Lets evaluate the rebuild returns so far.

[Unusual Suspect]

Not voting since there's no fence-sitting option. If last year's prospect pickups... and Lias Andersson... had performed better this year I'd go all thumbs up. I'm reasonably positive even with that but it's early days. "Happy" is a bit strong for me just now.

 

[Lion Hound]

So since the letter from Gorts and Sather, these players from our core have been traded

Rick Nash
Michael Grabner
Ryan McDonaugh
JT Miller
Mats Zuccarello

Returns (including drafted players and future picks)

Ryan Spooner (traded for Ryan Strome)
Matt Beleskey
Ryan Lindgren
Draft pick that became K'Andre Miller
Yegor Rykov
Vladislav Namestnikov
Libor Hajek
Brett Howden
Draft pick that became Nils Lundkvist
2019 conditional 2nd round pick (becomes 1st if TB wins the cup)
2019 conditional 2nd round pick (becomes 1st if Dallas makes WCF)
2020 conditional 3rd round pick (becomes 1st if Dallas resigns Zucc)
2019 7th round pick

So whats the verdict guys?

Personally i think the Nash trade that became K'Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren was great.
A bit disapointed in the return from Tampa, but Libor Hajek, please prove me wrong

My two cents...

First i think the Organization got it right by making the hard decision to sell off. I don't think the core was solid enough, and much of that IMO was always going 'all-in" at the trade deadline. It depleted the franchise dramatically in terms of prospect depth and forced the scouting staff to really come up big in later rounds. I don't feel this is the way to build a solid franchise in the "New NHL".

Rick Nash- Loved this deal! They got an absolute haul for Nash, who was...and i emphasize WAS a tremendous player. At the time of the trade, Nash i felt was cooked. As the season wore on, you literally got half a shift from Nash where he would show sings of the player of old. But, as soon as that first burst of speed was gone, he skated in sand. He was smart enough to change his game a bit so that he wasn't a defensive liability, but you don't pay players $7.8 million dollars to be defensive forwards. The return for Nash has resulted in not only a very solid 1st round prospect, but also it added a solid roster player in a later move. Also got a reclamation prospect who after two seasons in the AHL, might actually have a change to fill a void left with the exit of McCloud. Lastly, there's Lindren who i think is a better prospect then he gets credit for with Skating and defensive awareness to become a healthy 5/6 Dman for the Rangers, and maybe even a 3/4 guy at some point.

Grabner - Liked this deal for NY even though i hemmed and hawed a bit about it. 2nd rounder, and a good prospect was the true value here. Grabner because of his speed, and PK ability was a super smart business decision. They bought low via free agency, player flourished in this system and the organization continued to re-stock the cupboard adding Rykov who has been very good so far.

Ryan McDonagh- Hated the deal for NY at the time. I think Gorton lost, and continues to lose this deal to this day. Larsson returned Taylor Hall. I felt like McDonagh had more worth then Gorton gave up, and also felt like losing Miller in the deal was like tossing in the towel. Tampa sold super high on Names who is a hard nosed player, but i don't think he will ever be anything more then a bottom 6 guy who you can rely on.

Zuccarello- Emotions aside, i think Gorton slightly loses this deal to Dallas, but there are alot of balls in the air. Per McKenzie the value was a first rounder. The Rangers got a second. We will likely never know the other offers. It was nice to have the "conditionals" and they are significant. I mean, Zucc has legitimate players around him in Dallas. From the small sample size (no pun), i could see him developing rediculous chemistry with Benn or Seguin. Those guys are tremendous players and likely better then anyone Zucc has ever played with. Zucc's vision, and tenacity makes him super valuable to that Dallas club and i could see him re-signing there. I believe they have the cap space. So if it does turn into a 2020 first with him sticking around, i think Gorton turns a loss into a big W.

Hayes- Gorton played a good hand in an interesting market. I think this deal was fair value. Big centers always have value. 1st and a prospect was market price. If Calgary did indeed offer Kylington and their 1st IMO Gorton took the wrong deal. Truth is we will never know? What they did get is a significant return for a pending UFA. I like Lemeiux as a prospect. He's got Moxy. I don't know if the skill level is there, but I do think he is an add. I like that this core gets younger, and adding lil' Lemieux also adds to the competition of the younger lads who will be fighting for roster spots in the future. Im looking at you Lias, and Brett Howden, and Morgan Barron etc.

 

[mas0764]

Cupboard is a lot better than it was. It's clear though that trading rentals is not going to land them the missing blue chip. Something is gonna have to give or this shaping up to be another 2012-2015 squad.

Yeah... they have to lose out this season and increase their odds for a top 3 pick so they can get Hughes, Kakko, Dach or Cozens.

