New York, New York

The SHL did not expect to hear much from reigning GM of the Year Todd Westacott in the first day of the draft. Afterall his Rangers held no picks in the first round and his focus was on finding a way to defend the President’s trophy and take the next step towards winning that elusive SHL Championship. Westacott had other thoughts though. After a number of back and forth conversations, the Rangers GM turned the draft upside down by agreeing to move Julius Honka, Daniel Sprong, a 2nd round pick and a 3rd round pick to Boston for the number 4 pick overall. Westacott then promptly made his way to the podium and selected big bodied winger Matthew Tkachuk.

“We honestly didn’t anticipate doing much at this draft but when we heard the whispers that Boston might be interested in moving the number 4 pick overall we took a look and really feel in love with the idea of Matthew Tkachuk lining up beside Dylan Strome in the Rangers lineup in the near future. We know how hard it is to acquire top line franchise players and we felt the prospect of Dylan Strome and Matthew Tkachuk leading the Rangers offense for the next decade was too good to passup. We also realized that without a complete rebuild we most likely wouldn’t get another shot at a player like this so we jumped on it.” said Westacott

The Rangers have not been shy about their intent to start looking at a re-tool after this season and have already taken steps towards it while still icing a contending lineup. The process began at the trade deadline with the controversial trade of Shea Weber.

“When you look back at the Shea Weber deal there were a lot of questions and a lot of negative reactions as to why we would trade a franchise number one defenseman while we were first place overall. The reality is that we simply could not retain the lineup we had under the salary cap so we had a choice going forward to either move a few contracts and get younger and cheaper or we would need to go full rebuild in a few years. When you combine the Shea Weber deal with this move today we were able to add a future franchise center in Dylan Strome, a future top line winger in Matthew Tkachuk, and a potential future number 1 defenseman in Nikita Zhadorov. We gave up a franchise defenseman with a big cap hit a former second round pick in Daniel Sprong, a 2nd round pick, a third round pick and a 7th round pick. Those two moves also cleared almost $7 million in cap space when you consider Shea Weber’s new contract. we make those two moves everytime.”

There is no denying that in the past few months the Rangers have gone from a contending team with a depleted farm system who’s window of opportunity was closing, to a contending team with a top line center, top line winger, and a top pairing defenseman waiting in the wings. Not only do the Rangers look to be a contender again this season but they also now have the makings to be a strong contender for the next decade when Strome, Tkachuk, Zhadorov, Pokka and others arrive at the pro level.