New York, New York

Much has been made in recent months about the New York Rangers and how close they really are to contending for a championship. GM Todd Westacott shock up the SHL world early in the season in a deal that sent highly touted youngster Dawson Mercer along with two 1st Round picks and Ryan Suter to Vancouver in exchange for Mika Zibanejad, Jeff Petry, Kevin Shattenkirk and Elvis Merzlikens. After that trade was announced the Rangers set the SHL world on fire winning 11 in a row going 18-2 over their next 20 games. The magic seemed to run out though as the Rangers have played .500 hockey ever since falling to 3rd in their division and at risk of missing home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Over the course of he last 30 games the Rangers front office and GM Todd Westacott have taken alot of criticism for not being more active on the trade front to improve the defense and bring in some help to make a push as a true contender. In fact the only deal they have made since that blockbuster was to trade a middle round draft pick for depth defenseman Michael Del Zotto. Many believe that with the Rangers wealth in prospect depth it only made sense to put a package together for a top pairing defenseman. Rumour has it that Todd Westacott has had numerous conversations with multiple different teams that might have a #1 D available, but that the asking cost was always too high for him and the Rangers front office to stomach. Often that cost included at least one of superstar prospects Anton Lundell, Alex Newhook or Matthew Boldy all of which Westacott has been adamant were not on the table indicating the right deal was out there that would not cost the Rangers one of those three names.

On Monday night Westacott found that deal and made the announce he hopes will shake up the SHL once again.

The official Twitter and Instagram accounts an hour ago posted an image of superstar franchise defenseman Aaron Ekblad with the caption “Game On!”. It wasn’t long after that GM Westacott and a group of front office staff members called a press conference and took to the podium to announce the deal.

“This team was built for the future. Alot of hard work, alot of patience and quite frankly alot of losing has been endured by the Rangers fanbase to build up a great deal of wealth in prospect depth to build that future. We did our homework, we built through the draft and we waited patiently. This season we have seen the fruits of that labour with a number of big names looking poised to make an impact at the pro level next season. Names like Kyrou, Newhook, Lundell, Boldy, Podkolzin, Texier and Tippett. 

Amid a whirlwind of camera flashes Westacott continued.

“The Rangers fanbase have patiently watched their team miss the playoffs for four straight years while we went through the rebuilding process. They deserved better then moving the high end prospects we have worked so hard to acquire in deals that returned mediocre pieces to compete as a playoff bubble team. They deserved the patience that it takes to bide our chips until the time was right and the right opportunities presented themselves. They deserved to build a true contender for years to come. With that said we would like to make the following announcement….”

More camera flashes

“The New York Rangers have come to an agreement to send Cole Sillinger, Fabian Lysell and our 1st round pick in this years draft to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Aaron Ekblad. Will will take a few quick questions before we wrap up and get back to working the phones.”

Reporter: The front office has been very clear in their stance that they would not mortgage the future to make a playoff run this year. What convinced you to make this move?

“We believe that Aaron Ekblad is a game changer and will transform the Rangers defense for years to come. He can provide offense in the attacking zone, stability in the defensive zone and is a lethal powerplay weapon. He improves our team in every area of the game and strengthens us in an area we felt we were most weak not just this season but for a few seasons to come. We believe Aaron Ekblad makes us a true cup contender not just this year but for at least the next few years.”

Reporter: Why Sillinger and Lysell going the other way?

“Almost every team we talked to for a #1 D were all adamant that one of Anton Lundell, Alex Newhook or Matthew Boldy needed to go the other way. We identified those three very early in the rebuild as being special players that we wanted to build around so we weren’t prepared to make any push this season if it meant sacrificing one of them. We hate to give up young players with the talent of Sillinger and Lysell but the reality is that our system is very deep in high end forwards and you have to give up those kinds of players to get someone the calibre of Aaron Ekblad. We spent some good young assets from an area we are very rich in to bring in a young stud in an area we are fairly thin.”

Reporter: Did you think there was a deal out there for you of this magnitude?

“I believed all along that the right deal was out there if we were willing to be patient. We knew we weren’t giving up Lundell, Newhook or Boldy but didn’t think anyone else was either. We also knew there were very few teams with our depth in high end prospects so that when the right player came available we could put together a package that would be very difficult to beat and that we didnt have to include any of the big three to do that.”

Reporter: How does this change the plan for deadline day and for next season?

“I started this press conference by stating that this team was built for the future…… well the Rangers future is now! Game on Eastern Conference! The Rangers are coming!”