3/19/22 | 9PM: Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts on Hockey Night in Canada that the Rangers are one of the teams in competition with the Maple Leafs for Mark Giordano and that the Rangers, Boston and Colorado have been interested in Andrew Copp of Winnipeg.
3/18/22 | 8:51PM: Arthur Staple writes that neither Phil Kessel or Max Domi are believed to be at the top of the Rangers list for a forward, but that either could be had “for a relatively low cost.” (The Athletic)
He says that the Rangers are still in play for Giordano, but not at the cost of a first round pick. He adds that the Hampus Lindholm from Anaheim would be a “long, long shot.” (The Athletic)
7:53PM: Larry Brooks writes that Marc Giordano is believed to be the Rangers “target” for help on defense. (NY Post)
3:56PM: On 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman was previewing the Rangers ahead of Monday’s trade deadline and said of Chris Drury, “he got Vatrano. I like Vatrano, Vatrano ran out of room in Florida simply because of roster and cap space, it’s not like he’s a bad player. I still think he’s in on all the left hand D and I heard he made a pitch for Radulov.”
Friedman added, “This is a go for it year for the Rangers, I think they are also looking at players that don’t jam up their cap anymore for next season, they’ve got some things they need to deal with there, so I think they are going to look at some more rentals.” (32 Thoughts Podcast)
Frank Seravalli said “The Rangers have been mostly looking at guys with term because that is what makes sense. They’ve got tons of cap space to play with, I just don’t see them being involved huge in the rental market because it doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense given where they are at.” (Daily Faceoff)
Adam Rotter: Those are two opposite approaches for the Rangers, but I think it’s somewhere in the middle. I think that any player brought in for the top-six or on defense would be a rental. The Rangers do have a ton of cap space this year, but most of it goes away starting next year when Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox’s new contracts kick in. Kaapo Kakko needs a new contract, the Rangers will need a new back up goalie and a huge chunk of that cap space will go towards Ryan Strome’s new contract or his replacement’s new contract. That is why adding someone with term or a pending RFA is a risk for the Rangers and why it’s more likely that they are looking at the rental market.
I don’t doubt that the Rangers are also investigating players signed past this year, but I think the Rangers would need to move some money out in that deal and I don’t know how much they ant to mess with their current roster.