 

[Trxjw]

Was waiting until after the deadline to chime in here, but I think Gorton has done well on every deadline deal he's made. I know some people have concerns because there aren't "sexy" prospects coming back in these deals, but for every "unsexy" prospect you get back that can fill a role on your team, that's one less guy you have to try and find in the draft. It allows the team to take more risks with their draft selections.

The big one that folks take issue with is the McDonagh trade, but when you step back and look at it, the Rangers got the going rate for a high quality defensemen with one year remaining on his deal. Yandle got Moore, Duclair, a 1st, and a conditional pick. Muzzin got two prospects and a 1st. It's pretty clear what the market is for guys like that and that's what the Rangers got in return. You can take issue with the Miller/Namestnikov swap, but what's Miller doing in Tampa now? He's his same old streaky self, pacing for around 50 points, but now he's tied to a long-term contract.

So when you step back and look at the returns on these players in relation to what the rest of the market was returning, Gorton did well to get market value on the players when he could. Time will tell on the draft selections, and those are what will ultimately determine if the rebuild is successful. Looks pretty good thus far though.

 

[will1066]

Just from the change in personnel and along with that the culture, I have to say the rebuild is going at least decently so far. They're hanging around in games against some top teams, and some of them seem to genuinely like one another.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Last year’s first round was *mwah*, beautiful. Miller and Kravstov are elite prospects and Lundkvist is low key excellent as well. Same with the 2017 forst round. Still think Andersson will be very good, maybe not as good as Chytil/Krav but an important piece for sure.

We used deadline returns last year to get both Miller and Lundkvist. Those guys are ten times better than any prospect traded outside of Brannstrom. If we got that level of prospect for Hayes people would be doing backflips.

Still need that one franchise piece to tie it all together. We get that and everything will fall into place.

 

[Larrybiv]

Just from the change in personnel and along with that the culture, I have to say the rebuild is going at least decently so far. They're hanging around in games against some top teams, and some of them seem to genuinely like one another.

And some really "love" one another. Kylington from Calgary could very well have filled a big vacated spot, that Zuccha left behind. Maybe Hank would have bonded with this kid (a defenseman no less) (Father/son kind of relationship) originating from Hank's country.....would have been very interesting to see how that turned out. Big loss there, imo. Lemieux doesn't quite fit the bill.

 

[bl02]

Amazing how so much of this will ultimately rest on the fate of a ping pong ball f***ing lottery. Anyway, I am happy that they are staying the course. 7 first round picks (decent chance for 8 small chance for 9 or 10) in three years is a sure way to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

 

[bl02]

Where is this Calgary's first and Kylington coming from? Of course if that offer was on the table Gorton should have taken it.

 

[GeorgeKaplan]

Amazing how so much of this will ultimately rest on the fate of a ping pong ball ****ing lottery. Anyway, I am happy that they are staying the course. 7 first round picks (decent chance for 8 small chance for 9 or 10) in three years is a sure way to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

I think they’re stockpiling so much stuff so that they don’t necessarily have to rely on the lottery and are prepared if/when some sort of trade option comes up

 

[Leetch3]

Where is this Calgary's first and Kylington coming from? Of course if that offer was on the table Gorton should have taken it.

everyone knows that the only way to judge a trade is to compare it to the imaginary deals you imagined in your head

 

[Waivers]

Really love how the Rangers are targeting more ELC players in transactions. I don’t think Lemeuix is getting flipped next year, even with the ambiguous flipping of players, he seems like a guy you add to the puzzle.

 

[Oscar Lindberg]

The returns have been fair. Obviously you'd like them to be in your favor but at least none have been skewed against the team.

If they win Hughes I'll feel a lot better

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Why is this poll biased towards the negative? Two negative vs. one.

 

[Rempe73]

DeAngelo if he works out, he may have gone higher in his draft
Howden and Hajek likely go higher in a redraft than they did, Lindgren who knows
Chytil likely goes higher than he did, Lias who knows
Kravtsov, Miller likely go higher too, Lundvist who knows.

This logic is kind of flawed

 

[Machinehead]

The returns aren't where you make or break your rebuild. You're going to get market value and you have to take it because you have a limited window in which to make a deal.

Most returns for vets, to be completely honest, end up being nothing.

The draft is where we make our bones.

 

[Off Sides]

This logic is kind of flawed

You're going to have to be more specific than that if you want me to provide more insight into my opinion.

 

[LORDE]

Was waiting until after the deadline to chime in here, but I think Gorton has done well on every deadline deal he's made. I know some people have concerns because there aren't "sexy" prospects coming back in these deals, but for every "unsexy" prospect you get back that can fill a role on your team, that's one less guy you have to try and find in the draft. It allows the team to take more risks with their draft selections.

