Rangers make two minor deals at deadline, focus on playoff push
Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk defends against Rangers right wing Barclay Goodrow during the first period of an NHL game on Dec. 7, 2021, in Chicago. Credit: AP/Kamil Krzaczynski
The NHL trade deadline came and went at 3 p.m. on Friday and the Rangers, who already had done their heavy deal lifting, made two minor trades.
On the day after Patrick Kane made his Rangers debut, they acquired forward Anton Blidh from the Colorado Avalanche for forward Gustav Rydahl and obtained defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk from the Vancouver Canucks for future considerations.
Blidh, 27, played in 14 games with the Avalanche this season without recording a point.
Kalynuk, 25, had four goals and 13 assists in 46 games for Abbotsford of the AHL this season. His NHL experience consists of 26 games for Chicago, Kane’s old squad.
The Rangers headed to Boston for Saturday’s 1 p.m. game and general manager Chris Drury finally put down his cellphone, the one that landed him four key players in pre-deadline deals.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Tyler Motte and Kane are now Rangers, with Kane the last to arrive. He made his Rangers debut in Thursday’s 5-3 loss to the Senators at the Garden.
Now it’s coach Gerard Gallant’s task to incorporate the new players into a Stanley Cup contender.
Kane said the whirlwind of getting traded on Tuesday night from Chicago — the only team he had ever played for — and suiting up for the Rangers on Thursday was a bit overwhelming.
“It kind of reminds me of when you go play for Team USA in the World Championships or Olympics, things like that,” he said. “You’re putting on different gear, different equipment, and trying to get used to it. But you know you’re always coming back to that [Chicago] gear, so it’s a little bit different this time around. But this is obviously an Original Six franchise, a storied franchise, an amazing building to play in and amazing fans.”
Kane was welcomed warmly by Rangers fans, but he also got a little taste of what it’s like to play in New York. During a five-minute power play on which the Rangers did not score, Kane was told to “shoot” by the crowd, who correctly noticed that the Rangers were doing too much of what Gallant called “pretty” passing and not enough shooting the puck.
“Every team is going through this,” Gallant said. “Putting different players in your lineup and trying to make it fit perfectly, but it doesn’t work perfectly every time. In a week or two weeks’ time, we’ll be looking back at this and saying a lot of stuff was happening . . . when you get by all the trades and you’ve just got your team.”
After Saturday’s game, the Rangers won’t play again until they visit Montreal on Thursday.
“We’ve got four days in between games, so it’ll be nice to settle in, get a couple practices and understand the way they want to play systematically with the puck, offensive zone, things like that,” Kane said. “They haven’t given me too much yet, just telling me to go out there and play.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
