Trading Places

With just under 72 hours remaining before the NHL Trade Deadline – Monday February 29th – 3:00pm Eastern, the New York Rangers find themselves in familiar territory. With a nine point lead and a game in hand on the 9th ranked New Jersey Devils, it would take a monumental collapse for them to miss out on a sixth straight playoff season, and tenth in eleven seasons.

As has been typical in recent years, the Rangers are hard up against the NHL Salary Cap with just $180,000 of projected annualized Cap Room per NHLNumbers.com projections. Unless there is a move to put someone on Long Term Injury Reserve (LTIR), send someone down to the minors, or someone is traded, the Rangers are projected to only be able to add another $180,000 equivalent annial salary, or about one third the minimum NHL contract.