The New York Rangers have an important offseason ahead, with General Manager Chris Drury mostly trying to fix the various mistakes he’s already made. Drury and the rest of the front office will attempt to toe the line of retooling, while most fans hold out hope for more of a rebuild than a retool. Every offseason we have a certain set of expectations for what will happen, with some surprises sprinkled in, and this is what my Rangers offseason predictions will try to account for.
Please note, I wanted to call these bold Rangers offseason predictions, but I cannot stand when writers say “bold” predictions, then write the most basic predictions ever. In fear of being That Guy, you can tell me if they’re bold or not. Bold doesn’t mean unrealistic, mind you, it just means these Rangers offseason predictions may have something that bucks the current narrative.
Dylan Garand is not on the Rangers opening night roster: It feels as though all Rangers offseason predictions have Garand as the #2 come opening night following the retirement of Jonathan Quick. He absolutely should be, but I’m not convinced he will be. Chris Drury loves veterans and doesn’t put a lot of trust in youngsters. While Mike Sullivan has shown more willingness to work with young players, he also prefers to win now, something an inexperienced backup would cause concern for.
The guess here is that the Rangers bring in a cheap veteran, causing Garand to want out of the organization. I sincerely hope I’m wrong on this one. Though I’m unsure if this qualifies as one of my promised bold Rangers offseason predictions.
Vincent Trocheck is not traded: Another one I hope I’m wrong on! I don’t believe Chris Drury will get the trade offers he’s looking for, and I do believe Drury will hold onto Trocheck if he doesn’t get said package. Drury fully believes this is a team capable of winning in the near future, and Trocheck still has term. It fits perfectly with his M.O. to keep Trocheck. Additionally, Trocheck, like JT Miller, is a perfect Chris Drury player. I don’t see any reason to believe Drury is excited to move the center.
A decent Rangers prospect is traded: No, I don’t know who. Someone along the lines of Liam Greentree–even though he was just acquired–or EJ Emery is my best guess. Again, it’s important to recognize where the Rangers are right now. This is not a team that has expressed a desire to rebuild. This is a team that would like to win sooner rather than later. It seems most Rangers offseason predictions omit this fact. Some young player will become available, and the Rangers will pounce, knowing they’ll be closer to a winning roster.
Brady Tkachuk will be traded, but not to the Rangers: I can’t see any scenario in which the Rangers acquire Tkachuk without trading their top five draft pick. Trading a top five draft pick for Tkachuk would be incompetence I wouldn’t expect, even out of Chris Drury.
The Rangers don’t have the pieces currently to trade for a star like Tkachuk without using that draft pick, and the Senators have long shown they don’t want to move him to the Rangers. The prediction here is that Tkachuk will be moved to the St. Louis Blues or Chicago Blackhawks.