As per a story by Larry Brooks of the New York Post, the New York Rangers might be in the market for a veteran defenseman this coming offseason. They were a finalist in the very slow race to Zdeno Chara before the 44-year-old blueliner signed with the Washington Capitals and they could be looking to make a similar play this summer.
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Brooks feels the Rangers need to add a veteran presence to their blue line corps. While they have a stud in Adam Fox, who should certainly be in the Norris Trophy conversation, they could stand to add someone in their mid-to-late 20s or even in their thirties from a winning program, says Brooks. Ideally, this would be a player with a Stanley Cup victory on his resume.
A couple of early candidates come to mind. Alec Martinez of the Vegas Golden Knights (33), will be a pending UFA at the end of the season. He’s been on some tremendously successful teams like Vegas where he went to the Finals and he who won two Stanley Cups with the Los Angeles Kings. The Golden Knights are likely to move on from Martinez to free up this $4 million off the books and go shopping in free agency.
Dougie Hamilton would be an interesting option as he could shake loose from the Carolina Hurricanes, but he’d also be an expensive option for the Rangers who are rumored to be be targeting some high priced forwards in a trade or other moves.
Perhaps even Chara could be an option again, but it’s not likely he’d be looking to move to a third team in three years, especially if the Capitals are interested in bringing him back, which they probably would be.
Other pending free agents include Alex Edler, Marc Staal (although it’s not likely they bring him back), Alex Goligoski and Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jason Demers of the Arizona Coyotes.
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