In this year’s draft, the New York Rangers will send a fourth-round pick (lower of the two they currently hold) to the Florida Panthers in exchange for forward Frank Vatrano. Vatrano, set to become an Unrestricted Free Agent after the season, will head to Broadway for at least the next few months. This move looks like a step in the direction to help the Rangers’ much-maligned 3rd line. The Massachusetts native best season was back in 2018-19 when he produced 39 points. He won’t generate a lot of offense but should help the at times porous five v 5.
The Rangers will take on the full $2.53 AAV. It matters, and it doesn’t matter. New York has $32 million in cap space, so it doesn’t matter, but they did just help one of the better teams in the league free up $2.5 million from their books.
This is most likely not the only move Rangers GM Chris Drury will make prior to Monday’s 3 pm EST deadline. It’s unclear if he will make a big splash or just add a few more pieces to balance out the bottom six.
