NHL teams
Pierre LeBrun, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Rumblings: Trade deadline needs in New York

The two New York rivals have different March 2 objectives as they both head to the playoffs as strong contenders in the East.

The New York Rangers are targeting a bottom-six forward, one who preferably could play both center and slide over to the wing, and obviously help in the faceoff department (the club is 29th in the NHL in faceoff win percentage at 46.3 percent).

The Blueshirts could even add a depth blueliner if the price is right, but the No. 1 objective is finding that bottom-six forward.

The New York Islanders? The word out of Long Island is that their pair of Oct. 4 trades -- which landed top-four blueliners Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy -- are viewed by the organization as already having accomplished their likely trade deadline acquisitions.

And why not feel that way?

Heck, this doesn’t look like a team that needs anything. They’ve got depth everywhere.

If they have injuries, they’ve got the likes of forwards Harry Zolnierczyk and Cory Conacher in AHL Bridgeport to call up, as well as defenseman Griffin Reinhart.

More to the point, the Isles are cooking with tremendous chemistry right now and I’m not sure general manager Garth Snow wants to mess with that.

Now obviously you can’t predict injuries, so that could dictate a different course of action if key players go down; and of course sometimes there are offers that are impossible to turn down on trade deadline day. But as we speak, the Isles’ approach is that they’ve already made their big moves.

^ Back to Top ^