Confirmed with Link: Nils Lundkvist Requests Trade

[jerseyjinx94]

Sick rebuild. Thank god for the letter.

I don’t necessarily think they handled it incorrectly. The organization is unique in the league as it’s one of the few teams able to attract talent aside from its rebuild. Just ignoring that and not taking advantage of it would be foolish. That’s how we got Panarin, Trouba, and Fox. I do think they’re a little out of touch with how young players feel these days though and that has killed the value of the young players more than their play. They should have foresaw the Lundkvist issue and traded him before it was publicly known. This board has been positing a Lundkvist trade for probably 15 months. The same thing will happen to Robertson or Jones. They’re not gonna play as Hartford “insurance” forever. Should have moved Lundkvist for a first rounder or something when he was highly touted to backfill with a younger asset who is not as close. Something like that.

They need to identify which prospects they like most and move the others or move someone above them to create opportunity. They’re just holding them. Then you have to backfill Hartford with new younger players. But if they just continue to collect the assets and not move them before they get frustrated or lose value, I don’t really see how we can sit here and blame the players for wanting what’s best for their careers. It’s the organization’s error in assessment. Everyone is so quick to blame the players as “not a winning player” or “not wanting to put in the work,” but it’s not about that. I work in a firm where I am a lower level associate but it’s a big time firm. If I had the opportunity to be partner at a relatively similar firm, I may want that opportunity. Maybe I wouldn’t. Some would say I didn’t want to put in the work to make partner at my current firm but I really don’t owe them anything. It’s my life and my career. I want the best opportunity for advancement and income and I don’t have to go through a process to get that. Same thing applies to Nils and all these guys.

Also Using Chytil or Laffy as examples of guys who have sucked it up and stuck it out despite lack of opportunity is disingenuous. Those guys have been in the NHL pretty much since they’ve been drafted. But rest assured the Rangers deployment of them has cost them money, just on a likely more tolerable scale than those not on the roster.

 

[Machinehead]

Sick rebuild. Thank god for the letter.

We have the most talented roster we've had in at least three decades and Lundkvist is demanding a trade because we have too many good players at his position.

So yes.

 

[Fitzy]

Anaheim in 2013 has like 5 goalies competing for a starting spot.

John Gibson was their recent high draft pick.
Frederick Andersen was a shrewd re-draft of a guy tearing up the Swedish league
Jonas Hiller was a long term starter who never got any Vezina votes but had posted very clearly starter-caliber numbers for most of his career

Fasth was a highly regarded mid-career transfer at the time.

Everyone knew something had to give in the organization. NYR are in a similar predicament at RD.

NYR were never going to play 3 defensemen under 6 foot and 190 lbs at the same time. The path is hard enough for Zac Jones just given the PP situation.

 

[Larrybiv]

If he truly believes that he can't possibly beat out Schneider, that says something very unflattering about his compete level.

While I think most of us believe Schneider will be the 3RD, that spot is by no means guaranteed.

Pretty much what I was thinking. Not willing to work for what he wants. "Just trade me, and give me an easier path". If he is so talented offensively with his "good shot, et al" then all he has to do is out defend Schneider. Schneider was in the right place at the right time, but still had to beat out veterans. We want winners, not losers looking for the easy way out. Send him packing back to Boston, or hold him prisoner here, to get his mind right. lol.

 

[TGWL]

The thing is, it sucks as fans to continuously draft these young guys and have them want out, but there is a culmination of factors that lead to this. Number 1, the roadblock. It’s not a lack of compete level thing. More opportunity leads to more ice time which leads to more money sooner. Lundkvist playing in Hartford again does not help him get a lucrative first contract. That’s is a huge part of why these guys want to be in the NHL.

The Rangers are full of talent, and veteran talent, which blocks their opportunity. Some of the guys are willing to put the work in and work their way through it but you better believe the Rangers have a deep veteran team has cost Kakko, Chytil, and probably Lafreniere, Kravtsov, and Miller, money. This is their job, career, yes it’s a game and their passion but they are trying to make career moves to maximize their experience and value. You can’t blame them for that. The organization collected assets but didn’t prioritize those assets. A very strange and questionable posture.

