Colin Stephenson: GM Chris Drury starts retool of Rangers with trade of Carson Soucy to Islanders
New York Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
There’s a reason that teams don’t generally like to trade players to their archrivals. The risk a team might deal a player to the opponent they hate the most, and potentially have him turn into a star is too great to be worth it.
But in the case of Carson Soucy, a 31-year-old defenseman whom the Rangers have agreed to deal to the Islanders for a third-round draft pick, the risk of him becoming a star for their suburban rivals to the East is relatively low, especially given he’s being acquired by the Isles as a rental player. So as he begins his “retool’’ of the Rangers, general manager Chris Drury had no fear in making the trade.
The deal was first reported by The Athletic.
The teams play each other in a back-to-back set Wednesday and Thursday. Soucy did not play for the Rangers in Monday’s 4-3 overtime win over the Bruins at the Garden, with a source saying he was held out for “roster management.’’
Matthew Robertson scored the winner with 1:07 left in overtime. The Rangers trailed 3-2 entering the third, but Will Borgen, Soucy’s usual defense partner, tied it with his third goal of the season, at 13:43. Will Cuylle and J.T. Miller, both in the first period, had the other Rangers goals. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves to earn his first win since Nov. 7. The Rangers improved to 6-13-4 at home this season.
The trade is the fourth between the New York teams. The last time they made a deal was in May 2010, when the Islanders sent defenseman Jyri Niemi to the Rangers for a sixth-round pick. The two prior deals both came in 1972, in the Islanders’ inaugural season. Niemi played three seasons in the Rangers’ farm system but never made it to the NHL and returned to Finland to finish his playing career there.
In 1999, the Islanders completed a deal with the Rangers to send Zigmund Palffy, a three-time 40-goal scorer, plus defenseman Rich Pilon for three prospects and a first-round draft pick. But the NHL scuttled the trade because the Islanders had attached financial conditions that would have exceeded the maximum amount of cash teams were permitted to exchange in trades. The Islanders ended up trading Palffy to the L.A. Kings.
For Drury, trading Soucy to the Islanders is easy, and the right thing to do. Sure, it helps the Islanders, who have been in need of a left-shot defenseman to add to their lineup ever since Alexander Romanov suffered a regular season-ending shoulder injury in November. Soucy, who has three goals, five assists, 18 penalty minutes and a plus/minus rating of +4, will plug in on their third pair as they try to secure a playoff spot.
But it also takes into consideration Soucy’s needs. The Viking, Alberta, native, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, arrived at last year’s trade deadline from Vancouver, and he’s done a good job for the Rangers. On Jan. 17, his wife delivered the couple’s third child, and trading him someplace far away would mean him having to leave her alone to take care of three kids, one a newborn, by herself. Sending him to the Islanders means he won’t have to move.
Drury announced his intentions to “retool’’ on Jan. 16. Finding a place for Artemi Panarin, one where the 34-year-old Russian will agree to go, and that has the salary-cap space to take him on, and suitable assets to give the Rangers, will be hard. Deciding whether to part with Vincent Trocheck also will be hard, as will deciding whether to move 24-year-old, former first-round picks Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider.
Drury has a lot of work ahead of him in trying to get the Rangers back in the playoffs and in the hunt for a Stanley Cup. Before he gets into the serious business of moving players out and collecting a bunch of assets he needs to rebuild, Drury did a nice thing for a player who did right by the team. He should be applauded for that.
Notes & quotes: With Soucy not dressed, Urho Vaakanainen took his place. The Rangers sent forward Anton Bidh to Hartford and recalled Connor Mackey to serve as the seventh defenseman . . . Matt Rempe returned to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 10, the last time the two teams faced each other in Boston. He missed six games because of an injury to his left thumb suffered in a fight with San Jose’s Ryan Reaves in October.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
