We’ve known for months that there was no company in the market that would make a decisive difference. And we’ve learned over the last 48 to 72 hours that Chris Drury isn’t blinded by the crap he’s selling, or panicked about what’s going on. around him.
The general manager can take advantage of idle chatter like Kaapo Kakko, Brennan Osman, or Will Quill by retaining all of the organization’s top prospects and future first-round picks in 2025, 2026, and 2027. It did no harm to Rangers’ chances of qualifying for the Cup in 2019. Or perhaps multiple first-rounders like Adam Henrique and Jake Guentzel will be sacrificed on the rental altar.
More to the point, I wish Drury would have focused on adding more physicality to the mix, but the Rangers will acquire Alex Wennberg on Wednesday and both Jack Roslovic and Chad Ruhwedel on Friday. We entered the deadline with an even better team than before.
They also did no harm to their chances of winning the Cup in 2024.
It has more depth and more versatility. Roslovic may not be Frank Vatrano…but hey, why can’t a 27-year-old pending free agent repeat the feats of No. 77 in the playoffs with post-acquisitions Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider? By the 2022 deadline?
Roslovic is a good skater, seemingly explosive, sees the ice well and may consider himself a natural center, but the right-handed shooter is more productive on the wing. It would be foolish to expect Roslovic to “unlock” Zibanejad. That’s because number 93 is responsible. But Roslovic needs to complement BFF.
And he came in at the cost of a conditional fourth-round pick in 2026, but a third-round pick if the Blueshirts reach the Cup Final and Roslovic plays at least half of the playoff games. becomes. Nothing was needed to lure Vatrano away from Anaheim. Nothing was needed to acquire Guentzel from Pittsburgh. And whatever wealth it took to drive Pavel Buchnevich out of St. Louis, it wasn’t.
The general managers of those clubs basically asked Drury to make him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Drury decided not to do just Jack Woltz. In retrospect, going with Jack Woltz would have been the ultimate all-in. Not this time…no first-time trade for Anthony Duclair and Keith Yandle.
Carolina may have been better by acquiring Guentzel in a package that seemed kind of light after hours of hype leading up to Thursday’s signing, but acquiring Evgeny Kuznetsov didn’t help at all Maybe. If we’re talking about risk and reward, number 92 represents both well. The Panthers also improved by acquiring Vlad Tarasenko and creating a formidable top nine.
But I don’t think anyone in the East got Butch Goring in 1980, Ron Francis in 1991, or Alex Mogilny in 2000. Vegas, the defending Cup champion, may have added an extra $50 million to the cap, more or less, but the Rangers didn’t have to deal with it until the finals.
If Roslovic takes up the right-wing position, a top-six spot will be confirmed. This means head coach Peter Laviolette will hold a 20-game audition to determine the bottom six teams, starting with Saturday’s game against the Blues at the Garden.
After Adam Edstrom was assigned to the AHL Wolfpack on Friday, Kaapo Kakko will likely move to the third line with Wennberg and Cuill, while Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow will be replaced by either Johnny Brodzinski or Matt Lempe. He will probably skate on the fourth line with Ka.
But the takeaway here is that Laviolette relies on Vesey and Goodrow to utilize the checking unit, as the Blueshirts did Monday against Florida. Quill was on the left side in that game. However, the Blueshirts will want to put Wennberg in the middle of the opposing line. So Goodrow-Wennberg-Vezy added Kakko and Quill to the fourth row? I don’t know about that. But this is what his next five weeks will be about.
I just don’t understand why the Rangers didn’t use Noah Hanifin or Jacob Chychulun. I was surprised that Drury didn’t focus on strengthening the blue line when it became clear upfront that defective products had been unfairly priced. And that was before news broke that Jacob Trouba would be sidelined for up to three weeks with a lower-body injury he likely suffered in Monday’s game against Florida.
However, Trouba will likely be back in the playoffs after a few weeks of rest. Rangers need a great captain. They also need Zibanejad at his best, they need Artemi Panarin to go inside, they need their best players, including Adam Fox, to move up in the playoffs, and of course, they need the team’s goal in goal. They will also need tender Igor Shesterkin. The best.
Wennberg will provide support, Roslovic will fill in the position, and Ruwedel will add depth to the right side of the defence. However, the Rangers’ playoff fate will be determined by the top players. It’s their team. There was no damage Friday.
