Today, the Rangers:
- Traded Vincent Trocheck to Utah for Sean Durzi, Cole Beaudoin and a third round pick
- Acquired defenseman Marcus Pettersson from Vancouver for a Top-10 protected First Round pick in 2030.
- Traded Will Borgen to Boston
- Acquired goalie Joonas Korpisalo
- Signed forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand, Joe Veleno and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo
The Rangers have about $7.7 million in cap space according to CapWages.
Adam Rotter: The Rangers certainly did a lot today, more than I was expecting. The big move was ending the Trocheck saga and landing a top prospect a top-four defenseman. Adding Marcus Pettersson means that with him and Durzi the Rangers have a much better second defense pair behind Vlad Gavrikov and Adam Fox. Moving Will Borgen seemingly means that Braden Schneider will be back but who he plays with between Matthew Robertson, Urho Vaakanainen, Drew Fortescue, newly drafted Alberts Smits, or possibly a free agent, remains to be seen. But the Rangers defense is much better today than it was yesterday.
The addition of Bjorkstrand likely fills out the Rangers top-six. As good as they were as a unit to end last season, it may be worth splitting up Gabe Perreault and Alexis Lafreniere and putting one with Pavel Dorofeyev and the other with Bjorkstrand. JT Miller will likely center the second line after Trocheck was finally moved and newly signed Joe Veleno is best positioned to center the fourth line. Noah Laba should center a third line with Tye Kartye and Will Cuylle.
It’s a big day and sets the Rangers up, on paper, to be a better team heading into next season. The defense is deeper but there are still questions with the forward group. A lot of the Rangers success or lack of success will fall on if Lafreniere and Perreault continue taking steps forward, JT Miller bounces back and if Dorofeyev is the sniper the Rangers are paying him to be. We should also see some of the new prospects push for spots in training camp or at least give us an idea of who may be coming down the line.
Is this a playoff team? I think they should definitely be in the mix for a Wild Card spot….but I also thought that heading into last season.