The New York Rangers have been active in the week leading up to the NHL’s trade deadline, and in doing so, have made their direction clear.
The Blueshirts traded Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, and held Reilly Smith out of Sunday night’s game against the Nashville Predators for roster management purposes.
Lindgren, an unrestricted free agent, carried a $4.5 million cap hit — which the Rangers will retain half of. Vesey is in the final season of a two-year, $800,000 average annual value contract. He is also set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Rangers also included defense prospect Hank Kempf in the deal.
Typically, teams tend to hold on to pending UFAs if they anticipate making a deep playoff run. The way the Rangers’ season has unfolded to date — the club is four points back of a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference Wild Card race, and recently lost its number one defenseman in Adam Fox, Lindgren’s longtime defense partner, to injury — they don’t see that happening.
Headed to the Rangers are Juuso Parssinen, Calvin de Haan, a 2025 second-round draft pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick.
In the 24-year-old Parssinen, the Rangers acquire a young center, which is something they’ve been shopping for. His size — 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds — is something the Rangers are excited about. Parssinen was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. He was traded to the Avalanche in December.
“He’s young, he’s big, he’s strong,” Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette said of Parssinen. “That’s a good pickup for us.”
“I feel like I can bring some size and physicality,” Parssinen said. “Good on both sides of the puck. I can make plays, contribute some offensively and be smart.”
In de Haan, the club acquires a veteran replacement for Lindgren — one who carries a lower cap hit. de Haan is 33. He began his career with the New York Islanders, and has since played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning before signing with Colorado last summer.
“If everyone’s on my hockeyDB right now, my stats aren’t too sexy,” de Haan joked. “But my underlying numbers, the fancy stuff, has been pretty good for most of the season. Sometimes it doesn’t match the eye test just by my style of play.”
The two draft picks, most notably the second rounder, are arguably the most valuable assets the Rangers get in return.
The club clearly felt that they needed to go in a new direction and weren’t planning on extending Lindgren this summer. Moving him now ensures that they won’t lose him for nothing this summer.
For the same reasons, Smith, who was acquired by the Rangers from the Pittsburgh Penguins last summer and is also a pending UFA, is on the block. The Penguins retained 25% of Smith’s $5 million cap hit, meaning that the Rangers have been on the books for $3.75 million this season.
Smith’s absence from the lineup opens up space for the Rangers’ young players like Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard.
As of Monday morning, the Rangers do not have a deal for Smith, but holding him out of the lineup prevents an injury from occurring in game.
The 2025 NHL trade deadline is March 7 at 3 p.m. ET.
