NY RANGERS: WHY BLUESHIRTS SHOULD TRADE FOR RYAN O'REILLY

NY RANGERS: WHY BLUESHIRTS SHOULD TRADE FOR RYAN O'REILLY

By: Matthew Blittner




Ryan O'Reilly?!

Yes you read that right. 

The Rangers are in need of a top-6 centre, and Buffalo is still rebuilding. The ingredients are there for a trade to be cooked up.

With Mika Zibanejad, Kevin Hayes, JT Miller, and David Desharnais currently penciled in as the four pivots for the Rangers, there are serious questions about the team's ability to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup.

Every team that has won the Stanley Cup in recent memory has done so with at least one -- if not two -- bonafide top-tier centers.

The likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Anze Kopitar, and Jonathan Toews occupy this top-tier of centers and each has hoisted the Cup in recent years.

The last time the Rangers went to the Cup Final they had neither a top-tier centre, nor a legitimate top-line centre on their roster. The group of Derek Stepan, Derick Brassard, Brian Boyle, Dominic Moore, and Brad Richards was enough to get the Rangers to the Cup Final, but was not capable of getting past Kopitar and the Kings.

In today's NHL, speed and skill are the name of the game, and if you don't have a centre with speed, skill, and size, then you aren't going to go very far. A top-line centre should have in the neighborhood of 70-points every season, and no Ranger centre has reached that mark in quite some time.

Enter O'Reilly.

With Buffalo still a few years away from serious contention, it makes sense for the Sabres to deal Ryan and get back several players that can help them, both in the present and in the future.

With a $7.5M cap hit through the 2022-23 season when he'll be 31-years-old, there aren't many teams that can afford O'Reilly.

Enter New York.

With a couple million in cap space, as well as some tradable assets the Blueshirts would be wise to engage Buffalo in talks for Ryan.

Reasonably, the Blueshirts would have to include Marc Staal in any deal for O'Reilly. With a $5.7M cap hit through the 2020-21 season, Staal's contract must be moved if the Rangers are to fit O'Reilly into their budget.

The issue with moving Staal is that his contract contains both a NMC and a modified NTC. So any trade will have to involve Staal's consent.

On top of Staal, the Rangers would likely have to include AHL defensemen John Gilmour and Ryan Graves, as well as a second-round draft pick in either the 2018 or 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

If the Rangers are willing -- and they should be -- to package these players and picks together, then Buffalo should have no qualms about giving up O'Reilly. 

With Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart as their top two centers, Buffalo is well positioned down the middle, and paying $7.5M per year for a third-line pivot is a luxury that they simply can't afford. And O'Reilly is no third-line centre. He has registered between 50-70 points each of the last four seasons.

This is a trade that would benefit both sides, and with previous rumors having stoked the fire in the past, there's no reason to believe that this can't happen. Now it's up to Jeff Gorton and Jason Botterill to make this happen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PREVIEW: RANGERS VS SENATORS GAME 6 EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS

PREVIEW: RANGERS VS SENATORS GAME 6 EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMI-FINALS By: Matthew Blittner Is this 2012 or 2017? You might ask, what commonality links these two years together? Well, let's take a look at the New York Rangers' playoff runs from both years. 2012: The Rangers faced the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals and fell behind three games to two after losing Game 5 at Madison Square Garden by a score of 2-0 as Jason Spezza netted both Ottawa goals against Henrik Lundqvist and Craig Anderson pitched a 41-save shutout. 2017: The Rangers are facing the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Second Round or the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals if you will. After losing Game 5 in Ottawa, by a score of 5-4 in overtime, the Blueshirts find themselves in the same 3-2 hole that they did in 2012. Once again, Henrik Lundqvist got beat in a crucial game, this time thanks to Kyle Turris's OT game-winner, while Craig Anderson, who was ...
Read more

RANGERS EXPANSION DRAFT: WHO TO PROTECT

RANGERS EXPANSION DRAFT: WHO TO PROTECT By: Matthew Blittner As many of you who follow the NHL know, next season will feature the first chapter in the new Las Vegas Golden Knights franchise history. But, before that can happen, the Golden Knights have to build themselves a roster, and as per NHL tradition, that means that Vegas will have the opportunity to select one player from each of the remaining 30 teams in the league. In years past, the goal was to simply fill out the roster of the new expansion franchise, but this time around, the NHL has decided that it wants their newest club member to be competitive right out of the gate. So, certain rules were put in place to help speed up Vegas' competitive timetable.  On June 21st, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Golden Knights will formally announce to the world, their list of selected players. The NY Rangers, are in the same boat as every other club in the NHL. They will lose one player to t...
Read more

NY RANGERS: PRESEASON GAME 3 PREVIEW VS. ISLANDERS

NY RANGERS: PRESEASON GAME 3 PREVIEW VS. ISLANDERS By: Matthew Blittner Welcome to Bridgeport, Connecticut! After playing their first two preseason games in the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden the Rangers will hit the road for a back-to-back set starting on Friday night at the Webster Bank Arena against the Islanders. After facing the Isles on Friday, the Blueshirts travel to Newark, New Jersey to take on the Devils Saturday night. Through two games, the Rangers are a perfect 2-0 in preseason play, thanks to consecutive overtime wins against the Islanders and Devils. Friday night in Bridgeport the Blueshirts will look to go 2-0 against the rival Islanders and continue to establish momentum as they prepare for the regular season. Game time is 7:30pm EST and will be broadcast on MSG Networks. The big story for the Rangers has been the play of their rookies, specifically that of their first-round draft picks Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil. ...
Read more