February 12, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The New York Rangers pulled off a blockbuster trade on Thursday. The Rangers traded for Tarasenko and defenceman Niko Mikkola from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, a conditional 2023 first round pick and a 2024 fourth round pick. The Blues also retained 50% of Tarasenko’s cap hit.

Tarasenko has proven himself as one of the top goal scorers in the league when healthy. He has six seasons of 30 or more goals and one 40-goal season to his credit. Tarasenko had something of a renaissance year last season with 34 goals after two injury plagued seasons. However, this season’s ten goals and 29 points in 38 games for the Blues represent a down year for the 31 year old. 

We’re about to find out whether his low output this season is a result of the Blues struggling as a team or if he is beginning to decline. The Rangers have a firm hold on a playoff spot with an eight point gap over the first wild card team in the Eastern Conference entering play Sunday. Tarasenko has joined a line alongside Mika Zibanejad and fellow Russian star Artemi Panarin that has the potential to be one of the best lines in the entire league.

The Rangers were a strong team before getting Tarasenko. They have Chris Kreider, a 52 goal scorer last season, playing on their second line. Filip Chytil is on a heater this year with 19 goals in 44 games, a number that tops his career best total by five. He centres a third line flanked by former first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere and former second overall pick Kaapo Kakko.

Related: The Awkward State of the Oilers Defence

Their defence is led by former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox. Ryan Lindgren is the anchor on that top pairing. He’s one of the most underrated defenders in the league in my opinion. Their second pairing features K’Andre Miller, a rangy, well rounded defender, and Jacob Trouba. Finally, they have a promising young player in Braden Schneider and newly acquired Mikkola on the third pairing. It’s a deep and balanced defence group, and they’re all young to boot.

Make no mistake about it. This Rangers team deserved a spot in the Conference Finals last year and they gave the Tampa Bay Lightning everything they could handle in that series. The Rangers are even better this year. Adding Tarasenko has made them a contender if they weren’t already.

We’ve seen evidence in Tarasenko’s first two games as a Ranger. Tarasenko scored the opening goal in his first game on Broadway. The Rangers then rolled the Carolina Hurricanes by a tidy score of 6-2. Panarin exploded for four goals. That win brought the Rangers to within six points of the Hurricanes for the Metropolitan Division lead. It was a statement by the Rangers saying that they’re real and they’re spectacular.

Adding Tarasenko means that the Rangers are no longer interested in Patrick Kane, much to Kane’s chagrin. Kane openly admitted that the Rangers were one of the teams that he would have been interested in being traded to at the deadline. The other issue that could make a Kane trade difficult is his nagging hip injury. The Vegas Golden Knights remain an option for Kane since Mark Stone will miss the remainder of the season. Another possibility for Kane is the Edmonton Oilers, if they can make the money work. That’s a pretty big “if”.

I can see the smoke piling out of Edmonton Oilers fans’ ears already. The Oilers also made the Conference Finals last year, and fans want GM Ken Holland to make an impactful trade like the Tarasenko trade. The Rangers added $4.125 million to their roster as a result of this trade. The Oilers are certainly not in a situation where they can add that much to their team. The price tag on Tarasenko was pretty low, but the Oilers would have to remove more from their roster than what the Rangers had to remove to add Tarasenko to get a player of consequence. As frustrating as it is for Oilers fans to watch other contending teams add impact players as we approach the trade deadline, the Oilers are unlikely to make any major moves this season. 

Unlikely is the key word. Reports that the Oilers are talking to the San Jose Sharks about Erik Karlsson surfaced on Saturday. That would be tempting, but the acquisition cost and the opportunity cost of having to move players from other positions out might make a Karlsson deal less appealing.

The Tarasenko trade and the Bo Horvat trade before it got the ball rolling on this year’s trade deadline. Other dominos could start falling soon. Jakob Chychrun was held out of the Arizona Coyotes game on Saturday, which could mean that a trade is imminent. It could also mean nothing. Ryan O’Reilly could be the next one to be moved out of St. Louis. The intrigue surrounding Kane and Jonathan Toews will swirl until the deadline has come and gone. For now though, the Rangers have put themselves in a fantastic position for another deep run this spring.