The New York Rangers finished dead last in the Metropolitan Division last season. They were out of the playoff picture before Christmas. A rebuild seemed inevitable.
Then Chris Drury did something that doesn’t exactly fit the tanking script. He traded a first-round pick this year, a third-rounder this year, and a top-10 protected first-round pick in 2028 to the Vegas Golden Knights for Pavel Dorofeyev. That’s two first-round selections for a 25-year-old goal-scorer who just signed a seven-year, $77 million extension with the Rangers.
Dorofeyev has scored 35 and 37 goals in the last two seasons. He put up 12 goals in 22 playoff games this spring for Vegas. He’s a shoot-first player who lives on the power play (20 man-advantage goals last season) and doesn’t create a ton for others. That’s fine. The Rangers need someone who can finish, not another playmaker.
But look at what the Rangers have already done this offseason. They let Artemi Panarin walk. They moved Chris Kreider. Jacob Trouba is gone. Vincent Trocheck’s name keeps floating around in trade rumors. The roster was getting younger and cheaper. Then Drury flipped the script and added a $11 million AAV goal-scorer.
Maybe that means Trocheck stays. Or maybe the Rangers think a line of Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere and Dorofeyev can carry them. That’s a lot of faith in a guy who had 27 assists last year. But the Rangers need a centerpiece, and Dorofeyev is at least a piece.
Why Vegas made the deal
The cap math is brutal. Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Mitch Marner already eat up major space. Dorofeyev wanted a raise the Golden Knights couldn’t give him. So Kelly McCrimmon took the draft capital and moved on.
Vegas flipped the No. 26 pick they got from New York to Montreal for No. 28, then traded down one more spot with Anaheim to No. 29. They took Finnish defenseman Juho Piiparinen, a 17-year-old with size and a decent all-around game. He’s years away from the NHL.
The Rangers used the No. 5 pick they already owned to draft German defenseman Alberts Smits. He’s 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, skates well for his size, plays with a physical edge. Could compete for a roster spot sooner than later.
Dorofeyev led Vegas with 37 goals but finished fourth in points. He was the only pure shooter on a roster full of pass-first players. Without him, Marner might have to adjust his game. The Golden Knights could struggle to score by committee. That’s a real problem for a team that just went to the Stanley Cup Final.
New York gets an A-minus. Vegas gets a B-minus, mostly because they had no real alternative. Sometimes a trade is just two teams making the best of a bad situation.
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