Despite making only one trade on the actual Trade Deadline day, the New York Rangers have been one of the most active teams regarding trades this season. Since the start of 2024-25, this team has completed eight trades, with many of them having an impact on their NHL roster. These trades will not only have an impact on the team this season but for seasons to come, as this one has been one giant rollercoaster ride full of ups and downs that nobody expected at the start of the campaign. In this piece, we are going to look at the moves the Rangers made this season and how they have impacted the team, how the team needs to perform the rest of the season if they want to make it into the playoffs, and finally, what comes next as an offseason of change is right around the corner.
Who Went Out and Who Was Brought in?
While these first two trades happened in December, they were the start of a busy season full of trades for the Rangers and the start of the reconstruction of the roster going forward. It started when captain Jacob Trouba was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 fourth-round pick. Vaakanainen has played decently enough that he was signed to a two-year extension on deadline day and will likely be part of the defensive core for at least the next two seasons. Getting rid of Trouba was the big positive coming out of the deal, as that freed up $8 million on the cap for this season and next, giving the Rangers much-needed cap space going forward. The next move was Kaapo Kakko being dealt to the Seattle Kraken for Will Borgen, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2025 fifth-round pick. Kakko never reached his full potential, and it is a shame he didn’t work out in New York. But now he is thriving in Seattle, while the Rangers gave Borgen a five-year extension earlier this season due to his good defensive play.
Before getting to the big trade of the season, let’s go over the trades the team made in the days leading up to the deadline. The first move was trading Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Calvin de Haan, Juuso Parssinen, and a 2025 second and fourth-round pick. They moved on from two pending unrestricted free agents (UFAs) who they were not going to bring back and got back two players who can help them now, and they restocked their draft capital. The next move was trading Reilly Smith, who was also a pending UFA, to the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2025 third-round pick and Brendan Brisson. Brisson was a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, but never got a chance in Vegas and will start in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Rangers.
They then used that third-round pick to acquire Carson Soucy from the Vancouver Canucks. He is signed until next season and is a big defensive defenseman who will likely get a chance to play next to Adam Fox when he returns from injury.
The major theme in these trades is that General Manager Chris Drury was not looking to bring in rental players. He wanted guys who could help the team now and for the next few seasons. The biggest move he made to help this team was trading for J.T. Miller from the Canucks in late January. He traded away Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a 2025 conditional first-round pick. Miller has been a player linked back to the Rangers for years now, and Drury finally got the deal done, and it has looked fantastic. Miller has seven goals and 14 points in 12 games, and he has been the game-changer the Rangers were hoping he would be. This team looks much different than it did on opening night a few months ago, and now the push for a playoff spot begins.
What Will the Rest of the Season Look Like?
The Rangers have 20 games remaining this season and will be fighting for a playoff spot the rest of the way. They are currently tied with the Ottawa Senators for the second wild-card spot, but the Senators hold that spot by having a game in hand. Every game down the stretch is going to matter, and this team can’t afford to leave any points on the table. It is not going to be an easy road, as they have one of the tougher schedules to end the season. They have to play 11 games against teams currently in playoff position and six games against teams fighting for the wild-card race in both conferences. All of these games are going to have to be treated like playoff games if you are the Rangers. These teams are going to be fighting for playoff positioning and just to make it in at all.
Related: Rangers Acquire Carson Soucy From the Canucks
Now, an interesting race to watch is for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division. The New Jersey Devils currently hold that spot with 72 points, but the Columbus Blue Jackets are four points behind the Devils, and the Rangers are five points back. With the Devils suffering from a serious amount of injuries to the likes of Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler and with them not making any major trades at the deadline, they are going to have to battle harder than most teams to try and keep their playoff spot because it is not as secure as they once thought. It is going to be a three-way race for that third-place spot in the division, and with the Rangers playing the Blue Jackets two more times and the Devils once, those have now become must-win games in the race for the playoffs.
An Offseason of Change Still Looms
Despite making so many changes to the roster throughout the season, Drury is not done yet and still has more changes in mind when the offseason rolls around. A name that was floated around at the deadline that was not moved was Chris Kreider. He is currently dealing with an injury and has had a down season offensively with just 17 goals and four assists (zero primary assists). He has two more years on his deal at $6.5 million, and he seems very likely to be on the move this summer. According to a report by Vince Mercogliano of Lohud.com, it seems as if the relationship between Kreider and the team has gotten rotten. He wrote, “My sense is that the Rangers are heading toward an eventual split with their longest-tenured player, Chris Kreider.” This would be a major shakeup to the core of the team, as Kreider is seen as a franchise legend, but changes need to be made.
Two other big names to watch this offseason as potential trade pieces are Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. While they both have full no-move clauses in their contracts, it is becoming clearer that they aren’t part of the vision that Drury wants to build the team around going forward. Panarin has one year left on his contract after this season, and will be 34 when the deal is up. He could get the team a major player or multiple pieces in a potential deal. The trickier situation is with Zibanejad, who has been struggling all season to find his offensive game, and while he is doing better since the Miller trade, it doesn’t justify him being bad for the first 50% of the season. He is under contract until the 2029-30 season, and it would be hard to imagine a team wanting to take on his deal as his decline is already underway. If Drury can find a way to move one or both of these players this summer, the core of this team will be changed forever.
While the Rangers didn’t technically make any big splashes on deadline day itself, they have spent all season making trades to improve the team now and for seasons to come. They brought in players who can help them win now and players who are going to be part of the future core they are trying to build. While they may or may not make the playoffs this season, it’s all about what happens beyond this season as this team tries to become Stanley Cup contenders once again.
