This second part of State of the Rangers is solely focused on possible transactions the Rangers may or may not make between now and the trade deadline on February 28th. I've posted on twitter that I think Sather needs to explore whether or not Don Maloney out in Phoenix is interested in trading long time Coyotes captain Shane Doan to the Rangers. I'm convinced that Doan is the only player that can immediately come in and contribute in a way that can take the Rangers to where they want to go and that is a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If Doan decides to waive his NMC and accept a trade, he would come as a rental as it seems he has little interest in retiring anywhere else but the Coyotes organization or whatever they call themselves after their inevitable move coming in the next year or two. The Rangers knowing this will have to give up very little, perhaps no more than a mid-level prospect in the Rangers farm system and a conditional draft pick. Acquiring him is low-risk, high reward and something that in my opinion, the Rangers should strongly consider.
Obviously other names have been thrown around such as Bobby Ryan who has been dangled as trade bait, but Anaheim is going to demand a team to possibly overpay to get him and that's something the Rangers have little interest in doing. In a scenario involving the Rangers, if I were Anaheim's GM, I would probably want at least a package of Stepan, a high level prospect whether it would be Kreider or McIlrath and a high draft selection. As a side note, the Ducks were VERY interested in taking McIlrath as a heir apparent to Chris Pronger after losing him in a trade with the Flyers before the 2009-10 season. Anaheim was strongly considering selecting McIlrath at 12, but took Cam Fowler instead when the Rangers drafted McIlrath with the 10th pick.
Coming into this season the Rangers blueline was considered a position a strength and one of the deepest in the league. Unfortunately the Rangers have been decimated by injury along their blueline with Marc Staal, Mike Sauer, Steve Eminger and Jeff Woywitka all out for large portions of the season already with various injuries. The Rangers acquired Tim Erixon from Calgary in the offseason but showed the Rangers early on that he wasn't quite ready to be in the NHL but is currently playing well for the Rangers AHL affiliate Connecticut Whale.
Enter Shea Weber and Ryan Suter of the Nashville Predators. Both are in the final years of their contracts and have been heavily rumored in trade talks are a while now. While I'm a little less certain as to what the Predators will want for these two all-stars, I'm sure Nashville won't give them away. The Predators may be looking to unload either or of these two defensemen in exchange for scoring and perhaps a little cap room. (as if they didn't already have enough) In a situation with the Rangers, a proposal possibly centered around Brandon Dubinsky, a draft pick or two may get it done, however with the Rangers top offensive talent in the junior and college ranks ready to emerge on the big stage, it may be something the Rangers may explore. With the Rangers on top of the NHL standings messing with the offensive chemistry is probably a bad idea, but having a Shea Weber or Ryan Suter in blue for the upcoming playoff push would be nice. But in this writers' opinion, the Predators would be crazy to trade one of these guys.
Other names that have been bounced around have been Ales Hemsky (EDM), Jeff Carter (CBJ), Teemu Selanne (ANA), Derek Roy (BUF), Paul Stastny (COL), Dustin Brown (LA), Zach Parise (NJ) and countless others. But it's also been said the moves that you don't make are the best ones. The Rangers got to where they are now without making any big moves, with the exception of Brad Richards, but you can also say that the signing Richards has opened the scoring for guys like Callahan and Gaborik, as teams now have to choose whether they want their top defensemen going against Richards or Gaborik on separate lines. While it's more likely that Sather will probably sit on his hands on deadline day and not do anything major, you have to figure that Sather will be taking phone calls from various parties as the deadline gets closer. One hopes that he will only make trades that not only won't compromise the #1 Rangers now but also won't hinder the very immediate and very bright future of this hockey team.
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