Everyone was wrong about the New York Rangers. While everyone (including us) expected them to be a playoff team the Rangers have since “flown the white flag”. By that we mean they sent their fans a note that signified a “retool” (aka a diet rebuild). Rangers fans should be tired of these letters, whenever they come out nothing good happens. Then again when they play at Madison Square Garden nothing good has been happening either.
With contention out for the question for this season where do the Rangers go from here? Their letter hinted at trading away certain players. All signs point to Artemi Panarin, who is a pending unrestricted free agent and a hot commodity in this year’s free agency class. Considering most other top free agents (Kirill Kaprisov, Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid) already signed extensions to avoid reaching free agency the demand for Panarin only became more competitive. Eager teams might pay a premium to get him for the rest of this season instead of waiting for July 1st.
It’s not a question of if Panarin would generate interest. The question is which suitor would be able to agree on a price with Rangers general manager Chris Drury. There’s the usual suspect Florida Panthers. They already had success with a plug and play high scoring Russian with Vladimir Tarasenko en route to one of their cup championships, Panarin is a better playmaker and can help fill the void of scoring left by the injured Aleksander Barkov. The seemingly resurgent Anaheim Ducks could be a dark horse contender because of Panarin’s previous relationship with head coach Joel Quenneville from their time with the Chicago Blackhawks. Their recent struggles might affect their aggressiveness as buyers.
Whenever there’s a big fish available the Vegas Golden Knights seemingly pop up out of nowhere. Even more surprising is they always find a way to make it happen. Their recent trade for Rasmus Anderson from the Calgary Flames leaves them (potentially) without a first round pick until 2029. You have to imagine that would be a deal breaker for Chris Drury. Like we already said, the Golden Knights always find some way to make things work out, so you can never count them out.
Mika Zibanejad is having a resurgent season. That’s great for his trade value. He’ll have suitors, but Panarin remains the potential crown jewel of Rangers castaways. Zibanejad also has a no movement clause, which he has not yet been asked to waive, and was the last player on the roster from the franchise’s infamous first letter in 2018.
Next thing Drury talked about in his letter where identifying the players to build around. The three that would immediately come to mind are Adam Fox, Igor Shesterkin and Alexis Lafreniere. Shesterkin is elite and the most important position. He and Fox are two of the NHL’s best at their respective positions when healthy (Fox spent time injured).
Lafreniere is sort of the wild card in this scenario. As a former first overall pick there’s extra pressure for him to have success. This is especially true for the Rangers are how they botched Kaapo Kakko’s development and shipped him off for pennies on the dollar to the Seattle Kraken. Lafreniere has been good, but unspectacular (recent 2020 redrafts have him slipping out of the first overall spot). Shipping him off might be slightly embarrassing for the Rangers, but just how much is he worth keeping? How much is he a part of their future.
Complicating this all is the New York market. If there’s one thing New York fans, and Rangers owner James Dolan, aren’t known for it's having patience. Saying “we’re building a contender from the ground up” might be the smartest course of action for most franchises, but New York demands championships yesterday. Considering their last “retool” was less than a decade ago, and the team seemingly squandered this cup window, their fans have more of a reason to be unhappy, even if they are a bit unreasonable.