NYR Brass Scouting Anaheim

There’s still months and months to go before the trade deadline and usually when clubs send scouts around the country this far in advance, it’s not usually news… until you see exactly who it was from the Rangers watching the Ducks as they made their way around the tri-state over the last couple days.

#NYR have Chris Drury and Gordie Clark in attendance here tonight. Could be checking out Ducks' D-men.

— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) October 17, 2016

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Yup, that’s the Rangers assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel doing due diligence themselves. That’s not something you would typically see in October.

Why are the Ducks being scouted so heavily by the Rangers? Anaheim has yet to sign one of their top young defensemen, Hampus Lindholm to a contract. It’s a similar situation to the one the Winnipeg Jets are in with Jacob Trouba that we talked about twice in the last month, except Anaheim may have to trade a player or two to get it done and stay under the cap.

Unlike Winnipeg, the Rangers and Ducks are suitable trade partners, with Anaheim desperate for depth forwards, especially after claiming Emerson Etem off the waiver wire last week.

So exactly who are the Rangers looking at? According to Elliotte Friedman and his ‘30 Thoughts‘ column yesterday, the Ducks aren’t too keen on trading Cam Fowler for non roster players, who has been the focus of rumors for quite some time. Sami Vatanen probably isn’t going anywhere. I would assume that a 35 year old Kevin Bieksa with a NMC is off the table. This leaves Simon Despres (who is injured currently), Clayton Stoner, Josh Manson and Jacob Larsson. 

We’ll obviously keep a close eye on this as the season progresses. At least management seems to know they’ve got defensive issues at the moment. The Rangers are a bit fortunate that they’re 2-1 right now having given up 10 goals already in just 3 games.