As I write this on Saturday morning, I am feeling some very mixed emotions about the work Chris Drury did at Friday’s trade deadline. First off, I think it’s fair to say this is one of the wilder deadlines in sometime. Rumors of three-way trades and big pieces changing teams were abundant, right up until the final horn at 3 PM. The Rangers themselves went from looking to add long rumored target Frank Vatrano to hunting for Alex Tuch and the front of the line for Jake Guentzel. Ultimately this wild sequence yielded four new faces moving to the Big Apple, who we will discuss further in this piece. Personally, this is not the haul I wanted to see for the Rangers at a deadline I personally felt was the most important in years. We’ll get more into what I wanted to happen and how I think some of this played out for Chris Drury later, but as always, I am hopeful these moves will work out and that I am ultimately proven wrong. With that said, lets meet the newest Rangers!

Jack Roslovic

We begin with arguably the “biggest name” of the newly acquired Rangers, Jack Roslovic. Roslovic arrives on Broadway after a stint in Columbus, his second home in his brief career, after he made his NHL debut with the Winnipeg Jets. The former first round pick in the 2015 draft just turned 27 years old and is hoping that stop number three in the NHL is his best yet, as are the Rangers! He can play both center and right wing, giving the Blueshirts the kind of positional flexibility that they seem to covet under the current regime. He comes in with 23 points (6 goals and 17 assists) in 40 games this season, with a -9 rating and has won just 41% of faceoffs taken, though he has a small sample size in that department.

While on the surface his offensive numbers aren’t overly impressive, a closer look paints a better picture of late. Number 96, the first Ranger to wear the number since Emerson Etem, has 13 points in his last 12 games and perhaps the jump from the basement to the penthouse of the Metro division can continue that momentum. Perhaps even more important is that the majority of his projection this year has come at even strength, an area where the Rangers struggle at times. It seems he’ll get a crack at playing with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, much in the way that Frank Vatrano did in 2022. While I’m not big on analytics, based on his metrics this season, Roslovic profiles quite similarly to the game Vatrano brought that spring.

If there is a downside to acquiring the Columbus Ohio native, it’s the open question of why his career has stalled out to this point. Outside of a stellar 2022 where he recorded 45 points (22 goals and 23 assists) while playing a strong two way game, it’s been a struggle for him to take the next step, in what was thought to be a good situation in his hometown. While you can’t fault him for how bad his teammates in Columbus have been around him, he is culpable for playing his part in the mess the last two seasons have been for the Jackets. With that being said, acquiring him for a conditional fourth round pick is fine business as he helps make this squad deeper.

Alex Wennberg

The second addition that we’ll highlight is centerman Alex Wennberg, who was acquired earlier in the week from the Kraken. Much like Roslovic, Wennberg has bounced around the league, with stops in Columbus and Florida before his most recent stint with Seattle. After being the 14th overall pick in the 2013 draft Wennberg had a breakout 59-point campaign in 2016-17 before some struggles saw him change teams twice. His time in the Northwest was the best of his career as he became strong two-way player, often drawing other teams best offensive line and shutting them down, while also doing expert work on the penalty kill.

Don’t let his defensive and pass first tendencies fool you though, Wennberg has plenty skill which makes him a threat to contribute in pretty much any setting. While he has just 25 points (9 goals and 16 assists) in 60 games, the 29-year-old should be able to do good work for this Ranger team in a lot of areas. Similar to Roslovic, the majority of his production has come at even strength. Much like Andrew Copp at the 2022 deadline, Wennberg’s analytics profile well as a good fit for this team, especially considering the checking role they’ll have him playing, though he has the flexibility to play further up the lineup as he played with Artemi Panarin in Columbus.

He is expected to play on the third line, centering Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko, which should give the Blueshirts a solid checking and defensive matchup line they can lean on down the stretch and in the playoffs. This line and Wennberg’s play in particular should also help alleviate some of the defensive responsibility from Zibanejad and Kreider, as they try to breakout at even strength offensively. To me there isn’t much downside here as the new number 91, last worn by Vladimir Tarasenko, should be able to impact this team both on and beyond the scoresheet. Acquiring him for a 2024 second round pick and a 2025 fourth round pick is good business as Drury hopes his second of four rentals can get the job done.

Since there is always a pop culture connection on this site and I like to give out nicknames, I’d like to congratulate Alex on officially becoming “Lieutenant Weinberg” from A Few Good Men.

Rhuwedal and Petan

The last two players Chris Drury added to the mix were a pair of depth pieces as the Rangers acquired defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and forward Nick Petan (pictured above in order). Ruhwedel has played 12 seasons in the league for the Sabres and Penguins as a solid depth defenseman. The 33-year-old has also logged 25 playoff games in his career, and helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2016-17. Based off the comments made by Rangers brass, Ruhwedel was brought in here to provide steady depth as the team heads into the playoffs this spring, likely taking the place of usual scratch Zac Jones.

Petan meanwhile has featured prominently for the Iowa Wild (Minnesota’s AHL affiliate) this season with 40 points (12 goals and 28 assists) in 48 games. The former second round pick has never really been able to stick with any team in the league after being a star for the Canadian World Junior squad. Petan has had stops in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver and Minnesota over his nine-year NHL career, with time spent playing for each club’s AHL affiliate as well. His arrival on Broadway means he will likely head for Hartford and help the Wolfpack finish their season in the absence of usual leader Johnny Brodzinski who will stay with the big club through the playoffs as a scratch at the absolute minimum.

While neither player moves the needle much for the 2024 Rangers, good organizational depth is important to have as injuries can strike at any time. Ruhwedel’s arrival is particularly timely as captain Jacob Trouba will be injured for the next 2-3 weeks after getting banged up against the Panthers. Hopefully we don’t see much of either of them, because with all due respect to them, that probably means someone is hurt pretty bad.

State of the Union

Now that you’ve met all the newest Rangers, let’s do a little State of the Union, after all it did just happen this past week. I readily admit I was not happy with the totality of Drury’s work as the clock struck three on Friday, my Twitter tirade will live on as proof of that. I’ll never sit here and pretend I thought this deadline was a homerun for the Rangers when the season comes to a close, which hopefully isn’t for a long time. You all have permission to point and laugh at my takes if I am proved wrong, frankly I’ll join you all laughing at myself if we’re standing there on the parade route in June. But I don’t feel the Rangers did enough to close the gap in a year that feels like it is right there for the taking.

Preseason morale was low for a number of reasons, one of which was that we all felt the eastern conference was absolutely loaded and the Rangers would have a hard time contending for a playoff spot. Two things since that moment have changed, the first was the Rangers raised their level of play under a new coach and have continued to do so aside from a blip in January. The second was the competition in the East, particularly in the Metro division haven’t proved to be much competition at all outside of one team in particular. The once “mighty” Devils have had a nightmare season, the Hall of Famer laden Penguins can’t get out of their own way, the Maple Leafs are over reliant on five players and the Lightning and Bruins aren’t quite their typical dominant selves. All of these teams by the way, are ones the Rangers have handled on several occasions this year. That leaves the Hurricanes, a team the Rangers have owned since the 2022 playoffs and the reigning conference champion Panthers.

We all came away from Monday’s night contest at MSG thinking the Rangers needed to do something a little more substantial than acquire some role players to close the gap on the already loaded Panthers. With all due respect to our new acquisitions, who as you can tell from the above I like, they do not move the needle enough in my opinion to unseat Florida. Especially after they acquired former Ranger sniper Vladimir Tarasenko and former Islander Kyle Okposo, essentially eliminating any weaknesses in their lineup with solid veteran pickups.

To further compound the issue, the Hurricanes finally pushed their chips to the middle of the table after playing the bridesmaid for years. They won the race over the Rangers for Penguins goal scoring winger Jake Guentzel and followed that up with Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov is a bit more of a shot in the dark after he has endured a tough season in DC on and off the ice, but one worth taking given his elite skill and playoff history as a big game player. Guentzel meanwhile was the most sought-after player of the deadline window and with good reason. He is a well-rounded player who has scored goals consistently since he arrived in the NHL. As effective as he is in the regular season, Guentzel typically goes to another level in the playoffs with some terrific numbers over the course of the Penguins many runs. He completes Carolina’s lineup and makes them a tough out in the spring. They’re not unbeatable as they have questions in goal, but it certainly won’t be easy. What is perhaps even more frustrating is the fact that the Rangers made a strong offer for his services but lost out to a rather weak package featuring Michael Bunting and a host of picks that have the potential to become first rounders. Penguins GM Kyle Dubas either isn’t very good at this job or just didn’t want to work with the Rangers…it’s probably a bit of both.

Whether Drury was outbid or Dubas just wanted to continue his love affair with Bunting, we’ll never truly know, but it was assumed that the Rangers would fall back to acquiring the player they were most frequently linked with, winger Frank Vatrano. A long talked about reunion with the winger felt like a great fit that would solve a problem both this year and next given that he was signed through the end of the 24-25. Number 77 made a seamless transition to Broadway in 2022 and was well received by his teammates as he helped the team come within two wins of the finals. Since departing that summer, the winger has become a more consistent goal scorer, making him all the more difficult to acquire this deadline. Despite a high price it was reported that around the time of his visit to New York, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek offered the speedy Vatrano and center Adam Henrique to Drury in exchange for a package that included Kaapo Kakko, a first-round pick and a prospect. In what I would deem a surprising reversal given his long running interest, Drury changed gears and rejected the offer and seemingly moved onto other targets.

Verbeek played hardball and rightfully so, after all, he got a nice return from the Oilers for Henrique and defenseman Sam Carrick in a separate deal. But once Drury acquired Wennberg, it was assumed he would be pivoting to acquiring Vatrano on his own at a lower asset cost. But no deal ever took place, perhaps in part due to the Ducks interest in winger Kaapo Kakko. While I am not number 24’s biggest fan and would have been willing to move him in the right deal, I understand the desire to retain him as there wasn’t enough cap space to replace him if he went the other way, thusly making a strong bottom six forward group weaker. I still feel acquiring a solid, more proven goal scoring winger with term, would have been worth moving some of the Rangers other assets for, but perhaps Drury overplayed a hand he felt he had up his sleeve. As soon as he missed out on Guentzel, he became one of the more desperate GM’s shopping on the market as he had a significant hole to fill on this roster. While you can applaud him for “hanging onto” assets he didn’t want to give up, I would counter that by saying he seemed to go awfully deep on players he coveted and felt the Rangers needed, only to pull back at the finish line. In my opinion it comes off as though he was caught in between on whether or not he should be going for it, and you don’t get to have it both ways in pro sports.

While this is all speculation, I can’t help but feel a bit confused by the course of action taken by the front office. The Rangers are a top five team in the league and probably the second best in a weak Eastern conference. I know they have gone all in many times in the past, at times to their detriment, but when you have the opportunity to win a championship, you have to take a swing at it. This doesn’t mean they needed a star player to come in at this deadline, as nice as Guentzel would have been, but something more substantial than a few role players and relying on internal solutions was warranted in my mind. Peter Laviolette has gotten a lot out of this group from day one and hopefully with the new additions he can take them to the next gear. Yes, there are people who need to be more consistently effective on offense (Mika, Kreider and Kakko) but the job of the front office is to maximize this team’s chances to win right now. Next year and the “future” everyone so badly wants to preserve is not promised, they are as much of a “guess” as bringing in a bigger piece at the deadline. We will never know what could have been with other guys being added or how they would have fit. All we have is the timeline we live in and the players the Rangers acquired, and whether we like them or not, we have no choice but to back the team and prepare for what we hope to be a long playoff run. Let’s go Rangers!

Stay tuned for another episode of the podcast which will be out tomorrow, our last episode dropped on RSS as we encountered some technical difficulties, but those should be resolved for our next release. Our next episode will look back at another week of 30 clubs in 30 days and talk about the NHL trade deadline as a whole. You can find me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Also, check out our new Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. Stay tuned and enjoy the weekend everyone!