Rangers deal Hayes
Devs ship Kinkaid to Columbus
After Kevin Hayes said plenty of goodbyes to his Rangers teammates during the organization’s rebuild, it was finally his time to go.
The Rangers traded Hayes to the Winnipeg Jets ahead of the NHL’s trade deadline Monday for younger forward Brendan Lemieux, a 2019 first-round pick and a conditional 2020 fourth-round pick they get only if the Jets win the Stanley Cup this spring. The Blueshirts also traded defenseman Adam McQuaid to Columbus for defense prospect Julius Bergman and fourth- and seventh-round picks in this year’s draft. Bergmann will report to the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in Hartford.
It wasn’t long ago the Rangers were gunning for a title. In the past two days, they have jettisoned all three of their major unrestricted free agents in Mats Zuccarello, Hayes and McQuaid.
“We had a really good team and we had a serious chance at the Cup and we had a pretty good deep run,” Hayes said on a conference call. “I have nothing but respect for this organization and nothing but great memories here. It’s tough to leave a city like this and a team like this and the friendships that you build with some people, it’s definitely tough. But I’m excited to get going here.”
Left behind are a handful of veterans on a team that got much younger since announcing a rebuilding effort more than a year ago. Forward Chris Kreider survived this deadline with a year left on his contract, and franchise goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Sunday was too choked up about the trade of Zuccarello to Dallas to address it.
But this was all part of the plan, and now the Rangers have five picks in the first two rounds of the draft, cap space and young assets to turn things around quickly.
DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
The Devils cleared the way for goaltending prospect Mackenzie Blackwood to rejoin the team by trading goaltender Keith Kinkaid to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifthround draft pick in 2022. They also shipped Marcus Johansson to the Bruins for Boston’s second-round pick this year and their fourth-round pick in 2020. The Devilswill retain 40 percent of Johansson’s salary in the transaction.