Alexander Wennberg has been traded to the New York Rangers

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.

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.