. A first-round pick in 2015, Merkley has yet to really establish himself as anything more than a minor league top-six forward.

In fact, given how few NHL games he has played to this point, Merkley is actually set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent in the offseason when his one-year, two-way contract expires. Perhaps a good showing with the Hartford Wolf Pack–with how much depth the Rangers added up front today, it seems unlikely he’ll spend much time with them down the stretch–would earn him another deal with the organization.

New York Rangers Acquire Justin Braun

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The New York Rangers have made an interesting defensive addition, acquiring Justin Braun from the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers will receive a 2023 third-round pick in exchange for the defenseman.

Braun, 35, is a pending unrestricted free agent like many of the other players moved today, but represents a nice fit for the Rangers who have decided to push at least a few chips to the middle during their surprising run in the Metropolitan Division. While the team is still on the way up, Igor Shesterkin and company have done enough in the first part of the season to deserve a bit of deadline help.

That help comes in the form of the 6’2″ Braun, who has a history of playing with more mobile, offensive partners. This year that’s been almost entirely with Ivan Provorov, who has also heard his name bandied about in trade rumors recently. Braun now goes to a team with several of those puck-movers, and could potentially help support a younger player like K’Andre Miller as the team takes the next step in their competitive window.

For the Flyers, selling Braun was almost a certainty after they decided to move out pending free agents. While a second-round pick surely was the target, they’ll have to settle for a third when it comes down to it. The fact that it’s in 2023 is interesting though as that draft has been targeted heavily in trade talks and the Flyers don’t seem committed to a true rebuild. They could potentially flip that pick at some point down the line for more immediate help.

The Rangers still have plenty of picks to deal from if they want to add more at the deadline, including two second-round picks this year. They also have plenty of cap space, meaning more moves could be coming in the next few hours.

Jeff Marek of Sportsnet was first to break the trade on Twitter. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

New York Rangers Sign Brandon Scanlin

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The New York Rangers have added to their young depth tonight, signing undrafted NCAA defenseman Brandon Scanlin to a two-year, entry-level contract (link). Scanlin’s contract carries an NHL salary of $925K and a minors salary of $80K and expires after next season, when the defenseman will still be a RFA.

Scanlin just finished his third season at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where he had 31 points in 38 games. The large defenseman isn’t expected to be a cornerstone prospect for the Rangers, however given his size and ability to produce points for UNO from the backend, he could certainly have a future somewhere in the Rangers’ organization.

It is also worth mentioning that while Scanlin did go undrafted, he is not new to the eyes of the NHL, as he participated in the Boston Bruins’ development camp last summer. Time will tell how Scanlin progresses, but for now he will be able to begin a professional career with an organization that has shown an impressive ability recently to develop talent on the blue line.

Trade Rumors: Hurricanes, Rangers, Capitals

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The Carolina Hurricanes are undoubtedly going to finish the season as Metropolitan Division champions, and they’re making a challenge for the Eastern Conference title and President’s Trophy as well. But unlike most contenders, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun says that the Hurricanes aren’t willing to deal their 2023 first-round selection at the deadline for a rental player. The Hurricanes have already surrendered their 2022 choice as compensation for signing Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet last summer. While Carolina, based on the language of the tweet, is willing to move it for a player under contract, this likely takes them out of the conversation for rental defensemen such as Mark Giordano and Hampus Lindholm, who are sure to command first-round selections after Montreal received one in return for Ben Chiarot.

More trade rumors on this Saturday morning:

  • The Athletic’s Arthur Staple names Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell as “the most logical piece” for the New York Rangers to acquire at the deadline. Rakell, who has 16 goals and 12 assists in 51 games this season, wouldn’t fix the Rangers’ defensive issues in the slightest. But he would provide a more established scoring option for the Rangers to insert on the wing in the top six, and would help create better depth matchups for the third and fourth lines. While Alexis Lafreniere is performing solidly by most advanced metrics, the points aren’t coming for him despite playing alongside Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. If acquired, Rakell could likely slot in there, allowing Lafreniere and Frank Vatrano to slot in on the third line when fully healthy.
  • While the Washington Capitals are still interested in goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir notes that general manager Brian McLellan is unwilling to move top prospects Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, or the team’s first-round selection in 2022 in any trade. It’s likely a smart move for Washington, who faces an already impossible path through the Eastern Conference playoff gauntlet, and it’s hard to imagine that acquiring Fleury would change that meaningfully. It’s a smarter bet to play on house money with this roster and retain the pick to help reload the team’s prospect pool.

