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The Rangers knew it was going to happen, but it did not make it any easier.
Just hours after sitting scepter on their biggest arguments and still beating the Devils, 5-2, at Garden Saturday afternoon, they pulled the trigger to make one of their bigger movements possible.
General Manager Jeff Gorton has sent Mats Zuccarello waiting for his free agent to the Stars in exchange for two conditional selections – a second in 2019 that would become first if Dallas won two series (unlikely) and a third in 2020, it will become a key element if Dallas re-signs the 31-year-old Norwegian.
The Rangers have retained about 30% of the $ 4.5 million increase in Zuccarello's $ 4.5 million annual salary, helping the Stars to overcome their wage problem while keeping hope alive. beating for a place.
Zuccarello had been a bum on Saturday, as were Kevin Hayes and Adam McQuaid, the other upcoming rental properties. The day was tough, as were the two rebuilt Blueshirts preparing to lose the essentials of their ice product and core outside the ice.
"Before the match, it was very moving," said Mika Zibanejad, who missed his right winger and best executioner, Zuccarello. "I had a bit of this last game, knowing that it could happen and knowing that this could be the last game with this guy on my right.
"It was difficult, difficult to see here and not being ready to play and be part of it. But it's a case. Yet we are human beings. I do not know how to deal with it, really. I do not think anyone really has the answer to give. "
Gorton was clear on how he was going to handle this deadline, trying to speed up the reconstruction that had actually started a little over a year ago. Zuccarello and Hayes have been Rangers for a long time, but the two strikers have come to a dead end with contract extensions and their status as stand-alone agents on standby has made it a rental item of choice for the teams in contention.
Zuccarello had been a Broadway favorite, the tiny three-time winner of the Steven MacDonald Extra Effort Award, voted by the Rangers fans. A possible meeting as a free agent signing this summer now seems unlikely.
Saturday night, it did not seem like a Hayes trade was imminent. If they are still on Sunday lineup, Hayes and McQuaid will be healthy again for an afternoon game in Washington.
All this reminds the fact that the Rangers (27-26-8) no longer claim that the series are plausible. Even coach David Quinn admitted that at a candid moment after the match.
"I'm not an idiot. I understand the situation we are in, "said Quinn. "But we have to keep moving forward."
This was slightly eased by the Devils (24-30-8) who were already in shell mode, having defeated Marcus Johansson for the second straight game and exchanged defenseman Ben Lovejoy earlier Saturday. Jimmy Vesey and Ryan Strome scored power-play goals in the first 8 minutes of the game, while Chris Kreider added his 25th goal in 14 at 23:23 to take a 3-0 lead in the second period. .
Goalkeeper Alex Georgiev held the Devils at bay for the remainder of the game with 19 saves. At least, this victory helped to ease the pain of the exchanges that the Rangers knew to happen.
"Winning is much better than losing," Quinn said. "We still have a lot of games here."
At the end of the match, everyone had already said goodbye. Soon, Gorton will do the rest of the movements he deems necessary, and then the harsh reality of the rest of the season will be inevitable.
"It's hard to look around and not see them. Not used, "said Zibanejad. "It was not an easy game, I think more mentally and emotionally than physically. But we succeeded.
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