Will the Rangers be celebrating this summer?

Recently, Ryan Lambert suggested that the Edmonton Oilers would be looking to shake things up in the near future and suggested the Rangers as a trading partner. This prompted Dave to look at some possibilities between the two clubs and correctly noted there would need to be a lot of work done to get a deal done. Basically a deal between the two clubs remains a very long shot.

What all this theorising and suggesting does do however is emphasise one thing: The Rangers should stay the path and stay true to their own internal development. Why do the Edmonton Oilers have glaring needs that they need to address? In part because of a failure to develop their own draft picks. Goalies such as Devan Dubnyk have failed to live up to their draft status, defenseman such as Alex Plante have not emerged at all and highly touted forwards such as Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson have adapted slower than expected thus far.

The opposite can be said of the Rangers. The Rangers team is stacked with draft success stories such as Lundqvist, Callahan, Hagelin and almost the entire defense. Naturally the Oilers would enviously look to the Rangers and their ability to churn out prospects in recent years and of course, would gaze eagerly over the Rangers prospects outside of the NHL right now. But seller beware… The Rangers don’t need to make a move right now but instead should continue to build the franchise from the bottom up and make sure the pipeline to the NHL remains flowing.

The Oilers want defense but the Rangers don’t really have much to give. The Rangers certainly don’t have a spare NHL goalie to move. The Oilers have plenty of offense but really, unless they want to give away Taylor Hall, there is no need for the Rangers to upset their apple cart. The vast majority of the league would give away their mothers to have the Rangers projected top six.

The Blueshirts top six is young, yet with experience, blessed with size and skill and has elite, proven game changers. In addition, with Nash they already made their big move. The Rangers have an array of young talents currently developing around the hockey globe including Christian Thomas (who is trying to get back on track and doing quite well in the process), JT Miller, Oscar Lindberg and Jesper Fasth. Basically, the Rangers don’t need to go outside of the organisation should they require new recruits. There is absolutely no need.

Sometimes the media don’t have much to write about. They naturally assume a trade between two clubs no matter how tenuous makes for good reading and to an extent it’s true. In times of a lockout there isn’t much to write about. The Rangers don’t need to grab the headlines with a big sexy move. The sexier move is the one that picks up the Stanley Cup in June.

The Rangers and Glen Sather have done well, continue to have a bright future and just need to stay the course. Lambert’s article is thought provoking but all it serves up (in my humble opinion) is yet more proof that the Rangers are moving in the right direction and shows just how much talent the club really does possess. Good times ahead.

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