3:52AM: Friedman writes that with Malkin staying in Pitt, that Trochek’s best fit is with the Rangers.
12:44AM: Malkin re-signed in Pitt for four years at $6.1 million per.
7:02PM: Elliotte Friedman writes at Sportsnet that Vincent Trochek could be an option for the Rangers or for the Penguins as they replace Evgeni Malkin’s spot in the lineup.
Brian Lawton said on Kyper and Bourne that Trochek is looking for “north of $5 million.”
It was reported yesterday that Malkin intends to test free agency after he and the Penguins couldn’t agree on a contract extension.
Darren Dreger said on TSN that “for the right fit and opportunity to win” Malkin is “willing to consider a shorter term” contract.
Trocheck is from Pittsburgh and spends his offseasons there.
Friedman said on Monday that some people are linking Nazem Kadri to the Rangers.
Larry Brooks writes in the NY Post that the Rangers continue to be linked to Kadri and says that they can accommodate a long-term deal for him if they facilitate a deal where he signs with another team and is then traded to the Rangers with that team retaining 50% of his cap hit.
Arthur Staple writes that Kadri is believed to be looking for a seven-year deal worth more than $7 million per season. (The Athletic)
Friedman added that the Rangers focus has been on trying to maintain as much cap flexibility as they can as they evaluate their options.
It’s expected that both Andrew Copp and Ryan Strome will become free agents tomorrow.
Mike Rupp said on NHL Network “I’m not ruling out what I think the Rangers may do. What we saw from the Kid Line in the playoffs, Chytil, Lafreniere, Kakko. They were so good and Chris Drury is so patient. I could see him starting the season and being like ‘hey, the three of you may not be together on the Kid line again, your going to get top-six opportunities. Be ready at camp and if you take advantage of that, it’s yours.’ Maybe Filip Chytil can use this playoffs as springboard to be in that spot. If they do that and they have those guys and a couple of those guys hit and be consistent top-six forwards, think of what that gives them elsewhere to fill out there lineup. Regardless of it happens now or trade deadline, I think the Rangers are going to do something big. The only other one that pops up, we’ve put a lot of attention on 2C…Patty Kane would come in and with Artemi Panarin, you don’t need a second line “center. You don’t need a prototypical number two center when you’ve got those offensive drivers from the wing. That could be another option for the Rangers.”
Stu Grimson said on NHL Network, “I don’t think anybody, from Rangers ownership on down would be content to let a number 2C spot sit open like that when there are the likes of Trochek, Kadri out there to fill that hole and in a remarkable way, assuming if you can make the cap space work.”
Grimson also said that Nashville is interested in Copp.
Adam Rotter: All of the potential centers (Strome, Copp, Kadri, Trocheck) seem like they are going to get priced out from the Rangers or want too many years. Kadri would be a great fit as a physical, agitating veteran scorer that just won the Stanley Cup, and it’s an interesting concept for a team to retain half his salary, but the cost for someone like Chicago, Arizona or someone else to take on 6-7 years seems like it would be astronomical. There are always bad contracts that those teams, or other struggling teams, can acquire to get to the cap floor with 1-2 years left on them. To saddle someone with 6-7 years of real money seems like it would cost some combination of multiple first rounders, Kaapo Kakko, Nils Lundkvist, Filip Chytil. It just seems unlikely, but maybe it’s worth it to the Rangers and they make it worth it, with assets, to the other team.
Malkin is interesting as well, but only in a specific kind of deal. If he is still looking for four years, as he reportedly was from Pittsburgh, the Rangers probably aren’t a fit. If Malkin is willing to consider a one or maybe two-year deal that, because he is over 35, can be incentive laden, and he wants to stick it to the Penguins, the Rangers may be a fit. But if he’s willing to go with that kind of deal then just about everyone, especially somewhere like Colorado since they are losing Kadri, become potential landing spots. It would be a real specific kind of deal, but there would be a way to make it work for the Rangers and still maintain at least long-term flexibility.
Malkin isn’t who he was and he struggled/was a non-factor for large parts of the Rangers win over the Penguins, but he’s a veteran, a 3x Stanley Cup winner, still a productive player, someone that would probably work really well with Artemi Panarin and be sufficiently motivated to beat his former team. He is injury prone, missed the first part of last season after major knee surgery and it would be very odd to see him in a Rangers jersey, but it might be worth the risk if he is amendable to a very specific kind of deal. If he wants to cash-in/max everything out then it won’t work, but if he really wants to stick it to the Penguins and play for a contender then it might work.
Trocheck is going to get a lot of interest and will probably get the same kind of deal that Strome is going to get. So unless the Rangers view Trocheck as a big upgrade, I don’t think the fit is going to be there.
While center is the Rangers biggest need, it’s hard to think about how they might use their cap space without also thinking about Patrick Kane. Kane is in the last year of his deal and Chicago seems to be egging him on to request a trade since they are preparing to tank in a big way the next few years. Because he’s Patrick Kane, because it’s the Rangers and because of his past success and friendship with Artemi Panarin, a lot of people wonder about and connect Kane and the Rangers. Could the Rangers acquire Kane and then just slot anyone in the middle between him and Panarin? It’s a non-story, that gets punted to next summer when he’s a free agent, if he doesn’t request a trade, but a lot of what is appealing about Malkin is the same with Kane.
It’s also very possible that by late afternoon tomorrow the Rangers will let everyone else sign and then return to the trade route to fill the spot behind Mika Zibanejad. It seems unlikely, though not impossible, that the Rangers decide to go into next season with Filip Chytil in that role, but I don’t think that is Chris Drury or Gerard Gallant’s preference.