N.Y. Rangers: My Kingdom for a Center

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCH WITH THE GREATS

TRADE DEADLINE:

Jeff Gorton has jettisoned in excess of 15 players within the last year 

in return for 13 players/prospects and a near equal number of draft picks.

• Mats Zuccarello traded to Dallas for two conditional draft picks
• Kevin Hayse traded to Winnipeg for Brendan Lemieux; 2019 #1 pick; 2022 conditional #4 pick.
• Adam McQuaid traded to Columbus for Julius Bergman; 2019 #4 pick; 2019 #7 pick.

New York Rangers: Jeff Gorton wraps up round two of the purge; with newly accumulated assets in hand, he must now seek out, secure, and build around a legitimate first line center.

One championship in 79-years ... Rangers fans know it all too well.  

In 1994, the Rangers snapped what was then a 54-year drought.  The Stanley Cup itself was hoisted up in triumph by a legitimate first line center named Mark Messier.  Sadly, another 25-years have elapsed without winning another.  Not coincidentally, the team has likewise remained hopelessly in search of their next first line center, to no avail.

How do teams go about obtaining one of these so called first line centers?

In the Rangers case, they were fortunate enough in 1991 to acquire by trade a 31-year old future hall of fame center from the Edmonton Oilers.  Previous to Mark Messier, fans need to rewind all the way back to Phil Esposito - another hall of fame, first line, albeit aging center acquired by trade from the Boston Bruins - whom in 1979 led the club to the Stanley Cup finals, only to meet defeat against the dynastic Montreal Canadiens.

Otherwise, first line centers are drafted.  But unless you're selecting first or second overall - outside of the rare wunderkind slipping through the cracks - odds are you're still not securing a legitimate two way first line threat.  In order to be in that position, a team must really, really, suck ... and not just for one season, but two, or three seasons of complete and utter toilet worthy play.

Here are just a few examples:

• Between the years 2003 through 2006, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost upwards of 65% of their games.  In 2004, they selected Evgeni Malkin with the second overall pick of the entry draft.  The very next year, Pittsburgh selected Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick of the entry draft.

• While not a center, Alex Ovechkin was the player selected first overall ahead of Malkin in the 2004 entry draft.  But in order to get themselves in that position, the Washington Capitals in 2003-2004 lost 64% of their games.

• The Chicago Blackhawks are no different.  Jonathan Toews is an example of a top center being selected third overall (in the 2006 entry draft).  The very next year, winger Patrick Kane was the first overall selection of the 2007 entry draft.  However, being in position to draft either player, much less both, required the Blackhawks enduring back-to-back seasons of 60% futility.

• Locally speaking, this is how the Islanders got their hands on their former center John Tavares, and how the Devils were able to draft center Nico Hischier.

The Rangers, on the other hand, have never allowed themselves to sink to such depths.  That, in a nutshell, explains the Rangers decades long lack of elite skill up the middle.  There's been just one instance within my lifetime (1984-1985) in which the Rangers lost 62% of their games.  The previous time before that occurred before I was born, between the years 1964 through 1966, when they lost 64% of their games, on average.  Under Emile "the cat" Francis they would draft themselves back into playoff contention and into the 1972 Stanley Cup finals.

It was one year ago this month when Jeff Gorton (shadowed by Glen Sather) announced the Rangers were embarking on a full rebuild.  A decision I applauded.  But according to the latest NHL standings, the Rangers are presently only the tenth worst team in hockey.  To my point, that's not nearly bad enough in terms of superior draft positioning.

Jeff Gorton has nonetheless amassed a handsome clutch of draft picks to either stock the organization's ranks, or utilize as trade chips.  The latter seems far more likely, particularly if Jeff Gorton decides to accelerate this rebuild.  For example, if the Rangers can not swing a deal for, say, a thirty-something Jonathan Toews, then acquiring a pair of two way/second line centers I guess would be the next best thing.