Open for Business at the Garden
The Rangers have put the league on notice. The asking price on the stars is steep. Everything else is in play.
With Bryce Shuck now in the building as an assistant general manager, the speculation around Madison Square Garden has felt less like rumor and more like inventory. The Rangers have told players they can be moved. That is not a leak so much as a posture: New York is listening.
The headline names are still the headline names. Cale Makar, Jesper Wallstedt and Juraj Slafkovsky are available only in the way a penthouse is available. Someone can have them. Someone has to come with a package that looks like a future, not a favor. If you are calling about those three, come strong or do not come at all.
Under that tier, the Rangers have a more practical market. These are the names circulating first:
Noah Hanifin remains the most complete defenseman in the second wave, a two-way piece listed at 87 defense and 66 passing. Jack Roslovic is the finisher, 81 shooting, the kind of winger who can tilt a power play on a team that already has the puck. Marco Rossi is the most interesting of the forwards on paper, a 75-81-83 blend of scoring and playmaking that reads like a middle-six engine with top-six upside. Connor Zary, 70 shooting and 67 defense, is the complementary piece: useful, movable, and young enough that a contender can talk itself into him.
There is another shelf for clubs that need help tonight rather than in two drafts. Scott Laughton, Isac Lundestrom, Michael Rasmussen, Alex Romanov, Ty Emberson and Drew Helleson are the names being treated as present-tense assets. None of them will blow up a cap sheet by themselves. Any of them can fill a hole.
That is the point of the Shuck hire, or at least the point New York wants the rest of the league to hear. The Rangers are not waiting for the market to come to them. They have put the roster on the block, drawn a bright line under the superstars, and left the phones on.
The Garden is open. Make a deal.
The Rangers have put the league on notice. The asking price on the stars is steep. Everything else is in play.
With Bryce Shuck now in the building as an assistant general manager, the speculation around Madison Square Garden has felt less like rumor and more like inventory. The Rangers have told players they can be moved. That is not a leak so much as a posture: New York is listening.
The headline names are still the headline names. Cale Makar, Jesper Wallstedt and Juraj Slafkovsky are available only in the way a penthouse is available. Someone can have them. Someone has to come with a package that looks like a future, not a favor. If you are calling about those three, come strong or do not come at all.
Under that tier, the Rangers have a more practical market. These are the names circulating first:
Noah Hanifin remains the most complete defenseman in the second wave, a two-way piece listed at 87 defense and 66 passing. Jack Roslovic is the finisher, 81 shooting, the kind of winger who can tilt a power play on a team that already has the puck. Marco Rossi is the most interesting of the forwards on paper, a 75-81-83 blend of scoring and playmaking that reads like a middle-six engine with top-six upside. Connor Zary, 70 shooting and 67 defense, is the complementary piece: useful, movable, and young enough that a contender can talk itself into him.
There is another shelf for clubs that need help tonight rather than in two drafts. Scott Laughton, Isac Lundestrom, Michael Rasmussen, Alex Romanov, Ty Emberson and Drew Helleson are the names being treated as present-tense assets. None of them will blow up a cap sheet by themselves. Any of them can fill a hole.
That is the point of the Shuck hire, or at least the point New York wants the rest of the league to hear. The Rangers are not waiting for the market to come to them. They have put the roster on the block, drawn a bright line under the superstars, and left the phones on.
The Garden is open. Make a deal.