Rangers still profit from Rick Nash’s trade

We all know the Rangers have amassed an abundance of young and up-and-coming pieces since the start of the big rebuild leading up to the 2018 trade deadline. However, it’s still impossible to tell if the squad is ahead, behind. or on schedule because, let’s say it, the look of the final image not only remains unfinished, but also still a bit of a puzzle.

But we know for sure the Rangers wouldn’t even be close to where they are today without Transportation General Manager Jeff Gorton, who was brought back from Boston on February 25, 2018, for a Rick Nash rental property he has. could to increase both four and nine months later.

The rebuild prohibited by the letter featured trades from Ryan McDonagh, Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Hayes and JT, Miller among the big-name players kicked off Broadway, but the bounty received for Nash represents the grand prize in that process.

Ryan Lindgren came from the Bruins in his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota following his 2016 second-round selection. A first-round draft pick was included, as was salary dump Matt Beleskey and a disgraced Ryan Spooner. . OK, it looks good, but maybe not that special.

But Gorton rolled the Bruins ‘first round and the Devils’ second round (secured by the deadline for Michael Grabner) to Ottawa to drop from 26th to 22nd to select K’Andre Miller. And in November 2018, after a string of rambling performances from Spooner, who never invested in David Quinn’s schedule, Gorton sent the forward to Edmonton in exchange for Ryan Strome.

So in essence Lindgren, Miller and Strome, who were all key ingredients in Friday’s Garden Party of a 6-2 win over the Bruins in front of around 1,800 fans who almost made it sound like it was the 14th. June 1994, all again, in exchange for Nash and his expiring contract.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

The Blueshirts were even better than that in this one, playing smart, swagger and controlled fury against a Boston team that have lost four of their last five. They did not retreat and they did not retreat. On the contrary, the Rangers rose up and possessed the combat zones. They owned the neutral zone. Simple and difficult games throughout the training allowed talents to flourish.

“Nobody backed down tonight,” said Lindgren, who had four hits and a pair of assists tonight plus three. “It’s a physical team. They like to chew on the whistle and, you know, do things like that. We weren’t backing down. We returned it right away.

“And we were also smart with our physicality. We weren’t taking stupid penalties. It was great teamwork and we came to play tonight.

One of those four hits credited among the Rangers’ credited total of 32 (17 in first period) came with about 40 seconds remaining in the first period, when Lindgren lowered his shoulder and boomed over David Pastrnak, sending the winger from Boston to the ice as he tried to pull the right boards up through the neutral zone. Oops. Sorry. Roadblock on the way. Pastrnak should have checked Waze.

“I mean, you saw him come down the wall, and I knew he was going to try and get the red [line] and throw it in, “the No.55 said.” So I just tried to finish my hit and the fans loved it. So it felt good.

Lindgren was seen as a marginal prospect when Boston general manager Don Sweeney sent him to Rangers. The read on him was “great leadership qualities.” It sounded like a “big personality,” screening report on a first date. Shortly after the deal, Lindgren left school after his sophomore year and joined the AHL Wolf Pack on an amateur tryout. He spent most of the 2018-19 season in the AHL before making his debut early last season.

He formed a perfect union with Adam Fox, with whom he was a teammate and often a defending pair partner in Team USA’s 2015 U17 squad and 2016 U18 squad, and in the U20 squad in 2017 and 2018 in World Juniors. Lindgren is as tough to face as any Rangers defender since Jeff Beukeboom, but his game is more than that.

“My relationship with Ryan goes back to the national program and I knew him very well as a player and a lot of the intangibles he brought to the game,” Quinn said. “I thought he had a chance to be an NHL player, but he’s a guy who wanted to be a good NHL player in no time.

“What I give him a lot of credit for is that he’s adapted. He’s leaned over, he’s faster, his hands are better. His skating improved, as did his conditioning. It’s a great addition to Foxy, but I think it would be a great addition to anyone.

From there, compliments to Gorton. Because there, on the ice, were Lindgren, Miller and Strome. Lettermen, under all other names.