Rangers Team Construction: Four Big Trades

Last time the Rangers went to the finals, it was with a star studded team of a few homegrowns mixed with august Cup veterans that they had continued to add at the cost of their future core on their march toward the hardware.   For all the abuse Sather has taken as GM, this year's cup finalist is a lot more homegrown than `94's, and it's future hasn't been clouded by the Cup run.

In my life as a Ranger fan, there have been two really grim periods of player deals.   The first were the ones of the mid-70's when the Rangers traded away Ratelle and Park for Espo, then Espo got them to trade Rick Middleton of Don fricking Awry.   Those trades really hurt and you can only imagine how our `79 Cup run might have had a different result with Middleton and some of the other exiled players.

The second time was leading up to and after the `94 Cup run, where Messier seemed to be calling more shots that was healthy for the franchise.  

It may be because of the cap that's been installed, but the Rangers were a bit more surgical this time around, and didn't end up trading anyone as good as Middleton or Doug Weight.

In building this team, first for Tortorella and then for AV,  the Rangers basically made 4 big trades.  

On June 30, 2009, the Rangers brilliantly traded Scott Gomez, Tom Pyatt and Michael Busto to the Canadiens for Chis Higgins (thought by the Canadiens to be the best player in the deal), Pavel Valentenko, Doug Janik and  Ryan McDonagh who was then playing at the University of Wisconsin with Derek Stepan and was the true object of the Rangers desire.

That may have been the greatest trade in Rangers history.   Around this time they also traded a third rounder for Kings minor leaguer Brian Boyle.  Now I have ripped Boyle for being unproductive and not ferocious enough for his size, but this is also true:  Brad Boyle was injured by a cheap shot during our run in `12, and we didn't make it to the finals.   He was healthy this time, and even had the primary assist on the series clinching goal last night and we did make the finals.  So time has taught me something.

Trading Gomez gave the Rangers room to sing Marian Gaborik the next day.

The next major trade occurred on July 23, 2012 when they traded Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and their 2013 First Round Pick Columbus for Rick Nash, Steve DeLisle and and 3rd round pick.

This was a tough trade because Dubinsky and Anisimov were homegrown core, the Rangers had spent two #2 picks to get Erixon, and they're #1 was presumptively valuable because they had been drafting well.

However, they third rounder they did went for Pavel Buchnevich, and he appears to be the goods.


The third big trade, made on April 3, 2013 was again made with Columbus when they sent Marian Gaborik, Steve Delisle, and Blake Parlett for Derrick Brassard, Derek Dorsett, John Moore and a 6th round pick.

This trade was almost the inverse of the previous trade and the Rangers acquired 3 important pieces for this cup run and the future.  The Rangers had reportedly been after Moore and Brassard separately for some time.  My only problem with it ever was that we didn't get our first round pick back, and Gaborik had been a more productive player than Nash was at the time of the trade.

The final big trade was made on March 5, 2014 when the Rangers sent their captain, Ryan Callahan and what are now 2 ones to Tampa for Martin St. Louis.

Now, I still don't know how the Rangers gave up two ones for a 38 year old who was forcing the deal and would only accept 1 destination, but at the same time, St. Louis has been the goods on this run, and I the pick this year will be one of the last three in the first round, and hopefully the same next year.   I had favored the reported deal with the Sharks for Cally that included 1's coming back. But St. Louis has been heroic, and we can always get more picks.

So those were the four big moves that brought them back to the finals, and the team does not feature anywhere near as many old stars as the teams between `94 and the last several years have.  Yes they have perhaps undervalued their own picks and lost more than they should in the process, but the results speak for themselves and aren't done talking yet.