Confirmed with Link: Rangers trade D Bitetto to Sharks for C/RW Nick Merkley

[RangersFan1994]

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[cwede]

Pack been dressing 10/8, needed F's

 

[Fitzy]

That highlight goal by Bitteto last year was a nice little moment for his career.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Merkley is a pretty decent return for Bitetto.

 

[RangersFan1994]

Merkley is a pretty decent return for Bitetto.

I wanted him in his draft year. I can see him fitting well here

 

[GAGLine]

Pack been dressing 10/8, needed F's

Yeah, especially with the addition of Scanlin. Good move.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

Merkley looks like a shorter Chytil

 

[will1066]

Merkley is a pretty decent return for Bitetto.

Not familiar with him. Can you describe? Besides looking like a shorter Chytil?

 

[Creepingjeff]

Solid AHL trade. Bitetto is a fringe NHL to good AHL defensemen, which is a position the Rangers have loads of depth at. He is 31 so he is what he is. Merkley right now is a fringe NHL to good AHL forward who is 24. They have an area of need at Hartford at forward. This is a really good trade for Hartford and who knows, maybe he plays a few games in NHL for them, which was probably not going to be the case for Bitetto at this point. Also a reminder on Bitetto that he was signed to a two year deal so we could meet the minimums on available players for the expansion draft so to get anything that might be useful out of that signing is pretty good when it was clear what purpose it served at the time.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Not familiar with him. Can you describe? Besides looking like a shorter Chytil?

Lol he does look like a short Chytil.

My knowledge of him is pretty limited but my buddy used to do the radio PBP for the Devils' minor league team in Binghamton and he played for them in 2019 so I watched a fair amount of his games that year bc I wanted to listen to my friend call the game lol. He's a pretty skilled player who seems to have really good hockey IQ for the AHL. He's kind of almost a AAAA player where he probably shouldn't be in the AHL but he's not really good enough for the NHL. He's a below average skater I think and he's undersized so that's never a good combination for a guy trying to make the league these days but still, he'll be just 25 in a couple months and was a 1st round pick. He could probably be a big help for Hartford's offense going into the playoffs. As a return for 31 year old Bitetto I don't think you can really do much better.

 

[cwede]

Merkley will be UFA (Group 6),
but i could see NYR re-sign him mostly for Pack depth, still young-ish (25 in May),
and like Brodzinzki, has gotten into some NHL games almost (4 of 5) every pro season

 

[Larrybiv]

Let's "face it" (Get it?) This organization NEEDS Centers, and you just never know. Give someone an opportunity (maybe a LAST opportunity) and maybe, just maybe they find something to add to their repertoire and surprise unsuspecting fans and mgmt.

 

[will1066]

Lol he does look like a short Chytil.

My knowledge of him is pretty limited but my buddy used to do the radio PBP for the Devils' minor league team in Binghamton and he played for them in 2019 so I watched a fair amount of his games that year bc I wanted to listen to my friend call the game lol. He's a pretty skilled player who seems to have really good hockey IQ for the AHL. He's kind of almost a AAAA player where he probably shouldn't be in the AHL but he's not really good enough for the NHL. He's a below average skater I think and he's undersized so that's never a good combination for a guy trying to make the league these days but still, he'll be just 25 in a couple months and was a 1st round pick. He could probably be a big help for Hartford's offense going into the playoffs. As a return for 31 year old Bitetto I don't think you can really do much better.

The shorter-Chytil thing was just my riffing on @Kakkling Lafter's previous post. Had no idea what he even looked like.