The New York Rangers made some solid additions before the trade deadline this season, and have a strong team heading toward the postseason. According to a recent report, the Rangers had one more deal up their sleeves before it fell through because of events that occurred that were out of their control. The reported deal saw the Rangers almost acquire Alex Barabanov from the San Jose Sharks with retained money on the Sharks’ side, but the Sharks could no longer pull the trade off by the deadline.
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The reason the deal couldn’t go through is that the Sharks decided to make a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights that involved superstar forward Tomas Hertl. The deal saw the Sharks retain 17% of Hertl’s contract for the remaining six seasons of his contract, taking up the last retention slot they had. Every team has three slots to be able to retain contracts, and the Sharks have Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns’ contracts already on the books with retention, now Hertl makes it three.
The deal that would have sent Barabanov to the Rangers involved the Sharks retaining money on Barabanov’s contract. Once the Hertl trade went through, there was almost no way the deal could be completed since it seemed the Rangers weren’t interested in taking on his full remaining contract. The return likely wouldn’t have been huge considering Barabanov’s lack of defensive strength and inconsistent offensive production, but moving him could have added some draft capital and a new prospect to the Sharks’ future.
Instead, the Rangers were able to acquire Alex Wennberg from the Seattle Kraken, Chad Ruhwedel from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nic Petan from the Minnesota Wild, and Jack Roslovic from the Columbus Blue Jackets. These additions are all stronger assets than Barabanov and will bring more value to the team. All the Rangers ended up giving up in exchange for these players was Turner Elson, a conditional 2026 fourth-round pick, a 2024 second-round pick, and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick. All in all, the Rangers had a solid deadline day.
Who Is Barabanov & What’s Next for the Rangers?
Barabanov is a 29-year-old left-shot forward who stands 5-foot-10, 195 pounds from St. Petersburg, Russia. He has 31 goals and 73 assists for 104 points through 198 games throughout his NHL career. This season with the Sharks, he has scored three goals and added seven assists for 10 points through 38 games. His defensive game isn’t strong, but he might have been a decent 13th forward had the Rangers brought him in. Barabanov played in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) before joining the NHL in the 2020-21 season, where he started with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but eventually joined the Sharks.
Over seven seasons in the KHL before making the switch to the NHL, Barabanov played 262 games scoring 62 goals and adding 75 assists for 137 points which comes out to a 0.52 points-per-game average. In his final KHL season before making the change, Barabanov played 43 games with SKA St. Petersburg scoring 11 goals and adding nine assists for 20 points. His rookie NHL season didn’t quite go as planned as he only had one assist through 13 games with the Maple Leafs before he was moved to the Sharks, where they gave him a bigger opportunity to succeed.
With the new additions the Rangers were able to make, they have a team strong enough to make a playoff push this season. They are back in action on Monday (March 11) when they take on the New Jersey Devils.
