The Seattle Kraken have traded center Alex Wennberg to the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 4th round pick. Seattle is retaining 50% of Wennberg's salary in the trade.
Wennberg has put up 9 goals and 16 assists for 25 points in 60 games this season. He will now have a chance at a Stanley Cup, something that would've seemed far-fetched if he would have stayed with Seattle.
For Seattle, it makes sense to move Wennberg since he is in the last year of his contract with a cap hit of 4.5M AAV. The Rangers will be getting a centreman who has seen his numbers go down from a season ago but can still provide offense and be a solid depth piece.
For New York, this is the type of move that real contenders make. Wennberg isn't a flashy acquisition but depth is one of the most important things in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Wennberg will likely center the third line for the Rangers.
Hearing the New York Rangers are closing in on a trade for Kraken center Alex Wennberg.
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) March 6, 2024
The #NYR have acquired Alex Wennberg, as @emilymkaplan reported. They're sending a 2024 2nd and 2025 4th to #SeaKraken and getting Wennberg at 50% retained.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 6, 2024
The Nils Lundkvist angle here is simply that #NYR are flipping the Dallas pick they received for him in the September 2022 trade and the condition was attached to the selection at that time.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 6, 2024
The New York Rangers made a trade to acquire Alex Wennberg from the Seattle Kraken
This is a low-risk high-reward move by the Rangers. If Wennberg performs and is solid in the bottom six in the playoffs, the Rangers could probably bring him back on a cheaper deal during the summer.
The best-case scenario for Wennberg in New York is that his production can jump back up to what it was with Seattle last season. In that campaign, he had 13 goals, 25 assists, and 38 points.
Getting back to that level of production shouldn't be hard, because as a whole the Rangers have more talent in their forward group than Seattle. Wennberg is also a productive defender and is just a solid all-around bottom-six centreman.
Seattle didn't do bad here either. Acquiring two picks for a pending unrestricted free agent is always better than losing the player for nothing. Both teams did well in this trade based on where they are in the standings.