What's Left for the Rangers? Five Remaining UFA Forwards They Could Target
The Rangers' forward group already looks close to full, but a handful of free agents still make sense—including two very familiar faces. So which ones are worth it?
When you attempt to piece together the current state of the New York Rangers depth charts, they aren't really in dire need of making any more free agent signings—at least of major significance.
Still, if the Rangers would rather young players get more development time in Hartford or are really pushing the retool versus rebuild concept, there is still plenty of room for improvements up and down the line up. While that's likely best addressed on the trade market, there are still some intriguing names on the open market that could be worth consideration.
Looking at the forward depth, here is a rough estimate at what the Rangers have to work with.
Perreault - Zibanejad - Dorofeyev
Lafreniere - Miller - Bjorkstrand
Cuylle - Laba - Sykora
Kartye - Veleno - Chmelar
Raddysh - Parssinen - Rempe
Roobroeck - McConnell-Barker - Greentree
Blidh - Beaudoin - Lamb
Aspinall - Gawdin - Battaglia
Thompson - Dowling - Terrance
In theory, the pieces are there to have an effective opening night lineup. Oliver Bjorkstrand fills out your top six, pushing Will Cuylle to the third line. You have options for the rest of the bottom six as you can either bump Adam Sykora up to the third line, keep Taylor Raddysh and run a rotation of Tye Kartye, Adam Sykora, and Jaroslav Chmelar as the fourth line wingers (with Joe Veleno at center), and still have Matt Rempe and Jusso Parssinen as depth forwards. That's not to mention the chances of Liam Greentree or Brody Lamb making the roster out of camp, which are real possibilities.
Still, if you wanted to push Bjorkstrand down to the third line, trade Raddysh or limit him to a fourth line ceiling, or just want to add to this current forward group, there are some names still out there that not only makes sense for the Rangers, but could help them be a more well rounded team.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some remaining options that could be of interest to the New York Rangers.
Patrick Kane or Vladimir Tarasenko
Let's just start here to get this one out of the way: I know many people are going to have a "been there, done that" reaction to this. In hindsight, it's wild to recall that there was a time in which both Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko were Rangers and it was the one year in a three year span the team didn't make it to the Conference Final. Nevertheless, bringing back one of them on a one-year deal, despite them now being three years older, could make some sense given the current state of both the Rangers and the free agent market.
The only thing the Rangers needed as much as puck moving defenseman are players who can consistently and confidently put the puck in the net. Both Kane and Tarasenko are certainly capable of that, not to mention the experience that both of these veteran superstars have under their belts, including several Stanley Cups, would be extremely valuable to this younger Rangers team.
Of the two, many fans will likely gravitate to Kane, and have already been calling for this reunion to happen since the start of the postseason. Coming off a 57-point campaign with the Detroit Red Wings, Kane had 16 goals and 41 assists in 67 games played last season. The future hall-of-famer will turn 38 this November and, upon signing with a team, will be heading into his 20th season in the league.
On the one hand, he could be a fit, as his play style could work on a line with Alexis Lafrenière on the left and J.T. Miller down the middle. However, Kane is nearing the end of his career. Not only do you have to wonder how much juice is left in the tank, but if the Rangers are really the right fit for him at this point. For as much as the Rangers need help scoring goals, they need to be a faster, physical team that plays sharp defensively. Those are things Kane is not going to help out with at all.
On the other hand, Tarasenko is not only younger, but could be the better fit for the Rangers in their current state. He had fewer points than Kane last season but scored more goals, finishing the year with 23 goals in 75 games in Minnesota. Many of the same concerns surrounding the idea of Kane could easily apply to Tarasenko as well, although he does play the game a bit more physically and with more speed. The only problem is, at this point in his career, especially after bouncing around as much as he has since leaving New York, you have to imagine he's looking for a longer commitment than just a year or two. That may not make a ton of sense for the Rangers who are still trying to figure out what type of team they want to be.
