The New York Rangers made a surprise splash in the UFA market yesterday closing a deal to bring Evgeni Malkin to town for the next three years. The move came as a bit of surprise with most expecting the Rangers to continue to rebuild going into an expected strong draft class.

“When you have an opportunity to add a player like Evgeni Malkin you have to take it every time.” said GM Todd Westacott.

“We took a look at the current landscape of the Eastern Conference and we felt like there were really 4 teams making a push and alot of teams either taking a step back or going into a full rebuild. With some of the youth we have hitting our lineup and already in our lineup we felt like we were in a position to maybe make a couple of moves and we could be a playoff team.”

When asked about concerns surrounding Malkins age and health Westacott had this to say….

“We know he had a tough year last year but Malkin standards and he had some injury concerns but we feel like he is having that addressed and will bounce back this upcoming season. At the end of the day if you can add a Evgeni Malkin to your lineup without having to give up anything you make that move every time.”

Malkin will join an up and coming lineup that already boasts Kyle Connor, Matt Tkachuk, Martin Necas, Jordan Kyrou and Ilya Sorokin and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Over the three years that Malkin signed for in New York there is a parade of high end young talent expected to hit the roster that can only be made better by his presence. It will be interesting to see where the Rangers go from here in 2021.