In my last piece, we went over the New York Rangers’ rebuild and what did and didn’t work and how it led to where the team is today. During the process of the rebuild, the Rangers traded away many of the key players that helped them make runs deep into the playoffs during the 2010s. These players needed to be traded in order to help the team become better in the future and so that they could have another window in which they could compete for the Stanley Cup.
While the rebuild had many ups and downs, there were plenty of players that were traded away that were considered fan favorites. While it hurt to see them go, it was for the best and the Rangers knew it was time to move on. In this piece, we are going to go over four key players that were traded, the return the Rangers received and what happened to those players after they left the team.
Rick Nash
During the 2012 offseason, the Rangers felt that they needed to get an elite scorer to help push them over the top in their quest for the Stanley Cup. They made a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets to acquire Rick Nash. At the time, Nash was one of the top goal scorers in the NHL and the Rangers thought he would be that for them, but that didn’t end up being the case. He had one 41-goal season with the team, but other than that, he scored around 20-25 goals each season and when the Rangers entered their rebuild, they knew it was time to move on from him.
After playing in parts of six seasons with the Rangers, Nash was moved to the Boston Bruins prior to the 2018 Trade Deadline. He was traded for a package that included Ryan Spooner, Ryan Lindgren, Matt Beleskey, a 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 seventh-round pick. Nash would play in 11 regular season games, scoring three goals and six points and followed it up with three goals and five points in 12 playoff games. He announced his retirement in early 2019 due to concussions and now, he works for the Columbus Blue Jackets as the special assistant to the general manager.
Ryan McDonagh
The biggest trade of the rebuild came at the 2018 Trade Deadline. The Rangers traded their captain, Ryan McDonagh along with J.T. Miller to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The return they received was subpar and could be seen as one of the worst trades in franchise history. They got Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, Vladislav Namestnikov, a 2018 first-round pick and a 2019 second-round pick. McDonagh, who still had another year left on his deal, solidified a Tampa defense that already had Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev. The Rangers could’ve held onto their captain for another year, but they knew that the trade packages wouldn’t be the same and traded him early and it could be seen as one of the biggest mistakes of the rebuild.
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McDonagh played five seasons with the Lightning, ended up winning two Stanley Cups and was one of their most important players during their Cup runs. The Lightning eventually traded him to the Nashville Predators due to lack of cap space. He spent two seasons with the Predators and earlier this offseason, he was traded back to Tampa and now, he will look to try and win a third Stanley Cup with a Lightning team without Steven Stamkos at the helm.
J.T. Miller
The other player who was moved in the big trade with the Lightning was Miller. He was a first-round pick by the Rangers in the 2011 NHL Draft and played parts of six seasons with the team. During that time, he showed great promise that he could potentially be a top-six player in the future. He put up 22 goals and 56 points during the 2016-17 season, which at the time was a career high. However, there were off-ice concerns that he was not mature enough and couldn’t handle the New York lifestyle so, he was moved to Tampa. He played parts of two seasons with the Lightning before he was traded as a cap dump to the Vancouver Canucks.
With the Canucks is where Miller has truly become a star in the NHL. He has become one of their biggest offensive threats and has blossomed into a superstar. He has had three straight seasons of scoring 30 or more goals and just had the first 100-point season of his career with 103. He had 12 points in 13 playoff games and now at age 31, he seems to have matured into a star that the Rangers might regret just throwing into the McDonagh deal seven years ago.
Mats Zuccarello
There is an argument to be made that Mats Zuccarello is one of the most beloved Rangers of all time. He was signed as an undrafted free agent and immediately, became an impact player for the Rangers for many years. He played in parts of nine seasons with the Rangers and for many of those seasons, was the team’s top point-getter. With the rebuild now entering its second year, it seemed as if the writing was on the wall and that Zuccarello was going to be moved even if he didn’t want to and the fans didn’t want him to. Eventually, he was moved to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick and a 2020 third-round pick.
He got injured in his first game with the Stars and played just two regular season games scoring three points. He also played in 13 playoff games scoring four goals and 11 points. He left as an unrestricted free agent that summer and signed with the Minnesota Wild, the team he is still with today. Now entering his sixth season with the Wild, he has become one of their top players and has formed a great duo and friendship with their top star, Kirill Kaprizov. Even though Rangers fans wish he was still on the team, Zuccarello will always have a place in their hearts and minds.
While all of these players made an impact for the Rangers while they were here, they were never going to fit into what the team wanted to do during the rebuild. It was time to move on from that core so a new group could take over and try to bring a Stanley Cup back to New York. While it’s never easy saying goodbye to fan favorites, it was in the best interest of the organization to move on and build for the future.
