I see a lot of talk for Rangers, whether they should tear it down more or try to contend next year
I am firmly team “Tear it down” but
Realistically, if Rangers wanted to go all in… What would the route be?
1. You need a premier elite wing to replace Panarins production, and you need to do that without giving up Laf or Gabe. You dangle 5th overall, Schneider, Greentree, Morrow, Emery, etc. First choice would be Jason Robertson IMO, 90-100 point player with high defensive outcomes. Does 5th overall, Schneider, Greentree get you him? I don’t think so but let’s say it does, then. You also have to extend him for 8 years, $13-15M in AAV
2. Keep Vincent Trocheck. It is a baron C market. Although he’s about to turn 33, and cashing in now while his value is the highest it probably will ever be again makes sense. There isn’t a better C on the free agent market to be 3C, and it allows you to move Laba to 4C. Giving you a really solid spine in Zibs-JT-Tro-Laba
3. In reality, you’d like to add 2 more wings to the Top 9. If you’re trying to win a Cup, Cuylle should be on Line 3 and Kartye should be on Line 4. See below
4. Mason Marchment would make some sense on Line 3, next to Cuylle and Trocheck. You will have to overpay for him but he’s above average for 3rd liner. 6 years x $6.5M
5. I’d also shoot for Claude Giroux on a short term deal with a nice AAV. He is still extremely impactful towards winning. Can’t play those 18-20 min deployments anymore, but playing 15-16 min in middle 6 deployments, while still being a great scanner and having defensive impacts. That’ll play for a team going “all in”. 2 years, $7.5M , Mats Zuccarello makes sense here too
6. Just by making your Top 9 competitive, you have spent nearly $26M in cap space. Now you have limited cap space to fix the D. But we’ll find our bargains
7. We’re going to shoot for Nick Blankenburg on a 2 year, $2M AAV. Good puck mover/transition D who tilts the ice. Should play PP2. Can play both sides but we’ll call him RHD3
8. For the left side, my first choice would be Brett Kulak but with all the money we spent, he may be out of our price range. So we go, Matt Grzelcyk, who has history with Sullivan and is one of the most efficient puck movers available. You bring him in at 3 years, around $2.8M per. Can also play PP2
That gives you a lineup, of
Robertson - Miller - Giroux
Lafreniere - Zibanejad - Perreault
Cuylle - Trocheck - Marchment
Kartye - Laba - Raddysh
Edstrom
Gavrikov - Fox
Grzelcyk - Borgen
Robertson - Blankenburg
Iorio
Shesty
Garand
That’s a lot of “ifs” but this realistically would it would take
#NYR