It's a tough situation and almost a good situation to find yourself in until you handcuff yourself with the salary cap. When you draft a ton of young talent and your team is good enough to be competitive without them, you're typically in a good spot. Rangers went through a rebuild but signed key guys like Panarin, Fox, and Trouba. They extended Kreider and ZIbanejad. They added bottom toughness / harder to play against players. Spots became very limited and we loaded up on prospects. I'm sure we'd all like to see most of our higher end, under 23 prospects make the team and be here for the next competitive wave, but that's not feasible.

I don't think Rangers expected their outcome. Lucked into a #2 and #1 lottery spot. Extended Kreider right before winning the #1 pick. Like I said, it could be a good situation to find yourself in when you have roadblocks on young pieces you once valued, but for fans, you hate to see it happen.

 

[LORDE]

Anaheim in 2013 has like 5 goalies competing for a starting spot.

John Gibson was their recent high draft pick.
Frederick Andersen was a shrewd re-draft of a guy tearing up the Swedish league
Jonas Hiller was a long term starter who never got any Vezina votes but had posted very clearly starter-caliber numbers for most of his career

Fasth was a highly regarded mid-career transfer at the time.

Everyone knew something had to give in the organization. NYR are in a similar predicament at RD.

NYR were never going to play 3 defensemen under 6 foot and 190 lbs at the same time. The path is hard enough for Zac Jones just given the PP situation.

All true... but currency is only good if you use it.

Seems to me that Nils wasn't a bad pick, but maybe we held onto him too long and now his value is dropping. Maybe thats the gamble we took?

 

[Daves a mess]

I don’t necessarily think they handled it incorrectly. The organization is unique in the league as it’s one of the few teams able to attract talent aside from its rebuild. Just ignoring that and not taking advantage of it would be foolish. That’s how we got Panarin, Trouba, and Fox. I do think they’re a little out of touch with how young players feel these days though and that has killed the value of the young players more than their play. They should have foresaw the Lundkvist issue and traded him before it was publicly known. This board has been positing a Lundkvist trade for probably 15 months. The same thing will happen to Robertson or Jones. They’re not gonna play as Hartford “insurance” forever. Should have moved Lundkvist for a first rounder or something when he was highly touted to backfill with a younger asset who is not as close. Something like that.

They need to identify which prospects they like most and move the others or move someone above them to create opportunity. They’re just holding them. Then you have to backfill Hartford with new younger players. But if they just continue to collect the assets and not move them before they get frustrated or lose value, I don’t really see how we can sit here and blame the players for wanting what’s best for their careers. It’s the organization’s error in assessment. Everyone is so quick to blame the players as “not a winning player” or “not wanting to put in the work,” but it’s not about that. I work in a firm where I am a lower level associate but it’s a big time firm. If I had the opportunity to be partner at a relatively similar firm, I may want that opportunity. Maybe I wouldn’t. Some would say I didn’t want to put in the work to make partner at my current firm but I really don’t owe them anything. It’s my life and my career. I want the best opportunity for advancement and income and I don’t have to go through a process to get that. Same thing applies to Nils and all these guys.

Also Using Chytil or Laffy as examples of guys who have sucked it up and stuck it out despite lack of opportunity is disingenuous. Those guys have been in the NHL pretty much since they’ve been drafted. But rest assured the Rangers deployment of them has cost them money, just on a likely more tolerable scale than those not on the roster.

Then Nils should of told his agent to zip his yap, report to camp, play his best, and make other teams line up to want the player who he thinks he is. He's getting paid to play under contract for the NY Rangers.

 

[Ruggs225]

Has it been confirmed that he will mot report? Or was this just Brooks speculation?

 

[effen]

All true... but currency is only good if you use it.

Seems to me that Nils wasn't a bad pick, but maybe we held onto him too long and now his value is dropping. Maybe thats the gamble we took?

The idea you can both predict the future and trade guys at their zenith for fantastic returns is wishcasty.

Keeping him for depth on your cup level team is a lot more valuable than a 15 pick jump from the middle of the second to bottom of the first. Every team ever does what the Rangers are doing.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Has it been confirmed that he will mot report? Or was this just Brooks speculation?

