2/21/19 | 10:21AM: Pierre LeBrun tweets that teams interested in Ottawa’s Mark Stone are now starting to call the Rangers a bit more.
7:30PM: Larry Brooks writes that contract talks between the Rangers and both Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello have gone “nowhere.” (NY Post)
He says that Mats Zuccarello is seeking 5-years on a new contract and Kevin Hayes is seeking 6-7 years. Brooks notes that it’s unlikely that either player will return as a free agent this summer and that they will likely be able to get their desired term on the open market. (NY Post)
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2/20/19 | Bob McKenzie was on NBCSN on Wednesday and said:
- “Rangers are continuing to get a lot of action on their potential rentals, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello and Adam McQuaid and right now it’s fair to say that more likely than not that all three of them will be traded by Monday. There seems to be a fair amount of action on all of them.”
- “The sense seems to be that Hayes can fetch a first round pick and prospect.”
- “Zuccarello could fetch a 2nd round pick and prospect.”
- McQuaid could fetch, potentially, a third round pick.”
- “These are very fluid situations and right now it seems like all of the focus of the Rangers is on trying to trade those players. That is not to say that if they don’t like what is on the table for any of them that they couldn’t go back to each of their reps and see if they could fashion a contract extension but right now all the focus is on trying to trade these guys and those prices are what the Rangers are hopeful, optimistic and expecting to get.”
Adam Rotter: These are the prices that have been expected for a while and they are pretty similar to the returns that the Rangers got last year for rentals Rick Nash, Michael Grabner and Nick Holden. Many have asked why Hayes is going to net more than Zuccarello and it’s because of his position, style of play and size. He’s also one of only two potential top-six centers available, next to Matt Duchene, and size is still a big commodity come playoff time. There have been more rumblings as of late that the Rangers may be able to get a first rounder for Zuccarello but that depends on what happens with Mark Stone, Artemi Panarin and Wayne Simmonds. There is no indication, yet, that the Rangers are close to trading any of them so it will be interesting to see who suits up against the Wild tomorrow.