The Rangers placed Dylan McIlrath on waivers Thursday for the purpose of trying to send him down to Hartford. The likelihood of McI passing through waivers is in my opinion slim. With the need for defensemen, especially right handed ones, several teams likely will out in a claim for McI, who will go to the team with the worse record.
I would like to say this move comes as a huge surprise but it doesn't. Not to me or any of us. The one surprising aspect is with Josh Jooris is to go on IR with his separated shoulder, which will sideline him 3-4 weeks, enabling the use of LTIR, so why not hold on to McI, especially since cap hit isn't that high? If Jooris was healthy and someone had to go, then I can understand this decision a bit better. But McI is making 800k, so the cap impact over the next month isn't too voluminous, which makes me question the need for this transaction now.
It's pretty clear that McI had no role in AV's system nor did AV have any faith in him. When drafted, McI's skill base was viewed as better fit for a Torts style of play. I discount who he was taken over because we have hashed and rehashed the names passed over, Fowler, Schwartz, Tarasenko, Kuz etc, so that's a sunk cost. Bemoaning that fact won't change it.
If you want to argue AV didn't give him a fair shake, I can buy that. Below are the McI excerpts I wrote after the season, which highlight that I believe he didn't receive his fair share of play. That carried forward into the year. Once Nick Holden was acquired at the draft coupled with the lack of buyouts for Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, the spray paint was on the wall.
Dylan McIlrath stayed with the team all season, mainly because he would have needed to clear waivers to go down to the minors. There was no way that was going to happen. Due to injuries and ineffective play, McIlrath got a chance to play this season and didn't look out of place. He was best when paired with Yandle, allowing the puck rushing d-man to do what he does best with McI staying back. Unfortunately, AV's misplaced decision to go with vets over kids resulted in McIlrath sitting way more than he should have. McIlrath brings a physical element that is lacking on the rest of the defense and most of the lineup. In addition, he showed improved skating and hard shot from the point. Given his youth and low cap hit plus possible upside, McIlrath should be on the roster again next year with a top-six, likely third pairing, role.
McIlrath, who made $600k last year, signed for $800k, avoiding his July 21 arbitration hearing. Larry Brooks reported that if McIlrath, who dressed for 38 games last year, does not play in at least 42 games this season, he will become a Group 6 unrestricted free agent next July 1. If he does play 42 or more contests, McIlrath will be an RFA once again. With Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein already on the right side and Brady Skjei later to likely move from the left to right side, coach Alain Vigneault may have his work cut out for him to find 42 games for McIlrath to play.
Once the year started, the situation didn't improve. McI sat to begin the season but receive one chance to play due to Kevin Klein's injury. As seen below, coming to the defense of Antti Raanta didn't go over well, and he has been benched since then.
McIlrath drew the ire of coach Alain Vigneault for coming to the defense of Antti Raanta and taking an extra penalty in doing so. Once I read the following quote, you knew that McI was in trouble, likely not just for now for the future. In discuss the play, in which McI went after Tomas Hertl, Vigneault said: “I’ll tell you the truth, I’m not quite sure what happened on that play,. I haven’t looked at the replay. I just know we were short-handed and we had to kill a penalty, and we did.”
That quote kind of tells us all we need to know on McI's spot on the team. McI may have gone a bit over the tip, but we have bemoaned in the past the lack of physical presence and inability or unwillingness to defend a teammate. Raanta was appreciate of the move, as was the fan base for the most part, but AV didn't see it that way. McI wasn't helped by his poor shot metrics numbers, though not all of that can be placed on him, since the forwards play a role in that as does his defensive pair mate.While we like McI partially because he was a first round pick and we want him to succeed possibly coupled with that physicality, it's become clearer that his role on this team is marginal at best. Once everyone is healthy, the likelihood of a trade to move him increases.
This spells out part of why McI was placed on waivers. Per Elliotte Friedman, New York tried to deal McI, but since teams knew he had to be moved, it resulted in that lack of fair value in return I noted below. What will be missed is the physical quotient he brought. Plays like Raanta or even Jimmy Vesey and Dan Girardi yesterday may become even more prevalent due to that like of physical presence. I personally would have kept McI, but as noted below, others may have surpassed him in the organization beyond who is already on the parent team. AV deserves a lot of the blame for not playing McI, while his knee injury a few years ago also set him back, as his skating was adversely impacted. But I felt he could have played at this level, as seen last year when he was paired with Yandle. The question is how badly does he come back to burn the Rangers?
New York has cap room, so they can keep eight d-men. But it's an unwise use of that cap room to keep extra players around for no real good reason. That is the case here. If McI has no true place on this team, which looks to be the case, then deal him. You won't get perceived fair value because it's fairly well known where he fits or more precisely, doesn't fit on this team. So looking for a third rounder in return is fallacy. Get a fourth and move on if he truly is the eighth d-man. With Skjei and Clendening above him in the pecking order and John Gilmour plus Ryan Graves looming in the minors, McI won't see the 42 games he requires to avoid hitting UFA status, so it behooves NY to move on from him now rather than later. The longer you wait, the more the price goes down because it becomes less and less likely he can attain the 42 games.
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