New York Rangers' Best Trade Of The Past Year

There has been a large amount of movement around the New York Rangers over the past year in order to help them push further into the playoffs than they did last season, making it all the way to the conference finals. While there have been a lot of more minor trades, there have also been more than enough big trades to make this team a heavy topic of conversation.

With all the trades, the deadline that just passed was where the Rangers really got their value. They acquired two of the biggest rental forwards without breaking the bank, while also not only managing to fit them under the salary cap, but also address the left side of their defence.

The first big trade saw the Rangers acquire Vladimir Tarasenko (50% retained) and Niko Mikkola for Samuel Blais, Hunter Skinner, a first round pick and third round pick. This initially got the Rangers their big deadline forward acquisition since they wanted to get ahead of their competition in the East. By bringing in Mikkola in that trade, they filled the hole on their left side that needed addressing all season as well.

The other big trade got the Rangers Patrick Kane for much cheaper, but also didn't get them another NHL player due to the salary cap and it being unnecessary at that time. Seeing how Kane backed the Chicago Blackhawks in a corner and the Rangers seemed to be the only destination he was interested in being traded to, New York didn't have to pony up very much. It cost them a second, third, fourth round pick, and change. The second round pick has a condition that turns it to a first rounder if the Rangers go back to the conference finals, making it well worth it for New York in this trade.

Seeing as Kane did the Rangers and himself a big favour here, acquiring him from the Blackhawks was the team's best trade of the past year.