GM Jeff Gorton is great and your an unlucky moron for thinking otherwise! This trade was not available in the offseason... NYR did not know Panarin would sign with them until July 1st. If Panarin didn't sign as a UFA, Namestnikov would have a spot on the team. After July 1st teams wanted to see how their planned roster played out in the preseason and the start of the year before trading for a player like Namestnikov. Even after the Panarin signing Namestnikov was insurance for a Center, LW, and RW, in case the Rangers Yutes didn't look as good as they are looking right now. An Ottawa 4th round pick is more like a late 3rd round pick and NYR is also trying to improve their AHL team and they in addition acquired a home town boy (shout out to Livingston NJ!) who's slots right in as a right handed RD in Hartford. Not to mention Ottawa only asked for 3/4 of a $million in retained salary, which is a lot less than NHL teams were demanding in retained salary in the offseason. Quit compiling about Gorton! He's one of the better GM's in the league and knows much more about hockey than you do.

As for Spooner and Namestnikov... What they were payed was the going rate for for players with their stats and potential at the time. Namestnikov put up great numbers with TBL and is a good well rounded player. Look for him to play very well in Ottawa. Spooner was a very promising prospect and put up good stats for NYR the rest of the year since being acquired, as well as with Boston (limited playing time) before he was traded. Why Spooner's talents unexpectedly fell off the face of the earth is baffling even to the experts. Hindsight is 20/20!

As for wanting Shattenkirk instead of Smith and Staal... Staal and Smith are at least physical players who clear the front of the net and stick up for their teammates. What Shattenkirk brings to the team is nothing! Especially when the Rangers have three right handed defensemen better offensively, younger, and much more rounded a game, than Shattenkirk. Trouba, Fox, and DeAngello, are all much better RD's than Shattenkirk.

Strome is much better than Namestnikov! Strome was a top prospect who's just now starting to reach his full potential. Strome is a New Yorker sent into exile in Edmonton... That's enough to temporary stunt any players development.

Check out 1:22 of this video, a perfect example of how Shattenkirk hurts his team when he's on the ice... Plays like this do not happen to Smith and Staal, unlike Shattenkirk where it's a nightly event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCdwEABcwk&t=92s

Two points on this trade:
1. No way was this trade available over the summer. The trade market was frozen solid over the summer because of the cap crunch...when the cap was set lower than expected most teams found themselves in a bind...especially the teams with big RFAs to sign. Ottawa was one of the few teams NOT in this position...but them and a few other teams were in no rush to bail out the big spenders...so the cost of cap dumps went through the roof- Toronto had to GIVE a 1st (in a deep draft) to lose Marleau contract (who is still a serviceable player). Now that the season has started the trade market has begun to shift from an extreme buyer's market towards that of a seller's market (not fully there yet- maybe there by TDL)
2. Even if this trade was made over the summer, you can make the argument that Shatty would still have been bought out over Smith and Staal...see AJ's post above

Don't think you can criticize Gorton was his moves this summer. He was "forced" to get Names, Smith and the Shattenkirk buyout. The cap didn't go up as much as expected and other teams are so cap strapped, they can't take any cap dumps.
Now if anything you can play Ranger management for the Staal and Smith extensions and the Shatternkirk signing, but you would have to go back at the time of the signings to see if they were logical.
Rangers are still looking at some cap issues next summer.

He helped build the 2011 Bruins and made Chiarelli look good, so I'd say he's good

Forced? Thats a wild take. He traded for and re-signed Smith, Spooner and Nemistnikov because he thought they were good players and those contracts were fair market value for what they were and would be. Now he is sitting with a 4th rounder, a career AHL Body, 4.35m in dead cap space for Smith, 300k for Spooner and 750k for Nemestnikov, with 3.1m bum and looming QO disaster Ryan Strome the only regular.

On top of that he hired Quinn, who may be good or may be a moron who prefers to play Greg McKegg and Michael Hayley instead of Filip and Vitaly, because grit or something. I dunno, maybe play as many of your best players as you can. Crazy strategy. Like I said, the jury is definitely still out on both, but Gorton has gotten reallllly lucky to go with some good moves, but his exits from his bad moves have been mostly ugly and still not finished (smith, strome)

also in all of this. McCleod. he thought adding him was good for the team. wild that he escaped with a 7th rounder for that clown.

Although I feel its important to note that New York has an advantage that makes it easier to be Gm than other teams, Gorton has done an amazing job. Yeah a couple players were bad signings but for the most part he has killed it. There is no such thing as a perfect GM. There will always be a coupel blemishes but for the most part, he's been really good.

No joke, the NYR rebuild even before Kakko was selected has been remarkable. Teams should look at Gorton's work in this rebuild and carbon copy it exactly. I wish the Habs had done it this way back in the day.

No need for Boyle

Totally spot on, great analysis!