Insider believes Rangers seriously contemplating trading two of their top forwards.

Major changes on the horizon for the Rangers.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 6 years ago
Insider believes Rangers seriously contemplating trading two of their top forwards.
Keystone Press

There have been a great deal of rumors circulating around the New York Rangers after a slow start for the franchise in the 2017-2018 National Hockey League regular season. 

Those rumors took on a extra degree of severity on Tuesday however when Sportsnet insider Elliote Friedman made comments that would lead you to believe that the Rangers may be considering something that resembles a rebuild.

“I think the Rangers be will an interesting one," said Friedman as per Fanrag's Chris Nichols. "I think they’re an organization that is willing to tear – I don’t know if tear it down is the right word, but they want to add prospects. They’re really excited about the two guys they drafted last year in the first round. Chytil, the one in the American Hockey League, looks really good. They’ve got a goalie in Russia who they’re really excited about. I think they look at it like, ‘We need to add young pieces.’

The Rangers have mortgaged their future in a lot of ways in recent seasons as they made moves that facilitated a number of deep playoff runs, however now it appears that the organization may be looking to sell some of their biggest assets. Specifically Friedman points to forwards Rick Nash and Chris Kreider.

“So I think the Rangers are going to be fascinating to watch between now and the end of the season. I think at some point in time Nash will be traded. And I think they’re going to have a lot of questions about a guy like Kreider."

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Both players carry significant cap hits with Kreider counting for $4,625,000 against the cap and Nash counting for $7.8 million against the cap, so there would likely have to be some money coming back the other way in any trade the Rangers make. Perhaps that money could even come in the form of a bad contract if the Rangers are seriously looking to stockpile assets for the future. 

In the case of Nash the move would likely see him traded as a rental, however a deal for Kreider who has two additional seasons on his contract could net the Rangers a significant return.

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