Buy or Sell Trade Options to Solve the Rangers' Scoring Problems

The New York Rangers cannot score goals this season.

They have been shut out at home in five of seven games and are 31st out of 32 NHL teams by goals per 60. The season is roughly 20 percent complete, and while that leaves plenty of time for the team to right the ship, the scoring woes can no longer be waved away as a small-sample coincidence.

While the Rangers may not be in cup-or-bust mode, a winless home record in mid-November is unacceptable. It flies in the face of what was supposed to be a seismic shift in team performance. The Rangers may not have the circus atmosphere of 2024-25, but their record this season and offensive ineptitude are a different type of humiliation.

The subsequent question: What do the Rangers do about this? Let's take a look at different options the team can consider and decide the viability of each as a solution to their problems.

Jared McCann, Seattle Kraken

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The Kraken are surprisingly in the playoff mix right now, but based on their underlying numbers and a reasonable assessment of the roster's upside, they are prone to dip down the standings. If and when that happens, the Kraken will have to be realistic about where they are headed. Not just this season, but longer term. And where aging players fit.

Jared McCann scored 40 goals in 2023-24. He has not come close since, but the former first-round pick remains a safe bet to at least his the upper-20s in the goal column every season. The 29-year-old can play both center and wing, though he's best suited for the wing. His wrist shot is nasty, and he is competent enough in the other facets of the game to consistently create scoring opportunities for himself.

This is not a pure shooting specialist.

Assessment: Seattle will entertain offers for McCann because of the market he should generate, but that's the problem for the Rangers. GM Ron Francis will likely hold him at least until closer to the trade deadline. Good teams who want to reach another level will be willing to pay a premium for McCann, who is signed through 2027.

McCann is a good player who would help the Rangers, but this is not a team that will move from the middle tiers to something more dangerous solely from his addition. They cannot, and should not, try to outbid teams that will be all-in.

Verdict: Sell

Jordan Kyrou, St. Louis Blues

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Of the contributing problems to the Rangers' current predicament: the shelves are barren in November. Teams don't typically shop difference-makers unless it's around the trade deadline or in the offseason. For a player to be obtainable in the winter, specific circumstances are required that force the situation.

The most plausible option in that regard is Jordan Kyrou. The St. Louis Blues have floated in mediocrity the last few seasons and are downright bad this season. General Manager Doug Armstrong is reportedly open to just about anything, and Kyrou was a healthy scratch on Thursday.

Kyrou would address a number of the Rangers' needs. The 27-year-old scored between 31 and 37 goals in each of the previous three seasons. He'd bring above-average speed to a team that is slow on the wings. Kyrou demands the puck and creates lots of rush offense, which is missing from this iteration of the Rangers. Signed through 2031, he'd be a long-term contributor.

Assessment: While the idea sounds great in theory, it's more challenging to work out the logistics. The Rangers have little wiggle room with the salary cap, and they'd have to make some significant adjustments to the roster to even fit his $8.125 million cap hit.

Otherwise, even if they somehow find a way to make the math work, they're not in a position to blow several future picks and prospects on a player who won't save the season by himself.

One idea I could buy? A swap involving Alexis Lafreniére. The Rangers would get older and concede upside, but get a surer bet for their specific needs. You could talk me into that trade. Otherwise, I'm selling Kyrou's viability for the Rangers, even if he's conceptually a desirable addition.

Verdict: Sell

Jakob Pelletier, Tampa Bay Lightning

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Former first-round pick Jakob Pelletier has not quite found his footing in the NHL. Despite producing at elite levels in juniors and the AHL, he never really got a full chance to prove himself in Calgary. They shipped him to Philadelphia last season, and he struggled immensely under John Tortorella. They let the winger walk for free.

The Tampa Bay Lightning, who love to take chances on players like Pelletier, signed the 24-year-old to an unconventional three-year deal over the summer. But even despite the Lightning's lack of wing depth, Pelletier did not make the team out of camp. He cleared waivers and has since produced 13 points in 12 AHL games.

Pelletier is only 5'10" and the knock on him has been that his skating, compete level, and puck skills are not accentuated enough to compensate for his deficiencies.

Assessment: Everyone would love for GM Chris Drury to find a superstar who heroically saves this team in November. In reality, if you want to make changes this time of year, then you're probably looking at something around the edges.

Pelletier has enough baseline ability to earn another chance in the NHL. For all his NHL failures, his 29 points in 86 games are not disqualifying.

Considering Tampa Bay risked losing him for free in early October and, if an NHL team came asking for his services, the Lightning would have a hard time convincing a 24-year-old to stick to riding buses in the minors.

Rangers Head Coach Mike Sullivan has had successes with players like Pelletier in the past. I am buying a low-risk, high-reward move for a player like Pelletier, whose offensive upside justifies the cost of a late-round pick or similar change-of-scenery type in the Rangers' own system.

Verdict: Buy

Steven Stamkos, Nashville Predators

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Need goals? How about turning to someone who's scored 585 of them in his NHL career?

In Nashville, Stamkos hasn't lived up to the reputation he built in Tampa Bay on the way to two Stanley Cups and a future spot in the Hall of Fame. Last season, Stamkos scored 27 goals. It's been far more dire this season. The former first-overall pick has just four total points through 17 games.