Seemed pretty definitive and Brooks has a direct line to Lemieux who is his agent.

 

[jerseyjinx94]

Then Nils should of told his agent to zip his yap, report to camp, play his best, and make other teams line up to want the player who he thinks he is. He's getting paid to play under contract for the NY Rangers.

I think you missed the second part of my post.

The NHL has contract requirements that forces Lundkvist to be under contract with the Rangers. Nothing requires him to actually play for the Rangers. He can go to Sweden if they don’t trade him or he can retire.

Why should Lundkvist not seek better opportunities for his career? Bc fans want to maximize his trade value?

Also his agent is Claude Lemieux I think. Good luck getting him to zip his yap lol

 

[NickyFotiu]

“He was awesome, I thought he was our best player for the entirety of the season,” Hartford’s assistant coach turned player development assistant Casey Torres told The Post. “He was so dynamic. He created offense from high and low probability situations. He competed hard. Such great vision on the ice and just a real dynamic presence for us offensively on the back end.”

That does not sound like Zac Jones was pouting at all. I do not like that that rumor was put in to this thread based on hearsay. I do not think that is fair to Zac.

 

[bobbop]

Don't confuse predicting the future with 20/20 hindsight. The Panarin, Kreider and Trouba contracts were all pre-covid/salary cap freeze. Lundkvist was drafted before Trouba and Fox were obtained.

That's why so many conversations here are real silly. I don't know what the Rangers are going to do at the trade deadline, next summer or beyond until I see what happens this year. Circumstances change constantly. Many are in the team's control, but many are not. Get to an inflection point and make your decisions(s) I'm sure the Rangers are doing their due diligence on the trade market and I expect if Lundkvist is indeed forcing the issue something will happen by next week.

One thing that gives me a lot of hope for this management team was the very straightforward decisions to a) spend money and asset capital at the trade deadline and b) to ditch Strome (and others) and sign Trocheck. No screwing around. Make your decision and execute against it. That kind of thinking will be smart and necessary going forward.

I think you missed the second part of my post.

The NHL has contract requirements that forces Lundkvist to be under contract with the Rangers. Nothing requires him to actually play for the Rangers. He can go to Sweden if they don’t trade him or he can retire.

Why should Lundkvist not seek better opportunities for his career? Bc fans want to maximize his trade value?

Also his agent is Claude Lemieux I think. Good luck getting him to zip his yap lol

He can go to Sweden, but I don't think he can play there unless the Rangers assign him to Lulea. He is under an NHL contract that the SHL will honor.

 

[bhamill]

The thing is, it sucks as fans to continuously draft these young guys and have them want out, but there is a culmination of factors that lead to this. Number 1, the roadblock. It’s not a lack of compete level thing. More opportunity leads to more ice time which leads to more money sooner. Lundkvist playing in Hartford again does not help him get a lucrative first contract. That’s is a huge part of why these guys want to be in the NHL.

The Rangers are full of talent, and veteran talent, which blocks their opportunity. Some of the guys are willing to put the work in and work their way through it but you better believe the Rangers have a deep veteran team has cost Kakko, Chytil, and probably Lafreniere, Kravtsov, and Miller, money. This is their job, career, yes it’s a game and their passion but they are trying to make career moves to maximize their experience and value. You can’t blame them for that. The organization collected assets but didn’t prioritize those assets. A very strange and questionable posture.

What? I'd say they prioritized the assets very well: hence all the DMen playing on the NYR roster are superior as players and/or prospects to Nils... He's blocked by better players who SHOULD have priority over him.
Now if you are saying they should have traded him while his value was higher, that's easy in hindsight, but did we KNOW Miller would be this good or Schneider would be ready at 20?

We have the most talented roster we've had in at least three decades and Lundkvist is demanding a trade because we have too many good players at his position.

So yes.

EXACTLY.

 

[Levitate]

Pretty much what I was thinking. Not willing to work for what he wants. "Just trade me, and give me an easier path". If he is so talented offensively with his "good shot, et al" then all he has to do is out defend Schneider. Schneider was in the right place at the right time, but still had to beat out veterans. We want winners, not losers looking for the easy way out. Send him packing back to Boston, or hold him prisoner here, to get his mind right. lol.

