Details Revealed of Proposed NY Rangers / Vancouver Canucks Trade

We covered the news from Elliotte Friedman that a JT Miller trade between the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers was close on Saturday before falling apart at the 11th hour. But we're also getting details revealed today of the players that might have been (or, who knows, still could be) a part of the package going back to Vancouver.

According to Larry Brooks in the New York Post, two players that the Rangers hold in very high regard, Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider, are two of the "candidates" that were part of the trade discussions.

Rangers beat writer Vince Mercolgiano echoes the same names as being involved.

One more tweet after talking to a couple league sources about the JT Miller rumors…

It’s fairly well known that Vancouver has asked for Braden Schneider and #NYR have repeatedly said no to this point. Alexis Lafrenière also feels like a bridge too far. But a name at least one… https://t.co/kEc5kSOTxa
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) January 19, 2025

He adds that one other name that apparently came up in the Vancouver trade talks is Filip Chytil.

As for Lafreniere, the first overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft, he just recently signed a seven-year, $52.15 million extension with the Rangers that kicks in next season. The team obviously sees him as a major core piece of their future. It would be stunning to see them send him out at this point. But Brooks is pretty plugged in and if he says Lafreniere's name was/is involved, then it surely must have been, to some degree.

Schneider, a 6'3" right-shot defenseman, was also a first-round selection by the Blueshirts in that 2020 Draft, 19th overall. He, too, is seen as a big part of the Rangers future. He's in the first season of a two-year, $2.2M AAV contract. The 23-year-old has blocked over 130 shots in each of his two full seasons, while handing out an average of over 150 hits per campaign.

There are certainly other names that the Rangers would prefer to trade first, including Ryan Lindgren, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Reilly Smith and even K'Andre Miller.

Things have settled down around Broadway, however, after a rocky and chaotic two months to finish 2024. The team is 6-1-2 in its last nine games, just three points back of a Wild Card spot, though just six points separate eight teams battling for those two spots.