The Ottawa Senators got swept by the Carolina Hurricanes last night, and almost immediately the focus among some Ranger fans was Brady Tkachuk. In fact, some fans didn’t even wait until the sweep was complete. Rangers fans obsession with Brady Tkachuk dates back to the soft tampering rumors in 2024, and it’s one of the odder obsessions that seems to lie mostly in the impact his brother had on the Florida Panthers.
The main Rangers fans obsession with Brady Tkachuk seems to be misguided is because, to be blunt, Brady is nowhere near the player Matthew is. It’s pretty cut and dry too, as Brady (26 years old) has just two point per game seasons under his belt at 26 years old, one being this year’s 59 points in 60 games. While Matthew also had just two by his 26th birthday, one of them was his 42 goal, 104 point season before his trade out of Calgary. He has since managed more than a point per game since.
There is this odd expectation that Brady would have the same impact on the Rangers that Matthew had on Florida. But this leaves out some pretty important factors, one being the scoring impacts noted above. Trade acquisition cost was astronomical for Matthew, with Calgary sending Jonathan Huberdeau and Mackenzie Weegar to Calgary to get the trade done. Huberdeau had been over a point per game for four years prior, and Weegar a top pair right defenseman. The Rangers don’t have the pieces to match that kind of cost, even if Brady (probably) doesn’t match that acquisition cost.
The third and perhaps most critical piece is Florida’s roster at the time of the acquisition versus the Rangers. The following players were all under 30 years old when Florida made that trade: Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Brandon Montour, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Eetu Luostarainen, Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, and Anton Lundell. Most top of half of the lineup players, all won at least the first of the two back-to-back Stanley Cups.
This is why the Panthers were able to deal 28 year old Huberdeau and 27 year old Weegar to Calgary for Matthew. They had the other pieces ready for bigger roles.
The following players are under 30 years old and, should they be with the organization next year, will be shoo-ins for roster spots: Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Taylor Raddysh, Tye Kartye, Gabe Perreault, Noah Laba, Adam Fox, Will Borgen, Braden Schneider, Urho Vaakanainen, Vincent Iorio, Matthew Robertson. Then there’s Jaro Chmelar, Adam Sykora, and Drew Fortescue who are solid depth pieces, but not top of the lineup players should they all crack the NHL roster next season.
The Rangers are not a Brady Tkachuk away from competing. They most certainly are not able to deal from their only productive players to land Tkachuk. Brady Tkachuk is a fine player when the other pieces are already in place. But they aren’t, and the acquisition cost just doesn’t make sense.
Aside: As I’m writing this, I’m realizing the same applies to Jason Robertson, but at least he’s an actual elite offensive player.
Perhaps the best way for the Rangers to land a Brady Tkachuk type player is to focus on that last word, “type.” The Rangers are not a Brady Tkachuk away from competing for a Stanley Cup. They’d need a lot to go right in the offseason for that to happen, and nothing Chris Drury has done shows he’s capable of even making that happen. If this retool is to be successful, the Rangers need to add the required scoring talent before looking for a Tkachuk type of player.
The Rangers don’t have the scoring depth to acquire Brady Tkachuk, plain and simple. The plan this offseason should be to acqurie as much high ceiling talent as possible and seeing how things shake out. If things go perfectly and the Rangers all of a sudden are flush with scoring, then we can revisit how to acquire a Tkachuk type of player.
Of course, none of this stops Drury from acquiring Tkachuk. It just probably won’t have the same impact that Matthew did with Florida.