Breaking News: New York Rangers Acquire Keith Yandle from Arizona Coyotes
The New York Rangers have made a blockbuster move prior to Monday's trade deadline, and acquired Keith Yandle from Arizona.
Glen Sather strikes again.
According to Darren Dreger, the New York Rangers have acquired defensemen Keith Yandle, Chris Summers, and a 2015 4th-round draft pick from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Anthony Duclair, John Moore, a 2015 2nd-round draft pick and a 2016 1st-round draft pick. In addition to the players heading each way, Arizona will also be retaining 50% of Yandle's $5.25M salary for the rest of this season and next season. That brings Yandle's cap hit in the vicinity of $2.6M for the next two years.
Obviously this was a huge price to pay for Glen Sather, and it's also pretty obvious that he believes the Rangers are a "win now " type of team. Anthony Duclair is a hefty price to pay, especially with the promise that he had shown earlier in the season. But, with Arizona's picking up a hefty portion of Yandle's salary, you had to figure something big was going to go back the other way.
The trade clearly has a tremendous impact on the future of this club, but if you look at the short-term, the Rangers are a much better team than they were yesterday. Yandle provides the Rangers with a pure puck moving defenseman they haven't had in ages, and gives them a much needed boost on the back end.
In 63 games with a struggling Coyotes team, Yandle has posted four goals, and 36 assists for a total of 40 points on the season.
