Rangers Stabilize Glaring Issue with Prudent Trade for Kraken's Alex Wennberg

New York Rangers

The New York Rangers have their best chance to win a Stanley Cup since the 2014-15 season in which they fell to Tampa Bay in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final. Their most glaring obstacle was the injury of center Filip Chytil. The young Czech ensured the Rangers were throwing out a top center in either him, Mika Zibanejad or Vincent Trocheck most shifts.

The Rangers remain first in the Metropolitan Division, but the rest of the team has had to do heavy lifting to compensate for some major problems in the bottom six.

Alex Wennberg is the attempt to finally plug the hole, and it's a good attempt. The Swedish center has had many ups and downs in his career but has finally settled in as a high-end third-line center. In three seasons in Seattle, he has found homeostasis as a 35-40 point producer largely through playmaking.

One reason Wennberg in particular is a fit for the Rangers is that most of his offense has come at five-on-five. If he sees any power-play time at all, it will be on the second unit and he won't touch the puck much. The Rangers' bottom-six centers this season—Nick Bonino, Jonny Brodzinski and Barclay Goodrow—combined for 28 total points. Wennberg alone has 25. He can produce in a third-line role.

The Rangers need a third-line center who can drive possession. The lack of offense from the bottom six has been a symptom of a larger problem, which is spending too much time stuck in their own end.

Wennberg stayed afloat in difficult minutes in Seattle. He started 38.1 percent of his five-on-five shifts in the defensive zone, which ranked first among all Kraken forwards. Head coach Dave Hakstol usually matched him against the opposition's top line as well.

This isn't a flashy addition by the Rangers and he is not going to be as good as Chytil. Nonetheless, Wennberg is definitionally a third-line center and will stabilize a problem that has bothered the team for months. He'll take some heat off Trocheck and Zibanejad, and his playmaking prowess will hopefully pair well with third-line winger Will Cuylle, who loves to crash the net and put home loose pucks.

The center market that was weak to start with became limited when Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan were traded a month ago and then became barebones once Nashville extended Tommy Novak and Edmonton acquired Adam Henrique.

A late-second-round pick and a fourth-round pick are probably not what anyone would have expected to pay for Wennberg in October, but one has to assess the trade within the circumstances of the environment. The Rangers filled the center need at a $2.25M cap hit without moving a first-round pick or any of their B-level prospects such as Brett Berard, Adam Edström or Adam Sýkora. They did not significantly cut into the future, and general manager Chris Drury still has enough financial room and resource power to add a winger.

Seattle Kraken

The Kraken made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season, advancing to Round 2. Instead of building off that, they regressed and are all but out of the playoff picture. Wennberg is 29 and an unrestricted free agent in the summer. Truthfully, with Yanni Gourde and the young Matty Beniers at center, the Kraken may be wise to find a true top-line center for next season. Wennberg certainly would not be that.

Monahan and Henrique were moved for first-round picks with a sweetener. Though a similar deal may have not been in the cards for the Kraken, it is a little bit surprising that they could not milk a better second asset than a fourth-round pick. Only GM Ron Francis knew what offers he had on the table, and Colorado's acquisition of Casey Mittelstadt took out at least one of the Rangers' theoretical competitors for Wennberg. It's good value for a third-line center.

Seattle had three second-round picks during the 2023 NHL draft and four second-round selections in 2022. It's good to get some more draft picks in the arsenal, but it may be time to think about moving assets over the summer for immediate difference-makers.