Kirby Lee – USA TODAY Sports
For months now, New York Rangers fans have heard rampant speculation about how their team will trade backup goalie Cam Talbot; perhaps for a first-round draft pick they sorely lacked. We’ve heard rumors from the plausible (Talbot for a second-rounder), to the asinine (Talbot and Keith Yandle to the Boston Bruins for Milan Lucic).
Well, the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft has passed. Talbot is still a Ranger (for now), and the team did not get a first-round pick.
What’s worse, general manager Glen Sather and his staff sat idly by and watched as their biggest rivals got better. The New York Islanders traded up to get the 16th pick, a pick the Rangers were heavily rumored to obtain from the Edmonton Oilers; the New Jersey Devils traded for Kyle Palmieri; and the Philadelphia Flyers drafted one of the most highly touted prospects not named McDavid or Eichel, defenseman Ivan Provorov.
If the Buffalo Sabres can accept a backup goaltender in Robin Lehner plus a top forward in David Legwand from the Ottawa Senators for a first-round pick, then there is no reason why the Rangers couldn’t have obtained a first rounder in a similar package.
No matter how crazy some rumors were, the Rangers still could have obtained a first-rounder for Talbot. It may have required throwing in a key player such as Kevin Klein or Carl Hagelin, but for the sake of the franchise’s future, it is a deal that Sather and his crew should not have shied away from. The Rangers do not have a first-round pick in next year’s draft. If they don’t win a Stanley Cup in the next year or two, the long-term future of the Rangers may be very, very cloudy.
Trading Talbot along with an established NHLer would hurt short-term, but the Rangers could easily replace such a player via trade or free agency. The team also would have a young stud player to build the farm system around, thus sustaining the franchise’s future a few years longer.
At this point, the Rangers may as well keep Talbot and see if he can net an established NHL player as opposed to a second-round draft pick. Sather may still make a deal on Day 2 of the draft, but barring some unexpected mega-blockbuster trade he may have up his sleeve, it will not have the impact of a deal on Day 1.
Glen Sather dropped the ball in a huge way on Day 1 of this draft, and it may end up costing the Rangers toward the end of this decade.
Matt Stillwell is a New York Rangers contributor for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattNYR12!
