New York Rangers: To Trade Or Not To Trade?

The New York Rangers have become victims of their own prosperity. I sometimes wonder if it would be better if the Rangers had the budget and assets of a small market club, as then they couldn’t afford to meet the astronomical salary demands of would-be saviors.

With a salary cap of $56.8M, the Rangers have only $312K remaining. This has become common knowledge and has been written about extensively. The current payroll situation of the Rangers will determine their trade deadline strategy. And that strategy is perhaps to make no trades at all.

The temptation would be to try to acquire Ilya Kovalchuk from Atlanta at the trade dealine this March. Kovalchuk is a big, strong, fast, and tough player that scores loads of goals. Atlanta seem to have no chance of re-signing him, and will try to get as much as possible for the franchise cornerstone they are about to lose. The Rangers should definitely RESIST this temptation. The price for Kovalchuk is simply too high. Atlanta has already asked the LA Kings for Jack Johnson, and a laundry list of young prospects. The Rangers cannot afford to trade away their developing young talent at this stage. Even if the Rangers could get Kovalchuk without completely mortgaging the future, they would be in the same predicament with the salary cap that is inhibiting their trade options. Also, Kovalchuk's contract would still expire at the end of the season.

If Kovalchuk isn’t traded either by the trade deadline or at this Summer’s draft, he will become an unrestricted free agent. The Rangers don’t have blockbuster free agent cash or cap room at this stage, so it’s my belief that the Kovalchuk to the Rangers scenario is a dead issue with the Rangers’ current payroll configuration.

No GM in the NHL with any sense left is going to go anywhere near the bloat-tastic salaries of the New York Rangers' Chris Drury, Michael Roszival, or Wade Redden. No one in the NHL is taking on players of that salary, even players who are relatively young AND producing.

Any player young enough and skilled enough to be an interesting trade option for the New York Rangers is likely to demand too much salary, and that player’s club will demand far too many of the Rangers young prospects and/or draft picks in return.

The situation between the Rangers' cap bloat and a string of poor results is quickly approaching a flashpoint. Approaching a flashpoint much as it did a year ago when then head coach Tom Renney was fired. Clearly there will be changes in personnel. The question is: Will it be players moving on, or management or both? At this point it looks like both the jobs of coach John Tortorella and general manager Glen Sather are in serious jeopardy. Something must break.

The answer to the Rangers problems may lie within the organization...

Drury produces respectable numbers for a player making half his salary. Therefore, something must be done about it. Drury has a no movement and a no trade clause in his contract. Therefore he can’t be sent to the minors to clear cap room, and he can’t be traded without his consent. Even if Drury gave his consent, it is debatable that any teams would have him at a $7.05M cap hit. There is an additional wrinkle in that Drury is the captain of the team. Therefore the club has no room to maneuver without Drury’s consent. It would seem that the Rangers and Drury are stuck with each other until 2012.

Hope is not lost though. The Rangers have a number of prospects waiting in the wings at their Hartford AHL affiliate. Though it might be debatable whether or not these young players are ready for the NHL, it would appear the Rangers have cornered themselves into accelerating their development.

If the Rangers send Wade Redden, and Michael Roszival to the Hartford Wolf Pack, that would free up $11.5M in the salary cap. They would have to clear waivers, but I doubt that any other NHL club could afford to take on their salaries. The alternative would be to continue on as it stands, rewarding players who produce subpar results with first team places until 2012 for Roszival, and/or 2014 for Redden. The status quo isn’t working, and the Rangers’ management is in a position where it must either send a clear message that failure to produce results will result in serious consequences, or the club will surely be forced into firing, or calling for the resignations of Tortorella and Sather.

Defensemen Bobby Sanguinetti and Ilkka Heikkinen have spent some time this year with the Rangers and acquitted themselves reasonably well. Although they would lack the experience and seasoning of Roszival and Redden, the Rangers might gain an edge in speed, grit, and enthusiasm by promoting Sanguinetti, and Heikkinen.

The newfound cap space could be used to sign or trade for four or five players of essentially the same quality that Roszival and Redden are currently displaying. Perhaps the open cap space could be used to promote Corey Locke who is leading the Hartford Wolf Pack with 19 goals and 53 total points. Locke cannot be promoted until cap space is cleared or until another player is demoted to Hartford to open enough cap room. Hartford’s Dale Weise and P.A. Parenteau have also shown an ability to score goals.

Another problem has been the Rangers lack of toughness. The Rangers lack an enforcer that strikes fear into the hearts of the NHL’s evil-doers. The attempts of Donald Brashear, and Aaron Voros to fill this void have been less than convincing. Both players should be sent down to Hartford, or traded. Perhaps Dane Byers from Hartford, who has also spent time this year in a Rangers sweater could become a tough guy that might actually score a goal or two. Weise and Devin DiDiomete might also lend some toughness, and Weise can actually score goals as he has 15 already for Hartford this season.

Winger Ales Kotalik has at times produced, but more often that he scores goals, he creates goals for the opposition with his propensity to turn the puck over at the worst possible times, and in the worst possible areas of the ice. He makes $3M/year. If they must trade someone, perhaps a solution is Kotalik to a team for a draft pick. At this point, even a third round choice would be meaningful in return for Kotalik.

There is another far less attractive option to opening cap space. The Rangers can admit their mistake of overpaying Drury, Roszival, and Redden and buyout the remainder of their contracts for the purposes of releasing them. This may not even be possible depending on how leveraged the Rangers already are against the sale value of the club.

If Drury, Roszival, and Redden wanted to truly demonstrate their commitment to win to their teammates they can request that their contracts be restructured to open cap space. I wouldn’t hold my breath for that though, as why should they give up anything they have earned so far? Just to help an organization that can’t mind it’s own finances? Not likely.

It must be pointed out that the aforementioned players are good players. The fact of the business of professional hockey is that in the absence of positive results, changes must be made. The worse the Rangers results, the closer the club is to making changes with player personnel and/or with management personnel. Finger-pointing must end. Results must be achieved. It is my belief that the Rangers would be best served by completing the rebuild that was started when Enver Lisin, Artem Anisimov, Matt Gilroy, and Michael Del Zotto made the first team last Fall. Potential talent must be tested to see if it is actual talent. Grumpy and disruptive elements must be moved on or sent down.

Currently the Rangers are teetering at the edge of qualification for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Should Atlanta win their match today against Philadelphia, the Rangers will fall into 9th place, just outside the qualification zone. Although the Rangers have 28 games left to play, their current form of three wins in their last ten games doesn’t inspire confidence.

Should the Rangers fail to make the playoffs, or make the playoffs and crash out in the first or second round, Rangers supporters and fans would hope a severe reckoning awaits both players and management at the end of play this year.