Possible Fire Sale From Flames After Trade, Anything For Rangers?
The Vancouver Canucks have acquired defenceman Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames for a pair of draft picks.
This might be the first of several trades involving the Flames this season as they are aiming for a full rebuild.
So a potential fire sale is in the works. That begs the question, is there any player for the Rangers to consider trading for?
The one name that comes to mind for me is Elias Lindholm. I know, the Rangers are in first in the league and are playing great.
But there are still areas for improvement to better prepare for the playoffs. Remember, the main goal is the Stanley Cup and winning it all, not the President Trophy for the regular season.
The one area of concern for the Rangers is the right wing position. Blake Wheeler is not going to cut it, and having him on the first line isn't an ideal situation to generate more offense on 5v5 situations, something that line still struggles to generate.
Lindholm would be a massive improvement over Wheeler in that first spot. He currently plays the center position, but he can transition to right wing.
Plus it's low risk with an expiring contract. Some in the fanbase were hoping for Patrick Kane, but with his age, and injury risk, it wasn't worth it.
The Rangers would need to trade Barclay Goodrow to make this work, as the team is still cap strapped. His contract of $3.6 million would clear a lot of cap space to make some deal work, and probably package him with a few picks.
The Rangers still have all their firsts, and a few other selections in other years.
A possible lineup with Lindholm would look like this:
Panarin - Trocheck - Lafrenière
Cuylle - Brodzinski* - Wheeler
Vesey - Bonino - Pitlick
Jonny Brodzinski would move to center until Filip Chytil comes back from his injury.
Something to consider, it's a low risk, high reward deal. If anyone can make it work, Chris Drury can.
| POLL | ||
Would Elias Lindholm be a good fit for the Rangers? | ||
| Yes | 55 | 73.3 % |
| No | 20 | 26.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