Rangers Have Looked Into Phil Kessel

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The Rangers are among the teams that have done some research into Coyotes winger Phil Kessel, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports.  The 34-year-old is in the final season of his contract with Arizona carrying a $6.8MM cap hit, one that few playoff-bound teams other than New York can actually afford without requiring retention.  Kessel has just six goals in 60 games but has chipped in with 31 assists to sit fourth in team scoring.  Kaplan notes that Arizona’s asking price earlier in the season was a third-round pick which would be a reasonable price to pay to add some extra offensive depth on the wing.  The Rangers already made a move like that this week with the acquisition of Frank Vatrano but they still have cap and roster space to add more help on that front.

New York Rangers Acquire Frank Vatrano

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The New York Rangers have added to their forward group, acquiring Frank Vatrano from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a conditional 2022 fourth-round pick. The Panthers will receive the later of the two fourth-round picks the Rangers have. Florida did not retain any salary in the trade.

Vatrano, 28, turned into a huge success story after an early-career trade from the Boston Bruins. After scoring a total of 20 goals in 108 games with the Bruins, the team that signed him as an undrafted college free agent, he would go on to register 24 in his first season in Florida and 73 in his entire 273-game span. As the Panthers have gotten better though, filling out their lineup with other talented forwards, Vatrano’s minutes and role have diminished, to the point where he was a healthy scratch at times this season.

In 49 games, he has scored ten goals and 19 points, with two of those tallies coming last night in a win over the San Jose Sharks. That performance was apparently enough to interest the Rangers, who add a versatile scoring threat to a lineup that has at times been very inconsistent on offense. The price of a fourth-round pick is negligible for New York, who had two this season already and a pipeline filled with high-upside prospects, and there is very little risk in acquiring his cap given how much room they have this season.

Vatrano is in the final season of a three-year, $7.6MM contract he signed with Florida in 2019 and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. It appeared as though a return to the Panthers was unlikely because of how many other forwards they already had in place, meaning getting something at the deadline is a bonus.

Importantly though, the draft pick isn’t the thing to focus on here when it comes to what the Panthers received. Taking Vatrano’s $2.53MM cap hit entirely off the books at this point in the season will open up huge flexibility for Florida ahead of next week’s deadline, similar to how the Colorado Avalanche moved out Tyson Jost’s deal yesterday. The Panthers have been linked to several top names including Claude Giroux and Jakob Chychrun as they make a run toward the Stanley Cup.

In terms of the player’s future, Vatrano could be an interesting option for the Rangers to re-sign even, should he find a fit in New York. Though they already have several options on the wing, his ability to play both sides and proven track record scoring even in limited minutes could give them a nice option for lower in the lineup. There’s even a chance that he finds immediate chemistry with some of the other talented Ranger forwards and finds his way into the top-six on a regular basis. As a pending UFA, a chance to play on a competitive team was all that Vatrano could ask for if he was going to leave Florida, and he’s found that chance in New York.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic first reported the trade on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Alexandar Georgiev Switches Agents

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  • ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports that New York Rangers’ goaltender Alexandar Georgiev has switched agents ahead of the trade deadline. Georgiev is now represented by Gerry Johannson of TSC Hockey. It is not immediately clear why Georgiev changed his representation, but the switch is noteworthy considering Georgiev is one of the more likely names to be moved ahead of the trade deadline.

Ryan Martin Named GM Of U.S. National Team

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USA Hockey has named Ryan Martin the general manager of the 2022 U.S. Men’s National Team, set to take part in the IIHF World Championship May 13-29 in Finland. Martin, who serves as the assistant GM of the New York Rangers, is taking over the U.S. role from Chris Drury, his current boss. John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of USA Hockey, released the following statement:

Martin will be assisted by Mike Grier, who currently works with the Rangers as a hockey operations advisor, and Chris MacFarland, an assistant GM with the Colorado Avalanche. This group will be trying to win the first gold at the event in more than 60 years, and only the third all-time. In 2021, 2018, 2015, and 2013, the U.S. team took home bronze.

Questions Surround Some Of New York's Better Trade Chips

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  • While the Rangers have been perceived as a team that has some quality trade assets, Newsday’s Colin Stephenson questions how many of those can realistically be moved. The situation between Russia and Ukraine raises questions about whether or not a team will be able to get Vitali Kravtsov out of Russia if they were to trade for him while some of their younger roster players that could move in the right trade – such as goalie Alexandar Georgiev and even forward Filip Chytil – have been inconsistent.  Even with those questions, GM Chris Drury still has ample prospect capital to deal from over the next couple of weeks if he wants to add some players to help New York for the playoffs.
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