The other shoe finally dropped Saturday, when the New York Rangers cut ties with respected veterans Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.
It’s been long expected that neither would make it past the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline with the Rangers. In fact, it appeared Lindgren’s fate was sealed last summer, when he signed a one-year, $4.5 million contract that walked him straight into unrestricted free agency this summer.
The Rangers did not wish to invest in Lindgren long term, considering his style of play, smaller physical stature and penchant for injury. With the Rangers on the fringe of the playoffs and not exactly a Presidents’ Trophy juggernaut like last season, Lindgren was even more expendable — so it was time to recoup assets for a player the Rangers were not going to re-sign.
Ditto for Vesey, who was a less-valuable piece this season than Lindgren and easy to replace.
The Rangers retained half of Lindgren’s salary cap hit and were able to get a second- and fourth-round pick from the Avalanche in the 2025 NHL Draft, restocking their diminished pool of picks. They also acquired veteran defenseman Calvin de Haan, who’s on an expiring contract, and 24-year-old forward Juuso Parssinen.
So, with the NHL Trade Deadline six days away and the playoff race in full swing, what’s next for the Rangers?
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What’s next for Rangers after making Ryan Lindgren trade with Avalanche
So, here’s the lay of the land for the Rangers ahead of the March 7 trade deadline and further down the road.
Rangers plan for Calvin de Haan, Juuso Parssinen
De Haan is a left-shot defenseman who will take Lindgren’s spot in the lineup, perhaps as soon as Sunday when the Rangers host the Nashville Predators. We will have to see how de Haan’s role changes when Lindgren’s long-time defense partner Adam Fox returns from an upper-body injury. However, that’s down the road since Fox just landed on IR this week and is expected to be out a while.
Lindgren skated on a pairing with Urho Vaakanainen in a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday, so figure de Haan starts there. When Fox, a righty, returns, Vaakanainen is clear to slot back to his natural left side. At that point, coach Peter Laviolette must decide who among de Haan, Vaakanainen or Zac Jones comes out of the lineup and who he pairs with Fox.
The 33-year-old is a placeholder to help the Rangers get through the rest of this season. De Haan is a UFA at season’s end and nearing the end of his career — this is his fifth team in the past four seasons. He’s not returning to Broadway next season.
Parssinen is a 2019 seventh-round draft pick (by Nashville) who’s played 126 games with the Predators and Avalanche. The 24-year-old is a big (6-foot-3, 212 pounds) center who could get a look on the third line if Mika Zibanejad remains on the wing with J.T. Miller.
He’s never scored more than eight goals in a season and has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 37 games this season. Parssinen is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season, but should be back since he provides much-needed organizational depth at the center position.
Reilly Smith’s future with Rangers
The Rangers showed their hand Saturday. They’re not punting on this season, but the priority is to maximize what they can get for players who are not part of the future moving forward. Now that Lindgren and Vesey are gone, that leaves Reilly Smith as a pending UFA on the roster, who won’t be re-signed this summer.
Smith’s been a good soldier this season, playing up and down the lineup and on both special teams. The 33-year-old has 10 goals and 29 points in 58 games this season, helped the Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup in 2023 and could be a nice fit on some contender’s third line.
The Rangers, who are better off giving minutes to rookie Brennan Othmann down the stretch, would love to land another second-round pick by trading Smith. But a third-rounder seems more likely. You have to figure the Rangers will take whatever they can get for Smith before the deadline.
Big summer awaits Rangers
Unless the Rangers can land a younger coveted player, someone like Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram let’s say, they’re unlikely to make another major trade before the deadline. Their big pre-deadline deal was acquiring J.T. Miller on Jan. 31. If they can somehow move injured veteran forward Chris Kreider, the Rangers would probably do it in a heartbeat. But that feels unlikely.
Keep in mind, the Rangers made four significant trades this season, not waiting until the deadline to do all of their business. Gone are Lindgren, Vesey, Jacob Trouba, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini. In are Miller, de Haan, Parssinen, Vaakanainen and Will Borgen.
So, the deadline might be low-key for the Rangers after this trade with the Avalanche. But this summer? That’s a different story.
Well positioned financially and with the salary cap set to rise significantly, the Rangers should be major players in free agency. While forwards Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are juicy options, the Rangers could set their sights — in free agency or via trade — on a top-four defenseman, perhaps someone to pair with Fox for years to come.
Perhaps a Zibanejad trade would help bring back able bodies to further bolster what’s sure to be a new-look Rangers lineup next season.
Hands off
There’s zero chance the Rangers are trading either Othmann or Gabe Perreault. In fact, there’s a better chance each top prospect is in the Rangers lineup near the end of the season than traded before the deadline.
Othmann, New York’s first-round pick in 2021, was recently recalled from AHL Hartford and impressed in a 5-1 win against the Islanders. Perreault, the 2023 first-round selection, is starring for Boston College but could turn pro after his sophomore season ends this spring.
Playoff chase
They won’t invest heavily in trying to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight season, but the it’s not like the Rangers are going to quit now with 23 games to go and just four points out of a wild-card spot entering Saturday’s games.
Fox’s injury and an iffy defense corps won’t make it easy, but the Rangers are good enough and talented enough to make the playoffs. Don’t count on them making a deep run if they do make it, of course, but the playoff chase remains on.
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