Someone has to go - it just doesnt work

Team: 2020-21 New York Rangers

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 22, 2020

Published: Apr. 22, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

The Rangers WILL make some kind of splash this offseason (if there is no CBO) simply because of the cap position they put themselves in. They cannot afford to keep all of their RFA's and ride out the last year of the Staal, Smith, Lundqvist + Shattenkirk contracts.

Someone has to go.

The simplest solution I see is a buyout of Staal + Georgiev trade (with 0 cap hit coming back):
This requires multiple ELC's being called up (Andersson and Miller in this case) and another <1m contract for a 7th D. Even this scenario puts the Rangers in quite the pickle with absolutely no wiggle room for injury throughout the year.
Something more needs to happen.

The options:

Smith - cap dump to a team that he waives for. Saves enough money, doesn't cost anything but a late pick.

Lundqvist buyout - bad look for the org and I really don't want to see anymore buyouts.

Staal buyout - as I said before, this just isn't enough.

Strome trade - has potential, but he needs to be replaced on the roster either then...can Chytil be relied on for solid 2c play w/Panarin or Kreider? perhaps, then a 3c can be had for a savings of +/- 2-3m, not quite enough in itself.

Trouba trade - another bad look for the org. Unless they can find a landing spot that really works for both the team in regards to a good return, and for him personally (not their job, but there was too much talk about the personal reasons he pushed for NY), it's a small blemish for them signing for future UFA's (but at the end of the day, it's NYC, and they can always get good FA's (see Shattenkirk situation).

DeAngelo trade - a big mistake: trading away a top 10 OD in the league who is under team control because of cap compliance issues would be incredibly embarrassing and awful asset management.

That's just about it...nothing else moves the needle enough because any piece that would be moved out needs to be replaced anyway (Buch, or anyone making less $)

Someone has to go, I'm excited and worried to see who it will be...my biggest fear is DeAngelo. In the meantime, I'll pray for this CBO we all keep speculating about...it will save the Rangers' future in my opinion.