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Should New Jersey Devils Pick Up New York Rangers Trash?

By Nick Villano

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Marc Staal #18 of the New York Rangers moves Marcus Johansson #90 of the New Jersey Devils out of the crease during the first period at Madison Square Garden on September 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 24: Marc Staal #18 of the New York Rangers moves Marcus Johansson #90 of the New Jersey Devils out of the crease during the first period at Madison Square Garden on September 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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There’s rumors out there that the New York Rangers would consider buying out Marc Staal or Brendan Smith. Should the New Jersey Devils think about adding them for cheap?

New Jersey Devils fans have jokes about how the New York Rangers are known for giving their players huge raises and getting about half the production. It happened with Scott Gomez. It happened with Bobby Holik. We got to laugh while the Rangers got little to no production for major money on two underperforming centers.

There hasn’t been much Rangers leaving the Big Apple to come to the Garden State, which is surprising. One would think the desire to keep their family in the same place has to be intriguing. Yet, this season that could change. The Rangers are in a weird position where they’re still claiming the rebuild, but they have an ever-aging Henrik Lundqvist and they’ve been tied to Artemi Panarin and Erik Karlsson, the two best free agents in this year’s class.

That could lead to the team looking for buyout candidates. It’s not that they need cap space, since they have close to $20 million going into the offseason. It’s more that they just need to get some of the dead weight off their team. Two players that keep coming up in conversations is Marc Staal and Brendan Smith.

Now, we don’t mean to call them trash. That’s usually held for an insult against trolls on social media. However, the Rangers are literally throwing these players out.

Staal is a very intriguing player for most teams, especially for a defense hungry team like the Devils. He was once a top-line guy, but not anymore. Now, it’s hard to tell what he really is. His Corsi number are atrocious. Every advanced stat shows he’s getting worse and worse as they years go on.

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Smith, on the other hand, can’t find his way on the NHL roster. The Rangers are in a bad way on the blue line with Kevin Shattenkirk playing terribly and Adam Fox coming in to add a major logjam. So since he has the ability to go to the AHL, and it actually saves the Rangers money, it might make sense why they make this move. However, if he was a game changer, then the Rangers would find a way to keep him on the roster.

These are players who aren’t welcome on an average Rangers defensive corps. Both are on a heavy decline. Even if they came to the Devils for the minimum, the Devils would probably be better off giving those spots to the likes of Mirco Mueller, Connor Carrick or Steve Santini. Staal and Smith could possibly bring something to the right situation, but the Devils are not that situation. There are some interesting buyout candidates, but Smith and Staal can go somewhere else.

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