Rangers Acquire Pavel Dorofeyev from Golden Knights for Draft Picks

Over the course of a week that saw numerous notable trades around the NHL, the New York Rangers were conspicuously absent from the fun. On Thursday night, word got out about a potential trade for Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish, but that never came to fruition.

Instead, the Rangers swung a different trade right before the NHL draft got underway Friday night, acquiring winger Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for three draft picks: No. 26 and No. 92 in this year's draft, plus a top-10-protected 2028 first-round pick.

As a pending restricted free agent on a somewhat cap-crunched team, Dorofeyev's name had been out there in general trade rumors, but there was no definitive link to the Rangers until the deal went down. The Golden Knights get cap relief and draft capital (which, knowing them, they'll probably at least partially convert to more immediate help), and the offensively-starved Rangers get a bona fide sniper.

This is exactly the type of player the Rangers need to be targeting: a talented, proven player who is still in his mid-20s. Those players are, of course, difficult to acquire, so when teams are in a cap crunch or such players are looking for a change of scenery, the Rangers—as a team looking to retool, for better or for worse—need to pounce.

New York then quickly got a contract hammered out with its new acquisition, for seven years with an average annual value of $11 million.

It's a steep price to pay, but with a rising salary cap, it's not as high as it might seem at first glance. Beyond that, it's actually fairly in line with his projected market value from AFP Analytics and Evolving Hockey.

The key for the Rangers was to not give up the No. 5 overall pick—which was definitely a fear when the news first broke that Dorofeyev was coming to Broadway—or a significant roster player. They retained that lottery pick and drafted high-upside Latvian defenseman Alberts Smits.

This year's late first is unlikely to move the needle nearly as much as Dorofeyev, and the 2028 first has protection. To get a player of Dorofeyev's caliber and age (he is still only 25) for those two picks plus a third-rounder (of which they still have three more in this year's draft) is tidy business. The contact is hefty, but in a rising cap world, not unreasonable, and easy for the Rangers to absorb.

Dorofeyev's greatest strength is his finishing ability. He is a legitimate goal scorer, which the Rangers sorely need. He scored 37 goals (and had 27 assists) this past regular season, and then added another 12 goals in 22 postseason games as Vegas came to within two wins of a Stanley Cup championship. The year before, he tallied 35-17-52.

Dorofeyev is not one-dimensional, though. He is also a smart and defensively responsible player who makes up for his non-puck-dominant play with strong play without the puck. He is not someone who drives play or has significant speed (both of which the Rangers still need to address on their roster), but he will add a much-needed shot of potency to New York's lineup.

Now it's up to the Rangers to A) maximize Dorofeyev's abilities by deploying him with playmakers, and B) fill out the rest of their roster with moves as shrewd as this one over the coming weeks and months.

President and general manager Chris Drury has a lot of work to do to dig the Rangers out of the hole he has largely created, but this is a good start to what is a critical offseason.