Is Stamkos as bad as his numbers this season? No. The Lightning were able to get the most out of Stamkos' finishing ability because they combined complementary play-drivers and puck-distributors. The Predators are slow and uncreative. Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox are much better facilitators who could channel at least some of the effects of Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, right?

Assessment: Stamkos is exactly the type of solution Blueshirts faithful are used to. An aging player whose best years are behind him, as an impulsive addition to try to save a sleepy team. It's almost never worked.

Stamkos still has something to give in the NHL, but he can no longer be one of the three most essential forwards on a contender. He's nowhere close to worth his $8M cap hit, and it will only get worse as the 35-year-old plays out his contract, which expires in 2028.

Even if the Rangers convince Nashville to eat a sizable portion of the cap hit, and even if the Rangers find a way to offload cap space to fit even a reduced cap number, what would really be the point? He's probably good for 25-30 goals but won't provide much else. They'd become older, slower, and more financially constricted in the long term, as a team, but it would be worth it to improve from a 90-point team to a 92-point team. Maybe.

He could be the final piece of the puzzle for a team firing on all cylinders. At this stage of his career, Stamkos is not the answer to a team in the middle of a crisis. It's a hard no for the Rangers.

Verdict: Sell

Yegor Chinakhov, Columbus Blue Jackets

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The Columbus Blue Jackets stunned everyone when they went completely off the board to take winger Yegor Chinakhov in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft. To their credit, he's become an NHL player.

However, Chinakhov and the Blue Jackets are not in a great place. The Russian requested a trade over the summer, and his icetime has since fallen by five minutes per game. It seems like a matter of when, not if, the Blue Jackets move on.

Despite the mutual unhappiness and Chinakhov's limited icetime, he's produced at a rate of roughly 41 points per 82 games since 2022-23. He had a career-high 16 goals in 53 games two seasons ago. He has a history of two-way play driving and good enough hands and instincts to be a second or third-line scoring winger who features on PP2.

Assessment: Chinakhov isn't a world-beater, but even a 40-point winger would be a significant improvement on some of the players the Rangers have shoehorned into offensive minutes this season. Furthermore, Chinakhov is just 24 years old and has a $2.1M cap hit this season, with team control through 2028. His trade demand will reduce the acquisition cost.

For my money, this could be the Rangers' best option. They're not in a position to give up big assets for an instant-gratification type of fix. Chinakhov is manageable in their financial circumstances, and he'd be a step towards the team's biggest need — getting younger — while still enhancing the roster for this season. I'm buying the idea of adding Chinakhov.

Verdict: Buy

The Internal Solution: Gabe Perreault

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The 2023 first-round pick has been an elite offensive producer at virtually every level of hockey he's played. Perreault has five goals and five assists through ten AHL games this season. Having watched most of these games, I think the numbers should be contextualized. The opposing goaltending he's faced at times in the AHL has been, let's say, generous.

That doesn't change the fact that he's done plenty to earn his way to the scoresheet. Perreault has a through-the-roof hockey IQ both on and off the puck. He's a clever operator from the half-wall, is brilliant at disguising his intentions with the puck, and has recently improved his wrist shot.

The Rangers have way too many dump-and-chase, then head to the net types of wingers. Perreault is the type who can make magical plays with the puck and create offense out of thin air. He is only 20 years old, but his time in the AHL has served him well.

Assessment: The Rangers recalled Perreault on Sunday, so we'll find out soon enough whether he can be a solution.

In an ideal world, I think the Rangers would have wanted Perreault to remain in the AHL at least through Thanksgiving, if not Christmas. He has a few kinks to work out in learning the team's systems. The team's dire circumstances have forced the situation, and Perreault was called up on Sunday.

I'm buying the timing of the move and his ability to help the Rangers move along. This roster is desperately in need of some creativity. If the bar is "Connor Sheary," then it's difficult to see a few short-term defensive miscues outweighing the potential 40-plus points that Perreault could provide the rest of the way.

Stay The Course

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As Tyrion Lannister said in Game of Thrones, "Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing."

Improbable goaltending exploits and poor shooting have destroyed what, on the surface, appears to be generative offense. The Rangers have tilted the ice in their direction better than most teams. They're a top-ten team by expected goals created. Maybe the team needs to wait it out and maintain faith that the tide will turn if they keep creating chances as they have.

Assessment: I largely stand by my early-season take that the Rangers should trust the process. I still believe their drought is unsustainable and that they will bounce back to at least league-average levels of offensive production.

As I wrote as a caveat, though, the team's lack of offensive talent on the roster was cause for greater concerns. The reality is that the Rangers are a team that has historically chased its losses, trying to fix fundamental problems with impulsive buys and band-aids rather than the types of lacerations that actually need stitches.

The Rangers are an old team with strict cap circumstances and a prospect pool limited in high-upside players. The market is not exactly bountiful at the moment, and desperate teams in these circumstances are prone to making mistakes.

Even with a decent addition or two, the best-case scenario appears to be a finish in a wild card spot with a low-90s point totals. Sometimes you have to concede this is not the time to push your chips in.

There are viable trades that could be worthwhile, but I am buying a plan to ride out the turbulence and wait for a day and time when the Rangers are better positioned to make the types of moves that truly set themselves up to compete when they are ready.