Keith Yandle Trade Rumors: A Silly Season Reminder (And Assorted Thoughts)
Keith Yandle isn't on the trading block.
Yesterday it surfaced the Rangers had officially placed Keith Yandle on the trading block for the 15th time this summer. I am intentionally refusing to link, embed or even point you guys in the direction of the "rumor" because it's nothing more than a made up concoction coming from a "rumor breaker" who is trying to make another faceless name for themselves.
However, the topic of moving Yandle to save the Rangers cap space has gained a lot of traction previously; mainly from Larry Brooks who included it in almost every article leading up to the Derek Stepan contract. That speculation has thankfully died down after Jeff Gorton did some remarkable work on the free agency front, but that still hasn't stopped silly season from spreading into August.
Look, realizing the Rangers are going to have another tough summer ahead of them (in terms of locking up guys like Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Emerson Etem and J.T. Miller) is logical and isn't hard to do. However, panicking today and moving one of the better offensive defenseman in the league (on probably the best contract in the NHL this year) doesn't make sense -- especially for a win-now team.
Obviously there should be concerns about keeping Yandle next year with all the other players that need to be brought back into the fold, but again, that doesn't take into consideration Dan Boyle's $4.5-million coming off the books, or the $2.9-million invested in Kevin Klein that can be moved or the $1.45-million in Tanner Glass that can be moved/buried. And, of course, the enormous $5.5-million locked up in Dan Girardi for the next five years. The Rangers will have options if they need to make some money-saving decisions.
But when it comes to Yandle right now you have to keep in mind it's a lot harder to find a quality puck moving defenseman that fits in a team's cap atmosphere than it is to find a top-six player. So moving Yandle would leave the Rangers with yet another hole and probably wouldn't make the team any better.
That's not to say Yandle doesn't have his faults, but there are 29 other teams in the NHL who would kill to have him on the contract he's on. You don't give those players away and you absolutely don't put them on the block and try to move them. In a situation like this it's better to make your run and figure out next year next year.
So please, read these rumors at your own risk. Digest them at your own peril.
Or just ignore them for your own sanity.
