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There was no “We don’t want you!” chants from the Garden crowd aimed at Jack Eichel on Tuesday night, as Rick Nash was once greeted when he came to town with the Blue Jackets a week before the 2012 trade deadline.
In fact, there was the occasional, albeit somewhat weak, chant “We Want Eichel” outside of the audience, which was 1,800 strong for the Rangers game against the Sabers, not that the Blueshirts hierarchy was conducting a referendum all the way through. along their 3-2 victory.
It’s not all that happened in this one, which opened wide and then crawled to an extended finish in which the Blueshirts sent three shots to the net in the last 30 : 28, would change the dynamics of a possible Eichel megatrade in New York.
Because, yes, the Rangers want it too.
For a few moments, however, it appeared as if the sight of Eichel, the hapless 24-year-old center who wants to leave Buffalo as he works for a sixth year without a playoff performance since his second selection in the 2015 Draft, served as motivation for Mika Zibanejad, whose Ranger tenure would be in serious jeopardy if Eichel went to Manhattan.
Zibanejad, who entered the game with a five-on-five point to place 166th and last among NHL forwards with at least 235: 00 of play, propelled Pavel Buchnevich for a half-break on which the winger took converted just 28 seconds after the game. for a 1-0 lead.
Then, after the Sabers struck to tie 27 seconds later on a play that Eichel got secondary assist on, Zibanejad’s forward test created a roll that set off a streak that Alexis Lafreniere got the credit for. the goal 2-1 at 2:36.
Two teams for the Zibanejad line and two goals. I can’t do better than this. Sadly, that was about it for the unit from an offensive standpoint, not that the rest of the squad could have done much except for Chris’s left wing sting. Kreider at 9:32 of the second period for a 3-1 lead. .
Indeed, Zibanejad finished with just 16:36 of time, his smallest ice supplement in a full game since January 4, 2019. Gone, at least for now, is the time when coach David Quinn leans on Zibanejad for 23 minutes a night. .
Here is the thing. Given the ceiling constraints, it’s essentially impossible for the Rangers to host both Eichel, the shiny new apple they’re at least half-coveted for, and Zibanejad. It will be either / or… or, maybe neither in the not-so-distant future if the first 20 games are a true representation of what the Swede has become.
If first-year Buffalo general manager Kevyn Adams looks to move his team captain before the April 12 deadline rather than wait for the offseason, it would be next to impossible for the Blueshirts to enter the action unless they can somehow process Zibanejad. , which has a full no-move clause.
Eichel, 24, whose season has hardly been a smashing success as he is surrounded by a dysfunction that has been a lifelong companion since the Sabers last qualified for the playoffs in 2011, he remains five years with a contract with a fixed cost of $ 10. million by. It’s pricey, okay, but at least the Rangers – or any team that acquires them – won’t have to face arbitration or possible free agency for the next half-decade.
The cost will be decisive as the Blueshirts wonder how ready they are to send Buffalo’s way in exchange for a stud no doubt in the middle. Rangers thought they had their stud at Zibanejad, but the demise of this season has made it virtually impossible for the club to extend their contract this summer a year before free agency. In other words, you need a long-term frontline center.
There aren’t many franchise type players traded at such a young age. Tyler Seguin was just 21 when he (and Rich Peverley) moved from the Bruins to the Stars after his third year in exchange for veteran Louie Eriksson and a handful of coins, but he hadn’t established himself by then. -the. Nash was 28 when he came to Rangers (with a third round which became Buchnevich) in exchange for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a first round.
Indeed, the last franchise-type player traded at such a young age was Joe Thornton, who went from the Bruins to the Sharks at 26 in exchange for one of the most effective packages of all time, with Boston getting Brad Stuart, Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau.
Where do the Rangers register for the equivalent of that one? Oh, get it: Fantasyland.
The Blueshirts, so organizationally thin in the middle, are in desperate need of a first unit headliner. Eichel, who played his season at Boston University with Quinn as a coach, ticks all the boxes. The Sabers recognize how badly the Rangers want him.
But Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton will not be extorted. Once fans didn’t want Nash and got him. Nine years later, fans want Eichel. We’ll see.
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