It’s clear that, despite a retool, the New York Rangers want to make the playoffs next season.. While the Metropolitan Division has not been particularly threatening in recent years outside of the Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes, there is still exciting hockey across the intense rivalries, none bigger than Rangers/Islanders. Believe it or not, the Rangers can learn from the Islanders, specifically what not to do when trying to retool. As one wrong move could derail the whole thing, as it may have already happened for the Islanders.
When the Islanders hired Mathieu Darche as their new GM, I thought it was a terrific change of pace following the tumultuous tenure of Lou Lamiorello. Darche lucked into the first overall pick Matthew Schaefer, then made some wise maneuvers, selling high on Noah Dobson and leaning on the right players to succeed. Unfortunately for Darche, that was the easy part.
While some of Darche’s free agent moves didn’t work out (Jonathan Drouin, Anthony Duclair), the Islanders surprisingly found themselves in the playoff race at the trade deadline. The Rangers would absolutely love to be in a similar position this upcoming season. Armed with cap space and a desire to make a push, the Islanders traded a first round draft pick as part of a deal to acquire Brayden Schenn from the St. Louis Blues. The logic was that Schenn would provide veteran expertise and strong second-line center play for a team making a push. It was a reward for the team doing better than expected.
It was also the exact type of move I am terrified of Chris Drury making. This is where the Rangers can learn from the Islanders on what not to do.
Schenn is an aging piece that is at best a win-now player, but at worst a past-his-prime player that does more harm than good. Sound familiar? That’s the archetype Chris Drury so often goes after. The Islanders felt comfortable making the move because they wanted to keep making a push. Given Drury’s rocky record of late, if the Rangers are in a similar position, there’s no doubt they would consider a win-now move to help push them over the hump. After all, it does seem to be playoffs or bust for Drury as he clings to his job.
Where the Islanders went wrong is they went for an older player with less to give. First round picks are valuable because once you trade one, you can’t trade it again. If the Rangers are in a similar position, I’d hope they’d only trade such a pick for a young player who’s still improving. It’s not about moving the pick, it’s about moving the pick in the right trade. The Rangers can learn from the Islanders–and frankly, themselves–by simply holding onto assets like this until the right trade comes along.
On the bright side, the Rangers already moved two fist round picks for Pavel Dorofeyev, a young dynamic scorer. They moved another first round pick for Marcus Pettersson, which is a significantly riskier move since Pettersson is 30 years old. Schenn is 5 years older than Pettersson and also carried some term. Hopefully that’s the last move like this Drury makes, and hopefully the Rangers can learn from the Islanders, and again themselves, to not do this again. But again on the bright side, Pettersson is still solid and has history with the coach, unlike Schenn.
The Islanders also took on the contract of Ondrej Palat in hopes of rehabilitating his play and having him help their push as well. This also proved to be futile, as Palat was horrendous to finish out the season. That move cost them prospect Maxim Tsyplakov.
It’s not necessarily the cost, it’s the fact that once you move an asset, you can’t move it again. The Rangers can learn to simply value the right type of player and move critical assets for those pieces.
Again, the Rangers have cap room and Drury has a love for “been there before” kind of players. The Rangers cannot let themselves fall into the same traps that the Islanders did. If the Rangers are succeeding, it will be because Drury hasn’t made moves like Darche did at the deadline last year. Here’s hoping the Rangers can learn from the Islanders and Drury doesn’t make similar mistakes.
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