The blockbuster Rangers-Oilers McDonagh trade that never was
The estimable Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s 31 Thoughts column referred this week to an unidentified blockbuster trade then-but-not-now Edmonton general manager Peter Chiarelli had been working on, but did not complete, at the 2016 entry draft.
The blockbuster, Slap Shots has confirmed with multiple sources, would have been with the Rangers and it would have sent Ryan McDonagh to the Oilers in exchange for the fourth-overall selection in the draft the Blueshirts intended to use on Clayton Keller of the USNDT.
There would have been additional components to the trade, but that would have formed the foundation of it. The Rangers — coming off their white-flag, five-game, first-round surrender to the Penguins — not only understood the time was at hand for a makeover, but recognized McDonagh represented their most marketable commodity.
We are told conversations with a handful of teams ensued, with Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon believed a primary target and linemate Gabriel Landeskog a secondary one, but rival GMs did not hold McDonagh in quite the same esteem as the Rangers.
Talks with Chiarelli were at a serious stage, we’re told. But the Oilers declined to go through with it. A few days later, instead, Edmonton traded Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas — er, Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson — and the Blueshirts triggered their relatively short-lived rebuild-on-the-fly phase by sending Derick Brassard to Ottawa for a return that featured Mika Zibanejad.
McDonagh, of course, remained with the Blueshirts until last year’s trade deadline, when he was sent to Tampa Bay with J.T. Miller in exchange for Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, last year’s first and either this year’s first (if the Lightning win the Cup) or second (if they don’t).
Keller, whom the Coyotes coveted, remained on the board until the Coyotes could nab him at seventh-overall following the selections of Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Jesse Puljujarvi, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Olli Juolevi and Matthew Tkachuk.
If the Rangers’ poorest organizational decision was choosing Dan Boyle over Anton Stralman when the defensemen both became free agents following 2013-14 — and it was, do not even dare to toss around Corsi or anything else to try and justify that call — naming McDonagh captain that summer represented their second-biggest mistake.
It isn’t that I believe McDonagh’s brand of leadership held the Rangers back from winning a Cup, because that ship had sailed by the time the “C” had been sewn onto his sweater. Remember, too, the Blueshirts won the Presidents’ Trophy with a 53-22-7 record in No. 27’s first season as captain in 2014-15, and were battered by significant injuries before losing Game 7 of the conference finals at home to the Lightning.
The reason naming McDonagh captain became a mistake is because it placed a burden on him that was at least a factor in weighing down his play his last three seasons on Broadway, when just about everything — including his right-side partners — broke down around him. The enduring memory of McDonagh on Broadway should have been of him unencumbered and healthy. By the time he left, he was neither.
Calgary as the West’s first-place team, not to mention by a noteworthy six-point margin over San Jose and seven ahead of Winnipeg and Nashville (even if the Jets hold three games in hand), would rate as a most unexpected first-half development.
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SAN JOSE, Calif. — This past March, as the Islanders…
But nothing, and I mean nothing, comes close to as big an All-Star snapshot surprise as the Islanders being one point ahead of the Maple Leafs, with each having played 49 games and with 33 to go.
Here, you get our best player. In exchange, we’ll take Matt Martin and Leo Komarov. We good?
Here is the unknowable unknown: Just how good would the Barry Trotz Islanders be with John Tavares, and please, please, if you’re going to tell me the team is better off without that selfish, pajama-boy 91, you can go stand over there with the people who think Boyle was a better choice than Stralman.
Elite Eight: 1. Tampa Bay; 2. Winnipeg; 3. Calgary; 4. Washington; 5. Nashville; 6. Islanders; 7. Toronto; 8. San Jose.
Perhaps they carry the curse of the old, never-lamented Southeast Division, but if there is a lifetime achievement award for Unfulfilled Expectations, wouldn’t it be shared by the Carolina Candy Canes and the Florida Puddy Tats, always promising more and somehow delivering less.
I’d suggest naming it the Brian Burke Award.
There are nights and moments when the NHL not only gets it right, and all of it, but sets the standard for pro sports.
Friday, when Kendall Coyne, the USA’s Women’s Team Olympic gold medalist out of Chicago, sprinted to a 14.346-second lap in the fastest skater competition at Skills Night in San Jose, was one of those instances.
If you can skate, you can skate.
She can skate.