12/3/24 | Emily Kaplan said on ESPN that “management has felt for a while that their record is deceiving and that is why Chris Drury did send out that memo to his other GMs that Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba were available via trade. That really seemed to rattle the team and you see a team that is really disjointed right now. The other thing is, it’s going to be really hard to trade either of those players in-season, those just aren’t easy trades to make. Everyone is trying to keep it together, put on their face and I do think that Chris Drury is still having a lot of conversations. Kaapo Kakko is the one player I think that is generating the most interest right now. This is a team with expectations and they aren’t meeting those expectations and on a team owned by Jim Dolan, when that happens, if he gets involved it often means a major shakeup, so lets keep an eye on the situation.”
12/2/24 | Elliotte Friedman said on The Fan Hockey Show on Monday that “yes, I think absolutely” teams would be interested in Trouba but other factors like his contract, whether the Rangers would retain salary or would Trouba be willing to go to that team come into play.
He added “the fact is, at it’s base, if you told teams that Trouba was available there would be a ton of interest but there is a big difference between a ton of interest” and then actually trying to complete a deal.
Friedman also said “the one thing that I always wonder about for this now is the involvement of the owner. Jim Dolan, once he decides something its really difficult to change his mind if not impossible. And if some of this is coming at his directive then it’s very hard to change his mind and say that we aren’t doing that. I just know that in the aftermath of the last week people are wondering what, if anything, is the owners involvement in this.”
11/30/24 | Elliotte Friedman said on 32 Thoughts today that the “blowback” to all that was going on with the Rangers this week that they wanted to “tone down the heat and just pause before they jumped into anything really too intense or that they might later regret. Things kind of cooled down a bit.”
11/28/24 | At TSN, Darren Dreger said “lots of teams are swirling around Chris Drury and the Rangers beyond what has been speculated this week with the news of Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba being available. I’m told Kaapo Kakko’s name has resurfaced. It’s not like the Rangers are going to give this guy away, they drafted him second overall in 2019, ice time is a bit of an issue, Kakko probable wants a fresh start, but again, if they are trading out pieces like that then the return is going to have to be exactly what the New York Rangers are looking for, but undoubtedly, there is interest there.”
11/25/24 | Earlier today, Elliotte Friedman tweeted that following the Rangers loss to the Oilers on Saturday the team has “made it very clear they are interested in making moves and shaking up their roster.”
Friedman added that Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider, among others, were names being mentioned.
Emily Kaplan tweeted that Kreider and Trouba being mentioned is about “message sending” and that “no one should feel complacent” on the Rangers.
Arthur Staple and Peter Baugh write at The Athletic that Drury let the other GMs know he was “open” to a trade and that Kreider and Trouba were named specifically.
The Rangers did call up Brett Berard on Sunday and Matt Rempe, to replace an injured Chris Kreider, today.
Adam Rotter: A lot of this seems like it’s meant to send a message to the locker room that stature and role on the team won’t matter or stand in the way of a trade if the Rangers find one to make. But there is also an element of Drury attempting, or at least signaling, that he is looking to try and make the move(s) he was unable to make over the summer.
We knew over the summer that the Rangers were trying to move Jacob Trouba for salary cap space. That space was intended both for the Igor Shesterkin/Alexis Lafreniere/K’Andre Miller contracts but also to allow the Rangers to make upgrades and likely find a big-time player to play next to Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Instead the Rangers didn’t/couldn’t move Trouba, Reilly Smith was acquired and the Rangers came into this season mostly the same team as last season. That hasn’t worked so far this season and Chris Drury seems like he is trying to be proactive, or at least showing he is willing to be proactive, when it comes to making a move.
He has taken the easiest steps so far in bringing up Brett Berard and Matt Rempe but that isn’t going to fix the defensive issues. Those two, if they are here to stay, will bring energy, some more physicality and just a different look up front. The forwards should get a jolt and maybe that energy spills over and they backcheck harder, close gaps and improve defensively. That is a pretty big stretch, but more energy should hopefully improve everything. The two of them aren’t saviors but they will hopefully create a jolt of sorts offensively. Brennan Othmann would be an option but he’s been hurt in Hartford.
Moving Chris Kreider, especially in-season, would be an enormous and risky move. I’ve never gotten the sense that the Rangers have been serious about moving Kreider, but he doesn’t have a no-move clause and that provides flexibility. I’m not even sure what a move for Kreider in-season would cost. In the offseason, when more teams have cap space, a Kreider deal could take many different shapes. In-season, with cap space limited, it would seem like it would need to be a hockey trade/dollar in-dollar out kind of move. That doesn’t even touch on the role Kreider has as a leader and mentor in the locker room and also his ability to play in front of the net. He has to be an option since the Rangers are limited by trade protections on other players, but I think a Kreider move is unlikely and his name being out there is likely just to open up conversations or send a message. He’s a core guy, a longtime Ranger and his name being out there, even if a move is unrealistic, is a big deal. I’m not sure how he’ll respond to his name being out there, again, at least theoretically, but he does need to play better.
Trouba of course is a different story. He still seems like he holds a big role as a leader, but it’s hard to know how that has changed after last summer’s rumors and also what seems like continued struggles on the ice. The Rangers remain limited in what they can do with Trouba because of his no-trade clause and if he were to be moved in-season I think the Rangers would need to retain salary and I don’t know how much of an appetite the Rangers have for that past this season. The biggest thing they can realistically do to Trouba is shift him to the third pair permanently.
Kaapo Kakko is another name that has been rumored about in the past but he’s been one of the more effective Rangers this season, especially with Filip Chytil and Will Cuylle. He’s also on a cheap contract so moving him won’t get the Rangers as much cap space as Kreider or Trouba or likely a return that would make a real difference. Other than that, Ryan Lindgren is on an expiring deal but the biggest potential shakeup could be a trade of K’Andre Miller. He continues to show flashes of his potential as a top-pairing defenseman but he’s just not consistent enough. He’s going to get a big contract and moving him would get the Rangers out of that. But who replaces Miller or Lindgren? You can make any move you want to shake up the team, but what is coming back in return that keeps the Rangers as a potential Stanley Cup contender? Maybe this is just a message or maybe Drury is serious about making a move to shake things up. They can make it easier on him to stay put if they string together a winning streak and show they can be who we think they are.