The New York Rangers season has quickly gone off the rails again, and those around the NHL are calling on
The New York Rangers season has quickly gone off the rails again, and those around the NHL are calling on president and general manager Chris Drury to make some difficult decisions before the League’s trade deadline on March 6.
It seems everyone’s got an opinion on what the Rangers should do. And the latest group to chime in was the three-person NHL on TNT panel of Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter and Tuukka Rask. Each agreed Tuesday that Igor Shesterkin is an absolute untouchable, when it comes to retooling New York’s roster
Taking it a step further, Carter and Rask each said the 30-year-old goalie is the only untouchable player on New York’s star-studded roster, and Drury should at least listen to offers for everyone else.
The Rangers (21-24-6) are last in the Eastern Conference with 48 points and lost seven of their past eight games. They are 3-9-2 in their past 14, which prompted Drury to pen an open letter to season-ticket holders last week declaring the Rangers intention to retool the roster.
Shesterkin, of course, was once again playing at an extremely high level this season, posting a 17-12-4 record with a .913 save percentage and 2.45 goals-against average before sustaining a lower-body injury during the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Utah Mammoth on Jan. 5.
In the seven games he’s missed, the Rangers are 1-6-0 and allowed 35 goals, an extremely subpar average of five goals per game. That simply underscores Shesterkin’s immense value to the Rangers.
But despite his excellence, Shesterkin’s contract is likely untradeable anyway. He is in the first of an eight-year, $92 million contract that runs through 2033. His contract also includes a full no-move clause in every year of the deal, and there’s zero indication Shesterkin has any interest in leaving New York.
Paul Bissonnette believes Adam Fox also untouchable in Rangers retool
It isn’t a surprise that a panel of respected NHL analysts, each a former player, believe Shesterkin is untouchable. He willed the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final twice in his seven-year career, won the Vezina Trophy in 2022 and was a Hart Trophy finalist in 2021-22.
But it’s an astounding fall for the Rangers that those who watch the sport for a living deem him the only untouchable player on this roster.
Bissonnette, though, bucked his TNT brethren by saying that New York’s top defenseman Adam Fox is also untouchable and shouldn’t be traded under any circumstance. Like their struggles without Shesterkin, the Rangers cratered defensively without the injured Fox in the lineup, and their power play struggled without its quarterback during his 14-game absence earlier this season, when he had an upper-body injury.
Fox is again out, this time with a lower-body injury. The 2021 Norris Trophy winner went on LTIR the same day Shesterkin landed on injured reserve, yet is still tied for fifth on the Rangers with 28 points, and is third with 24 assists.
“I personally wouldn’t trade Adam Fox,” Bissonnette said on TNT during the second intermission of the New Jersey Devils-Edmonton Oilers game Tuesday night. “He loves playing there, [is an] incredible offensive defenseman. I don’t know how you’d replace a guy like that.”
Carter and Rask both disagreed.
“Everybody’s on the table for me, except Igor,” Carter said. “I would trade Fox if I got the right package for him. Igor is the one guy that I keep.”
“[Shesterkin] is definitely one of those guys that you can’t touch,” Rask said. “He’s an absolute elite goalie in this league. You need him, but anybody else? Perhaps.”
No-move clauses could hamper Rangers GM
That Drury informed superstar forward Artemi Panarin to pack his bags is unsettling, since it was his signing ahead of the 2019-20 season that pulled the Rangers out of the wilderness following (then GM) Jeff Gorton’s rebuilding letter to fans in 2018. Panarin was New York’s leading scorer each of the previous six seasons, and is again so far in this one with 56 points (18 goals, 37 assists) in 50 games.
But the Rangers won’t offer the pending unrestricted free agent a contract extension and plan to trade the 34-year-old ahead of the March 6 deadline. So, Panarin isn’t exactly an untouchable, even with his no-move clause.
Drury’s got his work cut out for him in this reload, and he only has himself to blame for it, due to the inordinate number of no-trade and no-movement clauses on the Rangers roster.
Panarin, though, is sure to waive his no-move clause — negotiated by Gorton it should be noted — to go to a team of his choosing and a chance to chase the Stanley Cup. But if the Rangers want to max out value for Mika Zibanejad’s resurgent season, he must first waive a no-movement clause, which carries through the 2028-29 season. Zibanejad’s shown no interest in doing so.
If they want to convince a rival club to take Vincent Trocheck’s leadership, elite face-off skills, big-game reputation and two-way prowess, it’ll have to be to one of the 19 teams not included on his modified no-trade clause. Even defenseman Will Borgen somehow has a full no-trade clause for his contract that inconceivably runs through 2029-30.
Those clauses spell extra doom for the Rangers, since Will Cuylle, Braden Schneider, and Alexis Lafreniere are among the few players of value without an NTC or NMC in their deal. None has celebrated his 25th birthday yet, so trading them is not as appealing as moving on from a 30-something veteran like Zibanejad or Trocheck. But if Drury wants to max out and really overhaul this roster, his only choice may be to move at least one of those younger players — none of whom reach the level of untouchable, by the way.
Even though things appear bleak in the Big Apple, Carter remains confident in New York’s ability to execute a quick and effective reload, thanks to one factor.
“It could be a pretty quick retool,” Carter said. “It’s New York City.”
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Category: General Sports
