Rumor: McDonagh on the trading block?!

The New York Rangers are off to a miserable start to the year, sporting a 3-7-2 record and sitting at the bottom of the Metropolitan division.

The blame game can be thrown around everywhere - or excuses can be made for the fact that Kevin Shattenkirk is playing on a top pairing, a role he isn't accustomed to, same with Mika Zibanejad on the top line.

Buying out Dan Girardi and trading away Derek Stepan also created a pretty big shift to the team and they haven't been able to adjust as of yet.

When David Desharnais has more points than Rick Nash, Michael Grabner, Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey, there's a little something wrong.

That being said, Larry Brooks of the New York Post mentioned that Ryan McDonagh could be traded if the ship doesn't right itself soon. The team captain and best defenseman, acquired for Scott Gomez from the Montreal Canadiens back in 2009, has been a steady force for the Rangers and one of the top blueliners in the NHL.

This would be a seismic trade. Given the number of teams in need of a top pairing D, this would bring trade hype levels to a whole new level. That being said, it seems unreal that they'd trade him, but crazier things have happened.

McDonagh has 217 points in 479 games.