It is premature to call it a plan, for it is more like a concept. Yet the notion of pulling off what would be quite the creative exacta appears to be crystalizing within the Rangers’ front office as the Feb. 25 trade deadline approaches.
That is, the Blueshirts are mulling an approach in which they would swap premium rental properties Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello for a combined bundle of picks and prospects before then re-signing the now-pending free agents when they hit the open market on July 1.
Now, listen. Nothing would be set in stone. No promises have been made. The idea is germinating as the opportunity presents itself. Indeed, general manager Jeff Gorton and his lieutenants must steer clear of any suggestion of pre-tampering. And this type of approach would be fraught with risk, for there is always the possibility that no matter how often Zuccarello and Hayes pledge their loyalty to Broadway, they could, A) fall in love with their new environs once traded and decide to re-up with their new teams; or, B) be overwhelmed with offers the Rangers might not be able to (or care to) match when they become free agents.
This type of scenario rarely happens in the NHL. Antoine Vermette was rented by Chicago from Arizona in 2015 and returned to the desert as a Cup-winning free agent the ensuing summer. Keith Tkachuk did the 360 from the Blues to/from the Thrashers in 2007 after a trade back to St. Louis. It is unclear whether that had been the original intent behind the initial transactions.
If this does become the plan and it does come to fruition, it would be tantamount to what the Yankees pulled off in 2016, when they sent Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for a passel of young assets including Gleyber Torres before signing the elite lefty closer as a free agent the following offseason. Thus, ideally, the path to contention would accelerate within the rebuild by “retaining” core pieces Hayes and Zuccarello but reintroducing them into an organization bolstered by their departures.
This, of course, is all still to come. And though the Rangers were beaten 3-2 by the first-overall Lightning at the Garden for their second loss in three games after coming off their hiatus, this was still a good week for the franchise because of the way the revived Zuccarello was able to enhance his market value and Hayes was able to maintain his after returning from the pre-break mid-body injury that had sidelined him for nine straight games.
Indeed, the sizzling Zuccarello (five goals, eight assists, 13 points in his past seven consecutive) and Hayes accounted for both of their team’s goals in this game after the Rangers carried the play in the first period and decisively so in the third yet fell after a succession of second-period lapses allowed the Lightning to grab a 3-0 lead by the midpoint.
“We got too nonchalant in the second period, turned the puck over and gave them odd-man rushes,” Hayes said. “We made some mistakes against some of the best guys in the league and it cost us.”
Down 1-0 after one, the margin mounted to 3-0 8:33 of the second on goals 3:52 apart set up by Rangers misfeasance. Zuccarello scored at 16:17 before Hayes got a power play goal at 6:49 of the third, but the Blueshirts could not come all the way back despite a 15-4 shot advantage over the final 20 minutes.
“I think it was frustration of playing well in the first but coming out of it [trailing] 1-0,” coach David Quinn said of the second period performance. “We played 12 minutes of sloppy, uninspired hockey and it cost us. You can’t play 48 minutes against that team.”
After it had ended, both Hayes and Zuccarello talked about the need to pick up victories and points for the team to push back into the playoff race of which the Rangers are now on the fringes of the periphery. Of course, chances are that both will participate in the playoffs in different precincts.
But that might not signal the end of either’s story in New York. What’s more, Zuccarello’s resurgence in which he has played his finest and sharpest hockey since 2016-17 has created the very real possibility that the organization could not only bring Zuccarello back as a free agent, but award him the captaincy upon signing him to a multi-year contract.
That no longer seems so far-fetched. In fact, it might even be part of an emerging blueprint for the Blueshirts, whose loss Saturday will be long forgotten at the trade deadline and on July 1.