The big one that folks take issue with is the McDonagh trade, but when you step back and look at it, the Rangers got the going rate for a high quality defensemen with one year remaining on his deal. Yandle got Moore, Duclair, a 1st, and a conditional pick. Muzzin got two prospects and a 1st. It's pretty clear what the market is for guys like that and that's what the Rangers got in return. You can take issue with the Miller/Namestnikov swap, but what's Miller doing in Tampa now? He's his same old streaky self, pacing for around 50 points, but now he's tied to a long-term contract.

So when you step back and look at the returns on these players in relation to what the rest of the market was returning, Gorton did well to get market value on the players when he could. Time will tell on the draft selections, and those are what will ultimately determine if the rebuild is successful. Looks pretty good thus far though.

Expanding on the Miller for Names swap... I call that trade a huge win.

Miller was being shopped and Tampa knows he’s a weak point. He’s there for 4 more years!

Names is done next year and will be shipped at the TDL for another pick. That’s a huge win.

Gorton isn’t just reshaping... all of his moves point to 2021 -2022 as a thing. No bad contracts. No so so contracts even. Not yet.

 

[Crease]

The drunk-at-the-wheel Gomez for McDonagh deals are the exception. Hard to say the Rangers haven't gotten fair value on their sales, other than maybe the (coincidentally) McDonagh to Tampa deal, but they also didn't miss by much.

 

[Rempe73]

Muzzin got two prospects and a 1st.

This trade made me reevaluate the McDonagh trade and criticize it (at first), but when I thought about it:

-Howden is about equal to Grundstrom
-Lundkvist is a better prospect than Durzi (IMO) but let’s just say they’re about equal
-Both the NYR and LAK got a 1st rounder

So what’s left over is Miller for Namestnikov (not a fan), Hajek (was never a huge fan, but he still can become a decent player for us), and the conditional 2nd rounder (which will probably become a 1st, which is awesome). Miller isn’t doing great, and neither is Namestnikov. Thankfully we didn’t sign Vlad to a Miller-type contract, but we still could have gotten a little more for him. If Tampa traded him now, that return (Vlad, Hajek, 2nd) would be great for Miller, but his value was higher when we traded him.

All in all, I think we got fair value for McDonagh, and it will look that much better if Howden/Lundkvist/Hajek reach their potential, and if that 2nd rounder turns into a 1st. If we lost the trade, we didn’t lose it by a significant margin. Just wish we could have gotten at least a little more quality than quantity, but the Nash trade more than makes up for it. That trade was an absolute home run, and I laugh at the Bruins fans that still defend it. We got quality (Miller) and quantity (Lindgren, Spooner/Strome) there.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

The returns have been fair. Obviously you'd like them to be in your favor but at least none have been skewed against the team.

If they win Hughes I'll feel a lot better

I’d be happy getting Kakko, Dach, Cozens, Turcotte, Podz or Byram.

Last year I felt there was a bigger drop off after Dahlin/Svech. There are better options after 1+2 this year.

Get me a top 5 pick and the player we end up drafting will probably be our best prospect.

I’ll be pleased with that, especially if we can trade back into the teens where there are 3~4 other exciting proposals.

 

[Rempe73]

You're going to have to be more specific than that if you want me to provide more insight into my opinion.

Because you’re basically saying that our prospects that are doing well (DeAngelo, Chytil) would go higher in a redraft, while saying “who knows” about our prospects that aren’t doing as well (Andersson). You also said “may go higher.” You’re either talking about how a redraft would go now for everyone, or how it will go in a few years for everyone. It doesn’t make sense to change the scenario for every prospect just to fit your opinion. But other than that, I agree with you for the most part.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

A year later I still support the McD trade, but I felt Miller should have been traded elsewhere, assuming he and Names were 1-1 or close to it. I think we could have gotten a more suitable return. I will also say I expected more from Names as well, although he’s played much better than the first 1/2 of the season.

 

[Off Sides]

Because you’re basically saying that our prospects that are doing well (DeAngelo, Chytil) would go higher in a redraft, while saying “who knows” about our prospects that aren’t doing as well (Andersson, Hajek). You also said “may go higher.” You’re either talking about how a redraft would go now for everyone, or how it will go in a few years for everyone. It doesn’t make sense to change the scenario for every prospect just to fit your opinion. But other than that, I agree with you for the most part.

Fair, I probably should have phrased that better,

My "who knows", does not mean I think they would drop significantly in a redraft, more the ones that I think either would be drafted about where they were, or would have dropped slightly. I would not attempt to create a definitive opinion either way.

On the flip side, Mostly if I look back on those drafts and ran a quick redraft in my mind, those I'm pretty sure which would have been drafted earlier I said as much.

Those who I'm not really sure,"who knows" if they'd drop or stay where they were, some of that may just be my unfamiliarity with the player or my hunches based on just my glimpses of their play to this point.

 

[Tawnos]

My take on this so far is "we've done what we've needed to do" and I think everything else is too early to properly evaluate.