TO TRADE OR NOT TO TRADE YANDLE?
That is question for Rangers as deadline nears
A fascinating debate surrounds one of the New York Rangers’ most enigmatic players. To trade Keith Yandle or not? The situation is a predicament but could give general manager Jeff Gorton a huge trade chip.
The Rangers have an in-hisprime puck-moving defenseman, paying only half of his salary-cap hit ($2,625,000). A player who theoretically would be a perfect fit for the type of system employed by coach Alain Vigneault.
Yet a significant decision is necessary between now and the Feb. 29 deadline because Yandle will be an unrestricted free agent July 1 and will surely command $6 million or more on the open market. Up against the salary cap now, the Rangers, even if they shed contracts, probably can’t afford to re-sign him.
“At this point I know he is one of our six defensemen and when Yands is on top of his game and moving the puck he is a very good player,” Vigneault said. “I’d like him to be a Ranger and help us win.”
On the one hand, they gave up a ton to get Yandle — top prospect Anthony Duclair and a lotteryprotected first-round 2016 pick (payment for the Arizona Coyotes picking up half of Yandle’s cap hit), plus a second-rounder and defenseman John Moore. The Rangers also got a fourth-rounder and minor league defenseman Chris Summers. Do they want to let Yandle walk for no return this summer?
On the other hand, if the Rangers think they have another run at a Stanley Cup in them — and they probably do, given the mediocrity that fills the Eastern Conference outside of the Washington Capitals — aren’t they better off holding on to Yandle? Especially if he’s playing well?
That trade was made as the Rangers — a season after they went to the Stanley Cup Final and during a season in which they had the league’s best record — were swinging for the fences trying to win a title. And who knows? If they hadn’t had four injured defensemen, including Yandle, maybe they would have survived Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals and played the Chicago Blackhawks for the trophy last June.
So along those lines, it was possibly a risk worth taking, knowing full well that whatever Duclair (and the first-rounder) becomes could make it a disaster if they didn’t win the Cup.
While he was hardly the difference-maker he was advertised to be last season or early this season, Yandle played well in the playoffs and has been a productive contributor this season. But he also has been wildly inconsistent. He played one of his worst games of the season in a loss to the Capitals last week and followed that up with perhaps his best game in a win against the Vancouver Canucks. He scored the game-winning goal the next game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Yet there is the idea that Yandle, if he’s to be a significant factor, shouldn’t play third-pair minutes or be on the second power-play unit. He is clearly their third-best defensive left-handed defenseman, behind Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal, but could he do more with more minutes? He played 23 minutes, 33 seconds vs. the Canucks, just behind McDonagh’s 24:26 and well ahead of Staal’s 14:47. He played less than 19 minutes in his last two games.
Yes, he’s a pick-six waiting to happen a lot of the time, though his stretch passes are often effective. More important, they’re what the Rangers lack in trying to play Vigneault’s system and use their speed, which has been neutralized by the defense’s inability to make that first pass up ice.
Contenders needing some skill on the back end gladly would give up prospects or picks for Yandle, maybe even a first-rounder. But that doesn’t help the Rangers this year, and they’re not rebuilding unless the bottom falls out in the next five weeks.
So maybe they trade him for another rental, perhaps a veteran forward with an expiring contract who can help during the coming postseason and then walk away.
These five weeks will tell.
Carpiniello writes for The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK.