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The Rangers are caught in a sort of gray area ahead of this year’s trade deadline, which is Friday at 3 p.m.
Management has maintained hope these Rangers can make the playoffs this season, especially after watching them claw from the basement of the Metropolitan Division to just below the second wild-card spot over the past 2 ¹/₂ months.
It would be folly to mistake hope with faith, however, considering the way this season has gone.
The first move the Rangers made — acquiring Calvin de Haan, Juuso Parssinen and a couple of draft picks from the Avalanche in exchange for Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey and prospect Hank Kempf — indicated their intentions to get what they can for impending unrestricted free agents.
Of their two remaining impending UFAs on Thursday — goalie Jonathan Quick and forward Reilly Smith — Smith was sure to be dealt and ultimately was.
Smith is headed back to Vegas in exchange for a third-rounder in this year’s NHL draft and prospect Brendan Brisson, the team announced.
The Rangers retained 50 percent of the $3.75 million cap hit they acquired Smith for, after Pittsburgh retained 25 percent of his $5 million cap hit this past summer.
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The 33-year-old forward had been held out of the previous three games for roster management purposes, code for trade-related reasons.
After retaining 50 percent of Lindgren and now 50 percent of Smith, the Rangers have one more retention slot remaining and just under $17 million in cap space, per PuckPedia.
They could use this to their advantage leading up to Friday’s cutoff.
Brisson, who is the son of one of the top NHL agents in Pat Brisson and Vegas’ 29th-overall pick in 2020, will report to Hartford after spending a majority of this season with the Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate.
He has just 24 games of NHL experience over this season and last.
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With Adam Fox on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury and Lindgren shipped to Colorado, the Rangers naturally were in the market for another defenseman.
They flipped the third-rounder they acquired earlier in the day from the Smith deal and sent it to Vancouver in order to acquire 6-foot-5 defenseman Carson Soucy.
The 30-year-old comes to New York with one year remaining on his deal after this season, giving the Blueshirts some stability on the back end for the short term.
With a $3.25 million cap hit, the Rangers view Soucy’s acquisition to be at a reasonable number. His performance in a matchup role over 38 playoff games encouraged the Rangers, who also are high on his ability to play both sides.
Additionally, Soucy played with both J.T. Miller (Canucks) and Will Borgen (Kraken), two other new Rangers.
This is a perfect example of the type of deal president and general manager Chris Drury is on the hunt for.
Trades that are not only beneficial for now but also for any sort of future.
Expending young talent and future assets for a rental who might only help them sneak into the playoffs doesn’t appear to be in the plans.
The retool that never was this past summer subtly has been in motion throughout this tumultuous Rangers season.
This is simply the time for further groundwork ahead of what’s to come this summer.