The New York Rangers are open to moving one of their first-round picks
The New York Rangers rebuild is in full swing after the trade deadline, but they also could be looking to accelerate the process by trading one of their newly acquired picks.
The Rangers were by far one of the busiest teams at this years trade deadline, dealing away several roster players for the purpose of getting younger and building a Stanley Cup contender in the future.
The Rangers traded away players like Ryan McDonagh, Rick Nash and Michael Grabner in exchange for future assets, including two more first-round picks in this years draft from the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. With plenty of intriguing assets to spend, the Rangers are garnering attention from other teams in the league.
As first reported by the Athletic (subscription required), Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton has confirmed he is willing to trade one of his newly acquired first-round picks, in exchange for a good young player who can help the team get closer to being ready at another run for the Stanley Cup a little bit faster.
“At the point we’re at, we’re looking to get as many good players as we can,” Gorton said. “We’re trying to rebuild. It’s hard to say no to anything. We have to keep our options open and I think we’ll do that.”
Gorton is currently in Boca Raton, Florida for the NHL GM Meetings.
This season, the Rangers currently are 32-33-8 for 73 points in 72 games, 10 points behind the New Jersey Devils for the final wild card spot and 20th in the league. Playoffs were an expectation for this team at the beginning of the year, but after crashing right out of the gate, recovering briefly and re-stumbling, the organization decided that this team didn’t have the talent to make a run this year or next and elected to start anew with a rebuilding process.
Until last year, the Rangers had gone four straight seasons without a first-round pick in their quests for the Cup, but last year they bucked that trend and begun a retooling process early, trading Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to Arizona in exchange for the seventh overall pick and former first-round pick Anthony Deangelo. The Rangers selected Lias Andersson with Arizona’s draft pick and Filip Chytil at 21st with their own pick, both of whom are projected to be in the lineup next season for the Rangers.
The Rangers have seven picks in the first three rounds of this year’s draft, with three of them in the first round. Those firsts belong to them, Tampa Bay and Boston. Obviously, New York will not deal their own first-round pick, which will be the highest pick of the bunch, but depending on how Tampa and Boston do in the postseason to determine where their picks will land, the Rangers will likely consider their options with either of those picks considering how late they will be in the first round.
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The rebuild for the Rangers has progressed nicely, and it could be over sooner then we think. With just a few more moves and younger players coming into the lineup, this team could be ready for another playoff run as soon as just two seasons from now. This offseason, and most importantly, the draft, will most likely be the the determining factor on how well this rebuild will go for the Rangers, and when this team will be ready to compete again.