The New York Rangers have a crowded crease and appear open to unloading one of their goalies if the right offer comes along.
With Henrik Lundqvist, Alexandar Georgiev and rookie Igor Shestyorkin — who was recently promoted to the NHL — on the roster, the Rangers have a surplus that could help them improve in other areas. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, teams have been told that the Rangers are willing to listen to calls on Georgiev if what is being offered impresses them.
“They’ve got a lot of good defence prospects coming and they obviously don’t need goalies. So teams are under the impression that it won’t be cheap,” Friedman said Saturday during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “…It will probably cost you a forward who’s either as young and either ready to play or close to it — but they won’t listen to anything that doesn’t impress them beneath that.”
In 20 games this season, Georgiev has a 10-9-1 record with a 3.17 GAA and a .909 save percentage. The 23-year-old is a pending restricted free agent after this season.
The Rangers aren’t the only team that could be busy ahead of the Feb. 24 trade deadline, with the San Jose Sharks looking to make some moves as they continue to struggle and while captain Logan Couture is expected to miss at least six weeks with a fractured foot.
Friedman reported that the Sharks view this season like they did when they last missed the playoffs in 2014-15.
“The last year they missed the playoffs, the following season they went to the Stanley Cup final. That’s their goal to continue to contend for next year,” said Friedman. “They don’t plan on removing any of their core. They will talk about their UFAs; Brenden Dillon, Melker Karlsson and I think there’s a lot of interest in Dillon potentially with a team like Toronto kicking the tires there.”
Another team that Friedman expects to make waves at the deadline is the Anaheim Ducks, who have something that could help a lot of teams with a salary-cap crunch.
“The Ducks have let it be known that they’ve got cash and cap space,” Friedman explained. “They are willing to listen to you if you want to use them to help you clean up your cap problem, however, it’s going to cost you good, young assets.”
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