Frank Vatrano was largely unknown to New York Rangers fans when he arrived on Broadway on March 16, 2022, part of a flurry of trade-deadline acquisitions by general manager Chris Drury that brought in four strong contributors, none of them stars.
Nearly two years later, the Blueshirts faithful – and likely, some of his former teammates – would love for there to be a reunion before this year’s deadline.
Vatrano, now with the Anaheim Ducks, represents the best available option for the Rangers to obtain again this season, not just for a playoff run but for 2024-25, for which he’s under contract. The player nicknamed “Frankie Rifle” for his shoot-first mentality is in the midst of his best season, having scored a career-high 29 goals while tying his best total of 19 assists.
Trade deadline pickups are hardly guaranteed to work the way the acquiring team intended – see Patrick Kane, 2023 – but after fitting the Rangers like a glove and helping them reach the 2022 Eastern Conference Final, Drury should have a reasonably high comfort level that Vatrano would be a successful add yet again.
A look at the pros of trading for Vatrano a second time makes it seem obvious that he’s worth the considerably higher return he’ll fetch now after the Rangers shrewdly picked him up from the Florida Panthers for a fourth-round pick two years ago.
Vatrano Can Unlock Mika Zibanejad’s 5-on-5 Play Again
It’s only been an OK season for No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad, who despite totaling 54 points in 59 games has struggled to make a significant impact at even strength. Zibanejad somehow hasn’t scored an even-strength goal since Dec. 23, and though he’s contributing all the other invaluable facets of his game – faceoffs, exceptional two-way play, penalty killing – his scoring is down, and he almost certainly won’t approach his career-best 39-goal, 91-point totals of last season. The 30-year-old has eight even-strength goals after recording 18 in 2022-23.
Making excuses for that accomplishes nothing, but it’s equally ridiculous to discount the fact that he and long-time running mate Chris Kreider have operated all season without a consistent, or consistently effective, right wing. Kaapo Kakko started the season with them, was demoted to the third line, got injured, came back to the third line and was moved back up with Zibanejad and Kreider shortly after veteran Blake Wheeler suffered a…
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