NHL Trade Grades: Rangers Send Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to the Avalanche

We have our first meaningful trade following the 4 Nations tournament and it involves two teams that have been busy this season. The New York Rangers continue to dismantle a team that is broken defensively and in need of an identity overhaul.

Meanwhile, the Avalanche make a statement that the Mikko Rantanen trade does not deter their belief in a run for the 2025 Stanley Cup.

Let’s analyze the players and pieces involved and grade the transaction for both the Rangers and Avalanche.

Colorado Avalanche

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Ryan Lindgren arguably leads the league in pain tolerance. Toronto’s Chris Tanev may be the only defenseman who can match him in terms of a willingness to sacrifice the body and battle through discomfort. He goes all-out physically in the corners and around the net and he’ll do whatever it takes to make a play, whether that’s absorbing a hit to move a puck or eat a snapshot straight in the ribcage.

At his best, these traits help Lindgren play the role of a top-four shutdown defenseman and penalty killer. For a few years, he earned his place alongside Adam Fox on the top pairing as someone who kept it simple with the puck and gave strong defensive outputs.

His most admirable traits led to his downfall in New York. The wear and tear of numerous playoff runs and a lengthy catalog of injuries seem to have affected him physically. Questions regarding how those maladies have impacted his skating and range of motion are correlated to notable declines in his ability to retrieve pucks and win physical battles. The cruel reality is that he's been a liability to Fox.

Again, you can’t question his work ethic or will. The Colorado Avalanche are betting that, by reducing his role to third-pairing minutes, they’ll be able to keep him fresh enough physically that he can effectively play a courageous shutdown game. There is risk baked into this deal for Colorado but, if they are right about Lindgren being a better fit for his role in Colorado, then he’ll be a pretty special player to have on the backend for a long playoff run.

Don’t sleep on Jimmy Vesey, either. The former college goal scorer completely remade his game in New York following a career crisis. He is now one of the better defensive wingers in the league and can chip in offensively. He’s the perfect fourth-line wing for how the Avalanche want to play.

Grade: C+

New York Rangers

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Calvin de Haan

“You either die a hero or live long enough to become a villain,” is an apt metaphor for shutdown defensemen who play how Ryan Lindgren does. Everything that endeared him to Rangers fans — the fearlessness, sacrifice, and willingness to battle through injuries — were creating an untenable situation in New York. Even though he’s only 27 years old, he is not the player he once was. He’s been very bad this season and he’s an unrestricted free agent in July and any sort of long-term contract. Giving a long-term contract to someone who is already possibly on the decline would be a doubling down on the exact mistake they previously made with a similar defenseman, Dan Girardi.

The Rangers are one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL and the defense needs a complete overhaul. More specifically, the elephant in the room is that the team needs a new left-handed defenseman who can keep up with Adam Fox on the top pairing. Those players aren’t cheap and paying Lindgren would have limited management’s flexibility even further.

Calvin de Haan, 33, might be what the Rangers need in the short-term; a veteran shutdown defenseman who will not be spooked by the current instability in New York. He could help the Rangers ride out the season, taking on tough defensive minutes and PK shifts. Alternatively, the Rangers may be able to flip him before the trade deadline for another draft pick.

Juuso Parssinen, 24, was originally a revelation in Nashville two seasons ago, collecting 25 points in 46 games while playing respectable defense. He’s lost his way in the last few seasons. He’s a project for the Rangers’ coaching staff. If they can help the 6’3” center on the right track then he could be a respectable fourth-line NHL center.

The second and fourth-round picks will be welcome additions to a pool of draft picks that GM Chris Drury depleted in recent seasons. The team is in deep need of center and defense prospects. Alternatively, draft capital will be necessary to reshape the roster and acquire difference-makers from other teams. A second-round pick is the steady exchange rate for a defenseman of Lindgren’s archetype, as is a fourth-round pick for a depth winger like Vesey.

Could the Rangers have milked another late draft pick by holding out on trading Lindgren longer? Perhaps. But a player like Lindgren particularly is one shift away from an injury. The Rangers get suitable trade value in the form of assets they need.

As with the Jacob Trouba trade, there’s also value in formally separating and creating the physical and emotional space to move on an organization and find new players for a new era.

Grade: A-