Rangers speed up rebuild in a hurry
Quality assets meant New York was able to turn its fortunes around with pre-deadline dealing
With the NHL trade deadline of noon today, here’s something else that promises more than it delivers, the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports:
■ All rebuilds aren’t created equal. They’re dependent on a variety of factors — most notably the quantity and quality of a team’s assets — but the successful ones tend to share an across-the-board organizational commitment. With that in mind, let’s look at two teams in a similar place with the Canucks and what they’ve done recently:
The New York Rangers and their aging core are about to miss the playoffs for the first time in eight years. In three separate deals, they moved defenceman Nick Holden and forwards Michael Grabner and Rick Nash, bringing back first-, second- and third-round draft picks; solid blue-line prospects Ryan Lindgren and Yegor Rykov; 24-year-old depth defenceman Rob O’Gara; and 26-year-old Ryan Spooner, a decent third-line centre.
That is a significant haul for what amounts to three rental players and has the potential to accelerate the Rangers’ rebuild by a couple of years. The Blueshirts didn’t have a first-round draft pick from 2013-16. Now they have their deadline windfall to go with first-rounders Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil from last season and an existing group of eight core players in their early to mid-20s.
They also have the Ryan McDonagh card to play. Don’t know if the Rangers will be back in a year or two. Do know they’re a lot closer than they were before this deadline.
The Ottawa Senators, meanwhile, have struggled through a dreadful campaign after making the Eastern Conference final last season. To date, they’ve made one move of consequence, shipping 30-year-old centre Derick Brassard to Pittsburgh for elite goaltending prospect Filip Gustavsson, first- and third-rounders and veteran blue-liner Ian Cole. It’s expected the Sens will flip Cole before Monday’s deadline.
Again, that’s a significant return, but the bigger story concerns Erik Karlsson, an asset who could set
the Sens up for the next decade. As of Sunday, the intel had Tampa packaging as many as five pieces in the form of draft picks and prospects with Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion holding out for a roster player, likely Brayden Point or Yanni Gourde.
It seems like an awfully big deal to come together at the deadline, but Ottawa appears to be a motivated seller. It could be this team will never succeed in the long term with Eugene Melnyk as its owner, but the Sens are also aware a Karlsson trade represents the one move that can extricate them from their dark hole.
■ On a related note, the Trevor Linden-Jim Benning management team has now had four years to clean up the mess they inherited and set the stage for a bright new future. That’s ample time to rebuild an organization. That’s ample time to assemble a core group who’ll lead this team into that bright, new future.
The Canucks may or may not be on the verge of that brave new world. But the larger point is Benning’s
contract extension marks a new era for this administration. From now on they’ll be judged by a stricter standard. From now on every move they make will be held to the highest scrutiny.
Amateur hour is over. The faithful has now endured three excruciating seasons that collectively represents the worst stretch in Canucks history since the birth of the franchise. They’ve also endured those seasons with a patience and understanding you don’t generally associate with this market.
Now Linden, Benning and their team have to demonstrate they can turn the raw materials the Canucks have collected into a competitive team. Their first big move post-Benning extension was the Erik Gudbranson contract. They have Monday’s trade deadline. This summer, there’s trade opportunities and another crack at free agency.
The point is this group has to start delivering some wins for this franchise and it has to start now.
■ This is also what drives the faithful crazy about their team. Philip Holm has been tearing it up in Uti-
ca, N.Y. Almost two weeks ago, he was brought up to the NHL team and kept around for 10 days before he finally dressed against Las Vegas on Friday night.
Sunday in Glendale, Ariz., he was back in the press box.
It’s unclear if Holm, 26, is an NHL defenceman, just as it’s unclear if Ben Hutton, 24, is an answer going forward. But the hockey world has a pretty good idea that Michael Del Zotto isn’t a part of any solution for this team.
■ Just wondering if these Olympics marked a tipping point where the Winter Games turned into a large-scale version of the X Games because the most talked-about events and performances from Pyeongchang all came from the bigair events, boardercross or ski cross.
That’s fine. You wouldn’t know it sometimes, but sports should be an evolving organism that’s a reflection of its time.
The Winter Games have been trending this way for a while now. If this is what a new generation wants, so be it.
Besides, can hardly wait for the
e-gaming to make it to the Summer Olympics.
■ And finally, I wasn’t angered when Jocelyne Larocque refused to wear her silver medal after Canada’s shootout loss to the U.S. in the women’s gold-medal hockey game and I don’t equate her actions with being disrespectful to our country and our flag.
I do, however, object at any effort to conflate the two, especially coming from those pillars of virtue: the IOC and the IIHF.
Larocque was an athlete caught up in a raw, emotional moment. She has since apologized to everyone from the IOC to the IIHF to the Pyeongchang Olympic Committee to the COC to the cast of Hamilton and her teammates. Of all those groups, her teammates might have been the ones she owed an, ‘I’m sorry,’ but those were the people who also understood her best.
We watch the Olympics for those golden moments, but also for the powerful human stories at the heart of competition.
This was Larocque’s story. Don’t make anything more out of it.