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My take on a busy trade deadline for the NYR and GM Chris Drury
March 21, 2022, 11:35 PM ET [286 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSS • Archive • CONTACT
Trade deadline 2022 came and went Monday with GM Chris Drury making several deals to improve the team. Imported were, in order of trade announcement within the media, were defenseman Justin Braun from Philly, forward Tyler Motte from Vancouver and forward Andrew Copp from Winnipeg (as well as Ryan Merkley for Hartford). Including those three with the acquisition of Frank Vatrano from Florida, New York is now a much deeper squad than they were a week ago.



I will give my view on each acquisition today below followed by a summary rating. For each, will add in some of tweeted graphs and Drury's press conference comments. In addition, I have added a poll for you to provide your grade on Drury's performance.

Justin Braun
New York needed a veteran blueliner to at a minimum provide depth. Ideally, that d-man would have played the left side, enabling him to pair with Braden Schneider. Ben Chiarot went to Florida last week. Hampus Lindholm went to Boston on Saturday. Marc Giordano came off the board to Toronto yesterday. Clearly Nick Leddy was not viewed as an option while Calvin de Haan remained in Chicago. I would have liked Brett Kulak, but he ended up in Edmonton.

The Rangers added Braun from the Flyers for a third-round selection in the 2023 draft. Braun, normally a right-side pair, provides support if coach Gerald Gallant wants to sit Braden Schneider, who had a rough weekend against Tampa and Carolina. If that does happen, then Patrik Nemeth, who also did not fare well in the same two games, will be paired with Braun, who was acquired for a relatively minimal cost.

Larry Brooks added this nugget, which is a factor to keep in mind: "There is this to consider: Gallant generally sits Schneider for the last 10-12 minutes of a game. Nemeth’s time is reduced in crunch time as well. Cutting the bench becomes a challenge in the postseason. Braun also was on the Flyers’ top PK unit. Gallant might want to use him in place of Adam Fox in certain shorthand situations to give No. 23 a blow." All in all, a solid addition in a veteran blueliner, and if he can move to the left side, as is hoped, an even better acquisition.









Tyler Motte:
New York needed to bolster the bottom-six. The addition of Vatrano brought a middle-six forward. With Kevin Rooney still out, and as we found out in GM Chris Drury's post-trade deadline press conference, out until at least early-April, another reinforcement was needed. Enter Motte.

The Rangers acquired Motte from the Canucks in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft. From all accounts, besides what Motte brings on the ice, he is even a better person off the ice and a fine addition to what is a tight locker room. While not a major threat offensively, Motte can chip in a bit there but was acquired for what he can do defensively and on the penalty kill.

Motte, who played with Jacob Trouba and Vatrano on the US National Development Team, is a solid fourth liner who also was a teammate of Copp and Boo Nieves at Michigan. The cost was around the going rate for that type of player. Ryan Carpenter went for a fifth, though I like Motte a bit more. His acquisition allows gallant to shuffle the fourth line and provides support on the penalty kill, allowing a few who have been used heavily some rest.







Andrew Copp:
After adding a third-pair blueliner and fourth liner, the need still existed for a top-nine forward. The player that might have even been a better fit was Rickard Rakell, as he could have played on the right side of first line with Mika Zibanejad, especially with Kaako Kappo remaining sidelined with his wrist injury until early-April at the earliest. But Drury and Ducks' GM Pat Verbeek were unable to reach an accord, and ironically, Rakell landed with the Pens for Zach Aston-Reese, Dominik Simon, goalie Calle Clang and 2022 second-round pick. Pitt and New York would meet in the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today. In addition, Artturi Lehkonen went to the Avs for Justin Barron and a second round pick, which is a return akin to the Ranges moving Nils Lundqvist a second, which was a non-starter.

Copp, who played with Trouba at Michigan and in Winnipeg, has been rumored to the Rangers for seemingly months. He will fill multiple roles for the Blueshirts. Copp, a left-hander who won 54% of his draws, can shift between wing and center, providing puck possession and a very solid option between the dots. His acquisition would allow Filip Chytil to move to wing, or at a minimum, defer to Copp on defensive draws or key offensive zone faceoffs. Copp is a little better offensively than first thought, which along with his own zone play made him a perfect acquistion.

The cost was not cheap:



Part of the reason for the increased cost was likely the material interest in Copp and need to oubid several other teams. Ideally, I would have preferred surrendering only the one pick, but this was the cost of doing business. If New York makes the ECF, none of us will likely complain about the second becoming a first. In addition, if Copp re-signs with the Rangers, which is a reasonable possibility, then the deal looks even better.

Barron was a sixth-round pick who had panned out to be a viable NHL player. Gallant, for some reason, did not like Barron. Maybe it was his lack of high--end speed or because he was a rookie, but Gallant did not trust Barron enough to play him consistently. Winnipeg benefits from this view, as Barron could pan out to be Copp-lite down the road. Despite the picks surrendered and trade of Barron, coupled with inability to land Rakell, the acquisition of Copp is a very good move by Drury.













Overall view:
New York is a much better team now than they were a week ago. Vatrano, Motte and Copp make the forwards a lot deeper and improve the bottom-six enough to support the top-six. Vatrano is on the second line, at least until Kakko returns while Copp could also see time there if need be. Copp really bolsters the third line and gets to audition as a possible 2C if negotiations with Ryan Strome continue to stagnate.

As Brooks noted, the remainder of the regular season and playoffs will be a challenge for the Rangers, who are so dependent on their marquee names up front but have scored the fewest five-on-five goals among the 16 teams currently in playoff position. The three forwards added along with the possible return of Kakko and Rooney make this squad a lot more well-rounded.

The future lineup, when everyone is healthy, could look like the below. Many feel Chytil might be the odd-man out, which if it happens, moves Goodrow to the third line. I don't see Ryan Reaves sitting much, so Gallant will have decisions to make

Kreider-Zib-Laf
Panarin-Strome-Kakko
Copp-Chytil-Vatrano
Goodrow/Hunt/Rooney/Reaves/Motte
(Brodzinski, McKegg, Gauthier, Merkley)

On the blueline, as noted, my hope is Braun shows he can play the left side as well as he does the right and Nemeth sits. If not, Schneider sits and Braun plays the right side.

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Trouba
Nemeth/Braun/Schneider
(Jones, Lundkvist, Hajek, Tinordi)

The acquisitions did dent the draft picks remaining the next two years. Drury could move some assets, largely Alexandar Georgiev but others like Sammy Blais etc. could go, to replenish what was lost, but the prospect pipeline remains relatively intact. They kept  Nils Lundkvist, Zac Jones, Matthew Robertson, Brennan Othmann, Vitali Kravtsov, Will Cuylle, Ryder Korczak, Brett Berard and Dylan Garand. The only prospect lost was Barron, which in the grand scheme is likely the easiest to lose amongst that above list.



Tomas Hertl was re-signed while Filip Forsberg is going nowhere from Nashville. J.T. Miller was a pipedream to acquire and Claude Giroux didn't want to come to New York. Rakell would have been a good fit and filled a scorer role, so if there is a.mild criticism, it's that Drury did not import a lot of offensive help. That is nitpicking to an extent.

For a first trade deadline as the GM, and even stripping out that it is his first, a very solid job by Drury. I give him a B or a B+ with the only mild downgrade the inability to get an offensive difference maker and surrendering an extra pick, which might become a first, for Copp.

Please provide your vote on how you think Drury did:
What's your view on how well GM Chris Drury did?
 
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