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Nash officially traded to Boston, McDonagh rumors and Ratelle night tonight

February 25, 2018, 9:51 AM ET [1743 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
What was rumored as of last night came to fruition this morning. New York traded Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins in a larger deal, details below.. As the Rangers get set to retire Jean Ratelle's jersey tonight, the two teams involved in that blockbuster trade over 40 years ago did make another deal. Nash joins Nick Holden in the Hub and now the focus shifts to who is next to be voted off Rangers' Island. I say fare thee well to Nash and hope he re-signs with the team after the season.

Much of the comments below are from the blog last night and I have left in the Ratelle component due to the ceremony tonight. I hate that this long overdue event has been overshadowed by the trade and speculation as to others that could occur. My Nash jersey will be the one of choice tonight,

Full trade:



Additional details:



Update as of 9AM:



Of the Bruins prospect reumored, to me, Lindgren was the third of the main ones discussed. I preferred Trent Frederic and Zach Senyshyn once we got past Ryan Donato and Jake DeBrusk. The next two tweets give a picture of Lindgren, another left-handed defenseman who if he pans out to be a solid defensive d-man with a modicum of offensive ability, he could be a solid second or maybe third pair d-man. New York seems to have fixated on that type of d-man in their deals, though Rykov, who came over for Michael Grabner, appears to be more offensive than defensive minded as of now, while O'Gara is solely a defensive blueliner. The acquisition of all these blueliners seem to indicate fairly strongly Ryan McDonagh is not long for the Blueshirts much more.







With New York basically assuming $1.9 million in dead cap space by taking on board Beleskey, I expected and wanted more. That component of the deal is likely what lead to the inclusion of Spooner, who I like, but at 26 and an RFA, who knows what the next with him with be. The Rangers could look to flip him at the deadline.




I like Spooner a lot, solid third line player with upside. But if eating cap room for the next two years, get the better prospect than Lindgren to be part of the deal. The flip side is Nash's uneven production, especially in the playoffs, so getting the first and additional pieces might have been the best offer out there. But the deal leaves me wanting and expecting much more, even with the inclusion of the first rounder, based on New York having dead cap space for the future. One additional point is that if Beleskey passes through waivers, only around half the cap space stays on the books, making the next impact somewhere between $950K-$1mil in dead cap space on what may be a $78-82 million cap.

This is the key to the whole deal, the picks. New York now has nine picks in the draft, six in the first three rounds. In the three trades they made. the Rangers acquired an additional first, second and third rounder.




McKenzie's take on trade:






This is the information from yesterday:

Dreger, McKenzie and Friedman all tweeted similar information. The leak in New York is strong tonight. Either GM Jeff Gorton is trying to extract more from Boston or looking to engage another team, maybe St. Louis or Winnipeg, to up their offer.










Cap constraints will play a part in this team.




Right now, as seen from Cap Friendly above, Boston cannot made a deal for Nash directly. The Bruins need to either get a third team involved to take on some cap, make a deal by move cap space or include Matt Beleskey in the deal to New York, who would assume a large chunk of the $3.8 million he is owed in 2018-19 and 2019-20.

If Boston wants to include Beleskey and/or have New York eat a ton of cap space, then a first rounder must be involved and the names listed by McKenzie improved. Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Ryan Lindgren and Trent Frederic are nice, but they are a pair of likely bottom-six players and a third pair d-man (Lindgren), though Frederic may have offensive upside. The first rounder will help facilitate a deal. But if NY takes on Beleskey, then we are talking a deal like what Pitt did to get Brassard, because it's now not just one year of cap relief by several, and the prospect needs to at least be of the Filip Gustavsson ilk. Zachary Senyshyn might be a fit, but he is hit or miss, improving from when he was a first-round reach in 2015, but not an elite prospect as of now. One other possible name is Ryan Donato, though he, like Jake DeBrusk, may be untouchable. New York could opt for eating Beleskey's contract and obtaining Brandon Carlo and a first rounder, though to me that's an okay not great deal.

Since we need more intrigue, Patrice Bergeron left the Bruins dressing room after Saturday's game wearing walking boot on right foot/leg. It's way too early to speculate, but if Bergeron is out, could that up the price? Toronto is without Auston Matthews for at least 2-4 weeks due to a Grade 2 shoulder separation following the Cal Clutterbuck hit Thursday. The Maple Leafs could explore the forward market, but are unlikely to expend heavy assets. Boston also is rumored to be interested in Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello.

Gorton needs to be careful not to overplay his hand. He has to balance the goal of maximizing his asset but not burn his opportunity to get a good return. My wife always says, when a pig becomes a hog, that's when it's slaughtered. Don't be overly greedy. If the right, fair deal occurs, make it. Gorton could wait until 3pm Monday, but that could end up being too late, of teams make other trades, limiting the market and lowering the price.

The McDonagh trade market could also be heating up. Besides Boston, Florida, per Friedman below, may be in the mix. The Panthers recently welcomed back Roberto Luongo and are 7-3 in their last 10, sitting five points from the second Wild Card spot but with three games in hand. The tragedy in Parkland also has galvanized the team, with Luongo having lived in that area for the last 12 years.




I would love Henrik Borgstrom, but that's likely wishful thinking. Owen Tippett and a draft pick, maybe a second rounder, or Adam Mascherin and a first would be a very nice return. The same is true if Aleksi Heponiemi and a high pick. One other team that could use McDonagh is St. Louis, who has slumped lately, as they are now out of a playoff spot and could use a top-pair, left-handed shooting defenseman.

Ratelle Night (from the team's website):

Jean Ratelle spent 16 years in New York, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and was named one of the NHL's best 100 players of all time.

The player Ratelle is one of the best the NHL has ever had. Ratelle amassed 491 goals, 776 assists and 1,267 points in 1,281 career games, each top-10 when he retired following the 1980-81 season. His time in New York puts him in a class few are a part of regardless of sport. The Hall of Famer's 336 goals are second in franchise history, while 481 assists and 817 points are both third in the franchise's 91-year history.

Whenever Rangers fans think of Ratelle, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield are not far behind. The trio comprised the most successful trio in franchise history, the Goal a Game line, and during the 1971-72 season, it combined for 133 goals and 302 points, the most in team history.

When his time in New York ended with the 1975-76 season, Ratelle left his stamp on the franchise, ranking second in goals, assists and points in addition to a Bill Masterton Trophy, Lady Byng Trophy, a Ted Lindsay Award and four All-Star games.

Ratelle becomes just the ninth player in franchise history to be immortalized with his number being retired, joining former teammates Gilbert, Eddie Giacomin, Harry Howell and Andy Bathgate, as well as recent Blueshirts Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter and Adam Graves.

https://www.nhl.com/rangers/fans/jean-ratelle-night
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