The New York Rangers’ latest hot streak doesn’t come without a small price to pay.
With the Kid Line dominating in their recent stretch, and the Rangers on a three-game winning streak, the likelihood of New York securing the top trade deadline acquisitions are growing less and less likely.
That’s ok though. There are still plenty of options for the Rangers to try and improve their team that would come as expensive as Timo Meier or Patrick Kane. It also doesn’t help that the next crop of names is already potentially excited about joining the Blueshirts.
Vladimir Tarasenko has had a trade request looming over the heads of the St. Louis Blues for the last few years. According to the Athletic, the 31-year-old would “welcome” a trade to the Rangers as the March 3rd deadline draws closer. St. Louis is nine points back of the final wild card spot and could be on the precipice of moving several players from their Stanley Cup title team. Tarasenko is expected to be at the top of the list.
Tarasenko is in the final year of his contract with the Blues and will be a free agent in the offseason. Because of that, and the lack of numbers (10 goals in 38 games), the asking price for the 2x All-Star would be less than what Kane or Meier could go for.
So what would a trade for the Stanley Cup winger look like? It could very well look something like this:
2023 first-round pick and Vitali Kravtsov for Vladimir Tarsenko
The important thing to remember is that Tarasenko is owed $7.5 million this season. The Rangers could come in around that price tag, but the longer that the roster stays at 23, the less likely that will happen.
It means that the Blues would need to eat up a portion of Tarasenko’s salary to make this trade work.
Could the Blues feasibly do a deal that sees them eat up half of their former star’s salary so they could get a top young player in Kravtsov and a first-round pick? It would make the most sense and pale in comparison to other teams around the league that don’t have the young talent or the draft capital that the Rangers currently possess.
A move like this would help the Rangers in more ways than one. Tarasenko would pair with Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad to form an extremely talented top line. With the kids dominating behind them, and the Trocheck-Krieder pairing showing strong results, it would allow a player like Jimmy Vesey to fit better with fourth-line players like Julien Gauthier and Will Cuylle.
Securing a player like Tarasenko would leave the Rangers with enough firepower to keep up with the Devils, Hurricanes, and Bruins. New York won’t stay pat at this deadline as they try and compete for a title, and a trade with St. Louis could be the perfect move to make.
