An Alexandar Georgiev Trade Would Be A Pretty Stupid Rangers Move

It’s an awkward time between the pipes right now for the Blueshirts. On one hand you’ve got the debonaire, loyal franchise legend Henrik Lundqvist in the twilight of his Hall of Fame career. On another hand you’ve got 24 year-old Igor Shesterkin who’s dominated everywhere he’s played & has long been dubbed the “heir apparent”. Then on some mutant third hand, there’s the undrafted Bulgarian Alexandar Georgiev who’s done nothing but impress since getting semi-regular playing time on the big stage. Ever since Shesty’s call-up a couple weeks ago, Georgiev’s name has been hot in the trade rumor mill to the point where it might seem to some it’s a foregone conclusion. Trade excess to fill holes elsewhere, right? If you’re thinking big picture though, it’s pretty clear the Rangers best move regarding Georgie will most likely be no move at all.

First, casual fans might think Shesterkin’s the kid here but in reality Georgiev is the youngest of the three (by about 5 weeks). So both are essentially in the same stages of their development with Shesty having the superior pedigree/KHL experience & Georgie proving himself so far in the NHL. Since January of last year, when he started getting regular playing time, Georgiev has the 13th best save percentage (.916) among goalies with 40+ contests. This is despite facing the most overall shots & high-danger shots per-60. Only two goalies in the league turn away high-danger chances at a higher clip. Georgiev has thrived behind a rebuilding squad providing little, if any, defensive help. There’s no reason to believe his numbers wouldn’t jump another level if given even mediocre support as the Rangers rebuild eventually turns into their resurgence. Why on Earth would you wanna trade that away?

To accommodate Hank? That’s absurd. He’s an absolute superstar who deserves every ounce of respect the Blueshirts can afford – but that doesn’t mean simply forking over playing time for his swan song instead of developing two potential #1’s who are also helping them win right now. I’m very interested to see if he changes his “ride or die” tune before this summer. Does he plan on retiring after his contract ends next year? Regardless of what the answer is, I just wouldn’t be surprised if the competitor in him wanted one more crack at a regular gig and that’s just no longer in the cards here. It would be fucking WEIRD seeing him in another sweater and who knows if there’s a suitor (Colorado?) out there willing to take on a 38 year-old for a year at a $4.25M hit (NY would almost certainly have to eat half). I’m sure the trade cost wouldn’t be much as Rangers brass would want to give The King what he wanted. All in all though, it’ll be Lundqvist’s decision as to whether he goes out a player or essentially a spectator – and I get the feeling he’s already tired of being the latter. If you’re a fan of his, you gotta wanna see him fly one more time too. This would be the ideal solution, but there’s no reason right now to believe it’s a realistic option.

So then the only reason you’d trade him is if the haul was simply too good to be true, right? Well duh. The history of goalie trades doesn’t really give too much credence to that happening though. I know the team linked to Georgiev the most is the Leafs for plenty of reasons. Freddy Andersen’s workload over the last few years has been insane and his recent demise is a big reason why they’re on the outside of the playoff picture. Hutchinson isn’t exactly a reliable option behind him. They don’t have any upper-tier goalie prospects knocking on the NHL door to backstop a contender & Andersen’s contract expires after next season. He’ll be 32 when he signs his next one. So yeah, maybe acquiring Georgie seems like “trading for a backup” on the surface, but it provides a reliable Plan B with plenty of future Plan A potential at what should be a very palatable cap hit for a franchise pushing the ceiling. Dreger tweeted recently that he’s not sure even Kasperi Kapanen would be enough to pry away the Blueshirts tendy but I’d be shocked if that were true. Still, a statement like that proves the Rangers know they don’t have to lower their ask because there’s no harm in no deal. In turn, it’s fair for a team like Toronto not to want to part ways with an important piece of their current roster in the middle of the season – although falling further away from the postseason might call for drastic measures. If they’re not willing, the likelihood of another team ponying up an equal haul by the deadline is extremely slim.

If anything is gonna go down it’d most likely be this summer with a much more wide open market of teams potentially looking at Georgie as a long-term acquisition. The tricky thing about a pre-draft trade is that NY will most likely want NHL-ready talent in return and usually, significant summer deals revolve around draft picks. If 28 year-old Cam Talbot got a two & three, we’re clearly talking first-rounder for a 24 year-old RFA. Considering the depth of this draft class it wouldn’t be the worst thing to land a third first-rounder (I’m assuming they snag one for Kreider too) and allow themselves an opportunity to trade up a la 2018 for K’Andre. But again, if Kapanen supposedly isn’t enough for a deadline deal, a #1 alone certainly won’t get it done either. So what team will want to cough up multiple significant assets for a backstop with a solid but brief track record? Who knows. Bottom line is I just don’t think there’s a realistic situation where the Rangers get what they want in time to alleviate their three-headed monster for next season. And that’s perfectly fine.

This franchise has had between 10-13% of their cap tied up by Lundqvist since ’14-15. That’s a lot of (deserved) dough. Now they currently roster a pair of NHL-ready kids with tons of upside who are younger than a majority of netminders across the league. Both will be cost-controlled for a few more years to the point where NY can easily roster both at a combined cap hit less than Hank’s. We’ve seen what’s happened across the league recently. Look at the Pens and Blues as championship examples of teams that wouldn’t have hoisted the Cup without Plan B goaltenders stepping in for conventional #1’s. It’s about tandems now and the Blueshirts could conceivably have a duo among the youngest, cheapest and best for at least the next three seasons. Throwing that away for anything other than an absolute heist would be a real stupid decision, especially if having three rostered goalies for one more year is the catalyst.