The 2002-03 New York Rangers were a mess, due to the fact they were stuck with many overpaid and over the hill players.
The 2003 offseason would be the best time to try and move some of those overpaid players and transition start a rebuild.
The rebuild starts at the 2003 draft, where a few trades are made:
New York Rangers trade Eric Lindros to the Washington Capitals for Danius Zubrus, 1st round pick 2003, 2nd round pick 2004.
The Washington Capitals get a superstar center that they can pair with Jaromir Jagr,
while the Rangers get some picks and Danius Zubrus, a big powerforward.
New York Rangers also trade Petr Nedved, Alexei Kovalev, Tom Poti, 1st round pick 2003 to the Buffalo Sabres for Brian Campbell, Maxim Afinoginov, 1st round pick 2003.
Buffalo Sabres get three impact players in Petr Nedved, Alexei Kovalev and Tom Poti, that can help the team get to the next level.
The New York Rangers get Brian Campbell and Maxim Afinoginov, two young players who can be an important part of their core.
The Rangers and Sabres also swap 1st round picks in 2003.
The Rangers also trade Brian Leetch to the St.Louis Blues for Barrett Jackman, 2nd round pick 2004, 2nd round pick 2005.
Brian Leetch gets to play for a contending team, while the Rangers get a young defenseman in Barrett Jackman and 2 2nd round picks.
Bobby Holik is trade to the Atlanta Thrashers for 4th round pick 2003, 7th round pick 2003.
The Rangers dump Bobby Holik's terrible contract for some picks, if the Rangers don't trade Holik now, they won't be able to.
Changes in 2003 draft:
5-(From BUF) Thomas Vanek
18-(From WSH) Ryan Getzlaf
50-Corey Crawford
116-(from ATL) Lee Stempniak
149-Marc Methot
203-(from ATL) Joe Pavelski
209-Tobias Enstrom
The New York Rangers don't trade for Jaromir Jagr, because it doesn't the Rangers are now in a rebuild.
Without the likes of Alex Kovalev, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Tom Poti and Petr Nedved,
the Rangers finish with the 2nd worst record in the league.
At the 2004 draft, the Rangers make two trades:
New York Rangers trade Mike Dunham to the Chicago Blackhawks for Craig Anderson, 3rd round pick 2005.
The Chicago Blackhawks get a True Number 1 goalie, while the Rangers get a prospect goalie and a pick.
New York Rangers Trade Martin Ruchinsky, Darius Kasparitus, Fedor Tyutin, 2nd round pick 2004 to the Minnesota Wild for Zybnek Michalek, Pascal Dupuis, 6th round pick 2004.
This trade is mainly done to dump the horrible contract of Darius Kasparitus and the Rangers manage to get some decent players in return.
Zybnek Michalek and Pascal Dupuis are two underrated players that can prove to be important part of a playoff team in the future.
Changes in 2004 draft:
2-Evgeni Malkin
32-Dave Bolland
49-(From WSH) David Krejci
67-Alexei Emelin
165-Pekka Rinne
260-Mark Streit
The 2004-05 season was cancelled do to the lockout; the draft order remains the same is it was orignally.
At the 2005 draft, the Rangers trade pick 12 to the Toronto Maple Leafs for picks 21, 82, 2nd round pick 2006.
The Rangers also trade picks 37, 40 to the San Jose Sharks for picks 35, 2nd round pick 2006, 3rd round pick 2007 (Alex Killorn).
The Rangers also trade picks 77, 83 to the Pittsburgh penguins for pick 61.
Changes in 2005 draft:
21-(From TOR) Tuukka Rask
35-(From SJ) Marc Eduord Vlasic
61-(from PIT) Kris Letang
68-(from CHI) Jonathan Quick
82-(from TOR) Keith Yandle
211-Patric Hornqvist
The Rangers don't sign Michael Nylander and Michal Roszival in Free Agency;
they also don't acquire Petr Sykora, Steve Rucchin and Sandis Ozolish from Anaheim.
With the Young players not ready yet and Evgeni Malkin still in Russia, the Rangers finish the 2005-06 season with a dreadful record;
they end up with the 3rd pick in the draft.
At the 2006 draft, the Rangers trade down, they trade pick 3 to the Boston Bruins for pick 5, 50, 71, 1st round pick 2007 (Logan Couture).
The main reason the Rangers trade down here is because they want to get Phil Kessel, but they could get Kessel with the 5th pick,
so the Rangers might as well get some more picks for the 3rd pick.
The Rangers also trade picks 33, 36 to the Ottawa Senators for picks 28, 2nd round pick 2007 (Wayne Simmonds).
There is no need for so many 2nd round picks in this draft, so the Rangers are better off getting a late 1st round pick.
Changes in 2006 draft:
5-(from BOS) Phil Kessel
28-(from OTT) Nick Foligno
44-(from TOR)-Jeff Petry
50-(from BOS)-Milan Lucic
71-(from BOS)-Brad Marchand
156-Andrew MacDonald
With the Additions of Henrik Lundqvist and Evgeni Malkin, the Rangers improve drastically and make the playoffs in the 2005-06 season;
however they get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.
The New York Rangers now have 6 starting caliber goalies on the roster, 4 of which are in the pipeline;
since they don't need this many goalies, they should trade at two of them to improve other positions.
New York Rangers trade Pekka Rinne to the Nashville Predators for Alex Radulov.
The Predators need a successor for Tomas Vokoun and Pekka Rinne was never going to start over Henrik Lundqvist in New York.
Alex Radulov was a highly hyped prospect that Nashville didn't really use properly, if he plays with Malkin, he will light it up.
The Rangers also trade Jonathan Quick to the LA Kings for Jack Johnson, 2nd round pick 2008 (Roman Josi).
The LA Kings need a goalie of the future and Jonathan Quick wasn't going start of Lundqvist or Rask.
The Rangers get a top defensive prospect in Jack Johnson and a 2nd round pick.
The New York Rangers make couple of trades to fill out the lineup:
The Rangers trade Roman Josi, Jack Johnson to the Montreal Canadiens for Mike Ribeiro, Chris Higgins, 1st round pick 2009.
This is a tough trade to make but it has to be done because Roman Josi and Jack Johnson wouldn't have a fit in the lineup for the Rangers,
at the same time, they needed both a 2nd line LW and a 4th line center they get Mike Ribeiro, who can play both Center and wing,
as well as Chris Higgins, who is a promising young player.
Danius Zubrus is traded to the New Jersey Devils for 3rd round pick 2008 (Adam Henrique), 2nd round pick 2009.
Danius Zubrus doesn't have a fit on the roster, so the Rangers trade him for some picks.
By the 2007-08 season, the Rangers have put together a deadly roster,
this is how the lineup looks like:
T.Vanek-E.Malkin-A.Radulov
M.Ribeiro-R.Getzlaf-M.Afinoginov
M.Lucic-D.Krejci-P.Kessel
P.Dupuis-C.Higgins-L.Stempniak
M-E Vlasic-B.Campbell
B.Jackman-M.Streit
T.Enstrom-Z.Michalek
M.Methot
H.Lundqvist
C.Anderson
In the System: F: L.Couture, B.Marchand, N.Foligno, P.Hornqvist, A.Killorn, D.Bolland
D: K.Letang, J.Carlson, K.Yandle, J.Petry, A.McDonald, A.Emelin
G: T.Rask, C.Crawford
After rebuilding for almost 5 years, The Rangers have put together a playoff caliber team, that is also loaded with talented prospects
and will be a threat for the next decade.
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