The Rangers take on the Wild in Minnesota tonight off two wins but down another defenseman. Steven Kampfer fractured his hand in the win over Winnipeg on Sunday and will miss the next 4-6 weeks. His absence means that New York has lost three blueliners to injuries in the past several weeks - Marc Staal, Ryan McDonagh and Kampfer - while a fourth, Brendan Smith, passed through waivers and was sent down to Hartford last week. Ryan Sproul joins John Gilmour and Neal Pionk, each of of whom came up last week, on the Blueshirts after getting called up Monday.
Sproul, who came to New York from Detroit for Matt Puempel this past October, got off to a slow start in Hartford after good beginning to the year in Grand Rapids, but has been much better of late. He has registered eight points (six goals, two assists) in his last six AHL games and nine points (seven goals, two assists) in his last nine AHL contests. Overall, Sproul, a right-handed shot, has nine goals and nine assists for the year at Hartford and 10 goals with 12 assists in 41 overall games. Kampfer suffered the injury on a Dustin Byfuglien shot in the second period Sunday but remained in the game, playing 8:33 of his 22:39 of Ice time in the third period while playing with the injury and paired with Brady Skjei.
My main takeaway from the Sproul call up along with those of Gilmour and Pionk is how far down the pecking order has Ryan Graves fallen? A few years ago, we all were expecting him to take that next step and being his big shot up to the parent club. Now, Graves likely will need to go to another organization if he wants to make the pros. The Rangers have Smith, Graves, Brandon Crawley, Vince Petrie, Sergei Zbirovskiy and Hubert Laurie in Hartford. If New York suffers another injury or if a d-man is traded without one coming back and Smith has either not being down long enough or remediated his deficiencies sufficiently, you have to wonder who is next in line to join the parent club. From what we have seen, Graves may not be that option.
Offensively, the lines tonight should be the same as Sunday:
Rick Nash, Mika Zibanejad, Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner, Kevin Hayes, JT Miller
Jimmy Vesey, David Desharnais, Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod, Peter Holland, Vinni Lettieri
The blue line is up in the air. Kampfer has been paired with Skjei, so Sproul could step into that spot. But having a rookie make his debut on the top pairing is a tough way to start. Coach Alain Vigneault night move Tony DeAngelo up to the top pairing and have Sproul begin with Nick Holden, as a way to get his feet wet. Skjei and Holden can each play on their off (right) side, but with Sproul and ADA right-handed blueliners, one of those two would have to move to their off-side, which makes little sense. Leave Gilmour and Pionk together as a pair to allow their settling in and growth to progress.
Brady Skjei-Ryan Sproul
Nick Holden-Tony DeAngelo
John Gilmour-Neal Pionk
The big discussion yesterday, keeping in line with nearly every day, has been where could Ryan McDonagh go. Some of the conversations centered on Tampa Bay again. But what could a deal with Boston look like dominated the chatter, following the suggestions made in the column link below:
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2018/2/12/17000280/bruins-trade-rumors-ryan-mcdonagh-new-york-rangers-trade-deadline-hockey-rumors-mcdonagh-to-bruins
Ryan McDonagh for....
1. Trent Frederic or Urho Vaakanainen, the Bruins 2018 or 2019 1st round pick and one of Anders Bjork/Peter Cehlarik/Austin Czarnik. Waive/trade Paul Postma or Adam McQuaid.
2. McQuaid or Kevin Miller, 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, mid to high level prospect (Jesse Gabrielle, Jakob Zboril, Zach Senyshyn etc.)
3. Torey Krug,a 2nd rounder and a mid level prospect. The issue from the Rangers perspective is Krug is only two years younger than McDonagh which is likely unappealing to a rebuilding team.
4. Jake DeBrusk, Brandon Carlo, and a 3rd or 4th round pick or mid level prospect. Rangers eat 50% of McDonagh’s salary.
5. Brandon Carlo plus Jack Studnicka or Frederic, and Bruins 2018 or 2019 1st round pick
6. Danton Heinen, a low draft pick and a mid level prospect. Waive/trade Postma or McQuaid.
Of the list, four or five maybe makes the most sense. What has to be remembered is that New York doesn’t need deal McDonagh now or in general. With the team to be in rebuild mode, with the depth and breadth of that term still to be decided, which is the key to all of this, trading McD makes sense. But if the right deal doesn’t come along now, wait and deal him at the draft. For contending teams, obtaining McD for the stretch run and playoffs this year along with holding him another year at a reasonable cap is why GM Jeff Gorton does hold a good portion of the chips in these discussions.
Rumors with Tampa Bay have mainly centered on obtaining Mikhail Sergachev, who came over to the Lightning for Jonathan Drouin in what looks like a steal so far. Sergachev’s play has fallen off for a bit but his upside is huge. I would be stunned if GM Steve Yzerman deals him, but Tampa Bay’s defense has shown some warts lately, so maybe a deal could be had. One suggestion that has come up recently is for the Rangers to take on a bad contract to facilitate making a deal. For example, Ryan Callahan and his $5.8 mil cap hit for each of the next two seasons.
By assuming Callahan’s contract as a sweetener, based on the belief that in a rebuild, New York will have available cap room due to lower-dollar contracts for younger players, Tampa might be more inclined to trade Sergachev. That presumption depends on the extent of the rebuild and how far and deep the cut is within the organization along with the possible rise in cap hit. My main objection is that if we follow this approach, then New York is all but saying next year is out to try and contend and the organization is looking to 2019 or 2020 at the earliest.
In terms of a possible deal with Boston, to me #4 or 5 might be palatable but not the primary option. I am not sold on Carlo. He has regressed this season, but been better lately. Plus, the upside of him is as a defensive defenseman, which seems like Brendan Smith. DeBrusk, one of the three Boston picks from the 2015 draft, when the B’s passed on Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, etc., has panned out the best of those three selections to date with Senyshyn second. The son of an ex-Ranger, DeBrusk has become a key member of the Bruins and projects as a borderline top-six winger. Heinen, mentioned in #6, also has taken a step forward this season and would be a nice get. But neither alone move the needle. As part of a package or with a high pick, a deal as proposed above could work. But I would prefer a player with a higher ceiling than a lower floor. In addition, Frederic as an option seems to have gained traction lately, though there are questions whether his production on college will translate to the higher levels, plus, I would want more of a sure or partially established option. But he does meet the criteria of remaining one Wisconsin player with another (Sarcasm dripping). It is interesting that many Boston fans appear to believe that giving up this much would be an overpayment, but that’s as of now with 13 days until the deadline.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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