Rangers Acquire D Marcus Pettersson From Vancouver for 2030 First Round Pick

The New York Rangers kept the moves coming today, as they have acquired defenseman Marcus Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks. In exchange, the Rangers are sending a top-ten protected first round pick in 2030.

A 6-5, 174 pound, left-shot defensive-defenseman, Pettersson is regarded as a second- or third-pairing guy who has good analytics and thrives as a puck-mover from the back end.

A former second-round draft pick in 2014 by the Anaheim Ducks (38th overall), Pettersson has a career tally of 21 goals, 159 assists for 180 points in 604 games played. Additionally, he has collected four assists across a total of 25 postseason games. While his career began with the Ducks, Pettersson spent the majority of his career playing under Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh for seven seasons.

At 30-years-old now, Pettersson is under contract for the next five seasons on a deal with full trade protection that drops to a 15-team no-trade list in the final three seasons. His cap hit comes in at $5.5 million dollars each season.

Chris Drury talked at the end of last season about puck-moving defenseman being a major area of improvement for this team as they navigate a retool. This is another move, like the Dorofeyev trade, that clearly shows the Rangers are not interested in a full rebuild and are going to look to be competitive again as early as next season. Adding Pettersson to their blue line certainly helps this.

Word of the trade broke around 3:45 P.M. but it was another hour and a half before Thomas Dance of The Athletic first reported what the return was expected to be. Shortly after, Eliotte Friedman reported (and confirmed by Rangers beat reporters Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic and Mollie Walker of The New York Post) it would be the top-ten protected 2030 first round pick.

Welcome to New York, Pettersson!