Then trade him to someone who can re-sign him. Or ask yourself why you've been trying to trade him all season. The Rangers have the 3rd best PK in the league. They have the 10th best power play. Why would they disrupt either unit?
It's too much, in part, because the Rangers have NO cap room next season. Strome will have to walk regardless of whether or not we bring in someone at the deadline (unless he takes a pay cut, which would be absurd as he's earned a raise). Chytil is our only cost-controlled center with top six upside. He's been blocked by Zib and Strome pretty much since he's been here. He's a player I 100% expect to break out once he starts getting regular playing time with top six players. So it baffles me that they would bring in ANOTHER player to block him (especially since we wouldn't be able to re-sign him after next year due to the cap crunch).
It's too much because Schneider is a key building block on the right side of our defense, and the player that will let us move on from Trouba at some point, freeing up that cap space.
It's too much because the Rangers aren't really a threat to win the Cup this season. Half the team isn't finished with puberty yet, and only a couple of guys have even experienced playoff hockey (and it was years ago for those guys).
It's too much because we don't need a #1 center. We have one. He's better than Miller. We don't even need a second line center in the short term. Strome is fine, and has great chemistry with Panarin. We need young, cost controlled centers. After Chytil, we literally don't have any in the system. So trading Chytil and our 1st to bring in a guy who won't make us any more likely to win the Cup this year or next is a waste of assets.
It's too much because the Rangers, as a franchise, put a priority on character. They took a loss on DeAngelo because of character. They walked away from Nik Zherdev because of character. They walked away from Avery because of character. And they already traded Miller once because of character. Miller then had issues in Tampa and in Vancouver.
You joke about how we think he's "their version of JTM." Look at the production rate for Miller's last two seasons with the Rangers. They are very close to what he's done with Vancouver. The difference is that Vancouver plays him 4+ more minutes per game. He wouldn't get those kinds of minutes on the Rangers. They aren't breaking up Zib/Kreider or Strome/Zibanejad, which leaves 3rd line use and 2nd unit power play time. Why pay top dollar for a player who won't get used enough to justify it?
And again, I go back to my Yandle parallel--both players the same age, in key positions, in that "very good but not elite" category of player. Yandle brought back a 1st, a 2nd, a former 3rd round pick who had just cracked the NHL roster, and a jour
neyman defenseman. Chytil and Schneider each have more value than any of those pieces. And Yandle didn't have a persistent reputation as a locker room cancer dragging him down.