I think he sees the organization prefers Schneider and he's not wrong in that. The Rangers love Schneider's size and potential to be a solid defensive guy who can move the puck effectively as well.

I think he's reading the situation correctly. He'd have had to come in and wow the Rangers in order to be the preferred player at the available position at this point.

As for holding onto him too long...I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers have been listening on offers for him for awhile but his play at the start of last season and play in the AHL is far more likely to have been what has tanked his trade value than anything about him asking out. I like Lundkvist and wouldn't be surprised if he goes on to have a good NHL career, but even considering it isn't easy to transition to the NHL and north american style game, his stretch here and the AHL didn't do him any favors in the trade value department.

 

[LORDE]

The idea you can both predict the future and trade guys at their zenith for fantastic returns is wishcasty.

Keeping him for depth on your cup level team is a lot more valuable than a 15 pick jump from the middle of the second to bottom of the first. Every team ever does what the Rangers are doing.

It's not wishcasting to say "Yeah we drafted this kid but at his absolute best, he's still no Adam Fox... yet they both play the exact same position" so you deal him at some point.

I even said "maybe" that was the gamble we went with.

One thing is for sure, when you wait until his camp says "We're out" his value is diminished.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Has it been confirmed that he will mot report? Or was this just Brooks speculation?

All speculation.

 

[Levitate]

It's not wishcasting to say "Yeah we drafted this kid but at his absolute best, he's still no Adam Fox... yet they both play the exact same position" so you deal him at some point.

I even said "maybe" that was the gamble we went with.

One thing is for sure, when you wait until his camp says "We're out" his value is diminished.

again, what's to say they haven't been trying to trade him for awhile now? It's likely they haven't gotten good offers and this is Lundkvist's attempt to get them to move him for anything/a lower value than the team hopes for

 

[bhamill]

again, what's to say they haven't been trying to trade him for awhile now? It's likely they haven't gotten good offers and this is Lundkvist's attempt to get them to move him for anything/a lower value than the team hopes for

Yeah. It's hard to say.
My take is they have to nip this failing to report stuff (if he does that) in the bud, and just toll his contract. They can get a 3rd at the draft for him if that's all he's worth, meanwhile Nils (and Claude) get zero for the season. Set the precedent, or every player that gets blocked will think it's fine to just not show up.

 

[LORDE]

again, what's to say they haven't been trying to trade him for awhile now? It's likely they haven't gotten good offers and this is Lundkvist's attempt to get them to move him for anything/a lower value than the team hopes for

Well yeah... of course... what's to say there wasn't a deal in front of them they should've taken?

I mean we can play that game also.

I'm not Drury and I'm not a scout etc. Just calling it like I see it from where I'm sitting.

 

[nyr2k2]

Arthur Staple also reported it was "80%" that he wouldn't report.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Arthur Staple also reported it was "80%" that he wouldn't report.

lol. "80%"

Literally just pulled a number out of his ass to try and stay relevant I guess in the offseason.

Glad we will know in less than a weeks time.

 

[nyr2k2]

lol. "80%"

Literally just pulled a number out of his ass to try and stay relevant I guess in the offseason.

Glad we will know in less than a weeks time.

To provide the full context, this is what he wrote:

"One source put it at “80 percent” that Lundkvist will not attend Rangers camp if GM Chris Drury hasn’t moved him by the 21st, preferring to remain in Sweden to keep training."

Rangers notebook: Lundkvist's complicated situation, Vesey comeback, D-man PTO?

The Rangers could be turning to their PTO options for depth as questions remain in the lower lineup spots.

theathletic.com

 

[mas0764]

Writing has been on the wall for a while that Nils would be the one moved, and if it was for a talented forward, especially center, I remain all for it. They have their work to do however because by letting this leak out they are losing their leverage.

Inexperienced GMing.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Writing has been on the wall for a while that Nils would be the one moved, and if it was for a talented forward, especially center, I remain all for it. They have their work to do however because by letting this leak out they are losing their leverage.

Inexperienced GMing.

Lol.