Rangers pulled out of Jake Guentzel trade on Deadline Day!

At last year’s trade deadline, the New York Rangers pulled blockbuster moves to acquire both star forwards Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko for a deep playoff run.

On Friday, the Rangers had the chance to do it again, being linked to the most coveted forward on the market in Jake Guentzel. Only they backed out due to the asking price as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended up shipping Guentzel, along with Ty Smith, to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for Michael Bunting, Vasily Ponomarev, Ville Koivunen, the rights to forward Cruz Lucius, a conditional 2024 first-round pick, and a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick. The first-round selection will become a second-round pick if the Hurricanes do not advance to the Stanley Cup Final, and the Penguins won’t receive the fifth-round pick unless the Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup.

The Rangers were in the mix until the very end, but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman explained on his 32 Thoughts podcast that New York prioritized their future instead of making a move for Guentzel as they weren’t willing to throw in either one of top prospects Brennan Othmann or Gabe Perreault, which is who the Penguins wanted as the main part of a return.

The Rangers prefer to hold on to two players who could be massive parts of their future, on top of other valuable draft picks and instead made moves to add depth to their roster. They brought in Alex Wennberg, Jack Roslovic, Chad Ruhwedel, and made a minor player transaction with the Minnesota Wild involving Turner Elson for Nic Petan.

While the Hurricanes did win the Guentzel sweepstakes, we could have a tight competition between them and the Rangers, especially if they both make it all the way to the Eastern conference finals.

I guess we will see then which team was the real Trade Deadline winner.

Recommended articles:

• Mike Sullivan sends a message to his team after ugly deadline.
• Sidney Crosby gets real about the Jake Guentzel trade.
• Kyle Dubas implies he knows Penguins are upset with him
• Emotional reaction from GM Kyle Dubas on Penguins’ trade deadline
• Sidney Crosby takes a shot at GM Kyle Dubas following Guentzel trade