2024-25 Trade Grades - Hartford Wolf Pack Edition

With the passing of the AHL trade deadline on Friday, the excitement of trade season has come and gone. The 2025 edition saw Mikko Rantanen traded twice, Brock Nelson head to Colorado, and the Bruins dealing captain Brad Marchand to a division rival in the Panthers.

On Broadway, the Rangers have been active participants in the trade market all season. They jettisoned former captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim in December. Kaapo Kakko went next, heading to Seattle in a deal that brought in Will Borgen. The Rangers notably brought back J.T. Miller in January in a deal with Vancouver. At the deadline, the Blueshirts said goodbye to Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, and Reilly Smith while adding Carson Soucy, Juuso Pärssinen, and Calvin de Haan. The roster now looks quite different than the one that opened the campaign.

However, the Rangers' roster isn't the only one that's undergone change via the trade market. The Hartford Wolf Pack have been involved in a number of deals made by their parent club. Today, we're going to grade all of four them from the Wolf Pack's perspective.

January 25th: Rangers acquire F Lucas Edmonds from Tampa Bay for F Ryder Korczak

The details: The first trade involving the Wolf Pack occurred on January 25th, when the Rangers acquired forward Lucas Edmonds from the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Ryder Korczak.

Edmonds, playing for the Syracuse Crunch, Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate at the time of the trade, had posted five points (1 G, 4 A) at the time of the deal. The former third-round pick (#86) in 2022 had played 120 career AHL games, all with Syracuse, totaling 48 points (25 G, 23 A).

Korczak, meanwhile, put up eleven points (3 G, 8 A) in 35 games with the Wolf Pack before the deal. After being selected in the third round (#75) of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Korczak recorded 31 points (12 G, 19 A) in 107 regular season games in the Connecticut capital. Korczak added a goal and an assist in 10 Calder Cup Playoff games in 2024.

With neither player doing much in their organization and both in the final year of their entry-level contract, the Rangers and Lightning swapped the two to give each a fresh start with a new team.

The grade: I give this trade a C+, indicating a slight win for the Wolf Pack. Neither man has done much with their new team. Both have shuffled in and out of the lineup, unable to create a defined role. However, Edmonds has been slightly better since the deal.

In 13 games with the Wolf Pack, Edmonds has recorded six points (4 G, 2 A) after recording just five in 26 games with Syracuse. His defense has also improved in Hartford's system, going from a -5 with the Crunch to a 0 with the Wolf Pack.

Korczak, meanwhile, has two goals and an assist in eight games with Syracuse. After posting a +4 in Hartford, one of the better marks among Wolf Pack forwards, he's gone -1 with the Crunch.

It's a tough trade to grade, but I think the Wolf Pack made out slightly better.