Rangers GM Jeff Gorton on the Strome trade (NYR):
- On the trade, “at this time with Spooner kind of being the odd-man out and the opportunity to get someone, we like his versatility, he can play center, he can kill penalties and hopefully when we put him with our group be a better fit.”
- On Strome, “the fact that he can center, wing, PP, PK, take faceoffs, I think he brings a little of everything. With our group right now, having someone that can play in all areas of the game can help us.”
- On him being a former Top 5 pick, “I just spoke to him, really excited about the opportunty to come back this way and play. If you look at our team and our make up and some of the things that he can do, to me there is an opportunity for him to display some of those skills. When you are a top-five pick overall there is a lot of pressure to perform and do certain things and he has been in the league almost 400 games and we know where he fits in but I think he feels and we feel that there is a little bit more of getting to the level we hope he can get to.”
- Where will he play, “We spoke a little bit today with David about that, my sense is to let him get here and see where he is most comfortable. I would think that wing is something we are looking at, we don’t have a lot of right hand shots on the wing. It’s a possibility to be on RW and see where he fits but having a bunch of centers and that flexibility, if someone is waived out you still have someone that can win draws for you on either side. If you look at what he has done for Edmonton he has killed a lot of penalties, done a good job for them. We are looking to use him in all areas.”
- Could he play tomorrow, “it’s possible.”