Return From Cam Talbot And Kevin Klein Trades Don't Need To Help Now
The Rangers don't need win now pieces from Cam Talbot and Kevin Klein.
So we've had to go on quite the Cam Talbot binge the past week. It began with a simple speculation story (here), transformed into an actual rumor (here), picked up speed (here and here) and the rumors are still coming so fast that we had to have two separate but completely different trade stories up yesterday alone (here and here). Oh and Adam did a feels story about Talbot's career with the Rangers so far here.
Enough Talbot for you? Hell I even made Kevin Klein the photo on this article so we could stop looking at him on the front page.
So let's shift away from that a little. Sure, Talbot and (potentially) Klein rumors are still going to dominate this story, but it's more about the return than the actual trade itself. If that makes sense?
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It doesn't? OK let me explain, then.
The Rangers are a win now team so they need a win now return. It's the main reason why I put to rest those silly "Buffalo is going to go hard for Rick Nash" trade rumors.
There are, however, exceptions to this rule, and the biggest exception is creating cap space. Talbot is mainly being traded because he will no longer have trade value come the NHL Draft, but he's also being moved to provide some cap relief. Klein (if he's traded) is going to be moved strictly for cap space purposes.
In these instances, you don't need the return to help you win today, because the cap space the move is creating takes care of that. I've seen some people lament the Rangers are reportedly only looking at draft picks and prospects for Talbot -- and I'm assuming the return would be the same for Klein.
When a team is as successful as the Rangers have been, drafting takes a predictable hit (since the team is picking later in the draft). The Rangers have accelerated this process by trading four consecutive First Round draft selections -- but it's not as big of a deal as people seem to think it is.
Still, jumping into the first round (best case scenario in a Talbot return), adding multiple second round picks or a second round pick and a prospect is a great return; even for a win now team.If the Rangers can use the cap space they're potentially going to create with these moves to keep the pending RFAs who make up this team's core then that's enough of a win now return than anything else you could hope for.
Thoughts?
