The approach to the March 3 trade deadline that will arrive 13 games, three weeks and four days after the Rangers resume the schedule on Monday must address deficiencies exposed and lessons learned in last year’s defeat by Tampa Bay in the conference finals.
When general manager Chris Drury reviews those final four games in which the Blueshirts recorded a total of one goal at five-on-five, he will be reminded that his team could neither get to the net nor win its fair share of the 50-50 battles that are almost always determinative when push comes to shove, as it inevitably does in the tournament.
Does Patrick Kane sound like the individual who would solve that issue that represents two sides of the same coin?
I first brought up the possibility of dealing for the Chicago winger in December of 2021. Given Kane’s history with Artemi Panarin for No. 10’s first two seasons in the league in Chicago, it seemed natural. But that was when Kane would have been available for two playoff runs and one full season. That was also when Panarin and sympatico center Ryan Strome were humming and Kane’s addition would have been as seamless as possible.
A year later, however, Kane is a one-and-done as a pending unrestricted free agent. A year later, Kane at age 34 is having a bad year in a depressing situation, though there has been an uptick in production the last dozen games. A year later, Panarin is trying to fit in on the left with Mika Zibanejad after having all sorts of problems jelling with Vincent Trocheck.
Would Zibanejad be able to accommodate learning how to play with Kane, too, down the stretch while he is still learning how to play with Panarin? Or would the late-date attempt at constructing a Super Line create too many obstacles and distractions?
And if the Rangers are able to pull off a deal for Kane at a $5.25 million cap obligation that represents a 50 percent markdown, would that be all they could do? Would Drury have assets left to deal and space reserved for other additions?
Broadway is about names above the marquee. A three-time Cup winner with a Hart Trophy, a Conn Smythe, 52 playoff goals and 439 in the regular season, Kane would qualify for that billing. But is he the missing link? Before you answer that one, where does he fit on the first power-play unit?
And would Kane’s presence make the Rangers more formidable in the trenches? Would he make them a physically tougher and harder opponent against which to play? These are pertinent questions.
Another is this: after 16 seasons in Chicago with the only organization with which he has ever been affiliated, would the post-deadline slate of 20 games give Kane enough time to adapt to an entire new hockey life? Remember, when Marty St. Louis came to the Rangers after close to a lifetime in Tampa Bay, he scored one goal in 19 games.
According to the good folks at CapFriendly, if the Rangers maintained their current roster, they would first have enough space to get Kane at 50 percent on Feb. 19. A deal that day would give the winger and the team an additional six games — 26 in all — with which to coalesce before the playoffs.
This sure is no slam-dunk move. The Rangers are not in the position of being one piece away that would justify sending an expensive dowry the other way. But the concept remains tantalizing. And it will be as long as Kane — who has a no-move clause that would allow him a trade to New York under the condition the Rangers do not gut themselves to acquire him — is available.
Vladimir Tarasenko surely is a possible target on the rental market as a top-six winger while pending unrestricted free agents Tyler Bertuzzi, Tyler Motte, Ivan Barbashev and Nick Bjugstad are interesting lend-lease options for the bottom six. I wonder whether Milan Lucic, if available and on an expiring contract, has enough left to be a menacing fourth-line agitator?
But the guy I would target, ahead of any of these options, is Nashville’s 25-year-old physical winger, Tanner Jeannot, a pending restricted free agent who will come with arbitration rights off an expiring contract worth an AAV of $800,000.
The Rangers’ cap situation next season makes it extremely difficult to trade for anyone with term on his contract, but this is an exception worth making. Jeannot is tough, he can play, he is a straight-line forechecker and net-driver and he would instantly make the Rangers a more formidable playoff opponent.
Jeannot may not be readily available, but as a bottom six that has 13 points (5-8) in 48 games following a 41-point (24-17) 2021-22, there must be an affordable price for him. How about Vitali Kravtsov in a one-for-one that would represent an exchange of styles? I envision Jeannot as part of the core. I do not envision that with Kravtsov. I envision this as a worthwhile conversation.
This would represent a step in addressing last year’s playoff deficiencies. That is what this year’s deadline is all about.