Rangers face complicated trade ahead of deadline!

It’s been two weeks since former first round pick (7th overall in 2017) Lias Andersson left the New York Rangers organization and officially demanded a trade from GM Jeff Gorton. On Tuesday, the young forward broke the silence, explaining what pushed him to leave the organization to extensive interview with a local newspaper, the Gothenburg Post, and hockey reporter Johan Rylander.

Rylander now believes that Andersson could have been bullied in New York, based on this exchange, per USA Today. 

“People can say it’s an idiotic decision for my hockey career,” he told Rylander, who translated the interview to English. “But they don’t know the whole truth.”

In the interview with GP, Andersson indicated, “There have been many incidents that have disturbed me.”

Rylander asked Andersson directly if he had been bullied, to which Andersson responded, “I don’t know what to say or what to answer. It’s been tough; that’s it. I will tell you when it’s the right time.”

“I’ve known him since he was a kid, but never seen him so down and taken by the moment,” Rylander told the USA TODAY Network. “He was hesitating a long time when the bullying question was asked.”

While Andersson won’t say much more about the incidents, but it is clear he wants out. However, a trade involving the young forward will be complicated to pull off for the Rangers as explained by Bob McKenzie on TSN’s Insider Trading. 

“The New York Rangers are getting calls on Lias Andersson and they are prepared to trade him before the deadline if they get the right prospect in return. They are less interested in a draft pick, more interested in a prospect but they can afford to be choosy because the second consideration is they are a little concerned that this might send the wrong message if they make a quick trade for Lias Andersson. That message being is if you’re in our system, and you pack up and quit and go home, and we immediately gratify you with a trade, to another organization and a fresh start, does that set a bad precedent for other players? So they can afford to be choosy and they will [be] leading up to the deadline.”

The Rangers don’t want to take the risk to look like a team that will accept anything in return of a player who wants out. Gorton is expected to be patient and clever with this one...