Blue Jackets' Free Agent Could Be Excellent Addition if NY Rangers Trade Veteran

Does a free agent from the Columbus Blue Jackets make sense for the New York Rangers?

Mar 12, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; View of a Columbus Blue Jackets logo on a jersey worn by a member of the team during warm-up before the game against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre. / David Kirouac-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers are preparing for an important offseason, and they will have some key decisions to make regarding the future of the franchise. 

For the last two years, the Rangers have fallen short of their expectations of being a playoff contender, and this season, they hit a new low. New York finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference and the third-worst record overall. 

This resulted in the Rangers having the third-highest chance of landing the number one overall pick. Unfortunately, they did not have luck on their side and fell to fifth in the draft. While that move down certainly wasn’t ideal, they are still in line to get a good player. 

While the draft is going to be important for New York, the franchise has done a good job of setting themselves up to have a good amount of cap space to pursue players to improve. 

Even though the star power might be lacking a bit in free agency this summer, there are going to be some good options that could help the Rangers. With a few needs, it will be interesting to see how they attack things. However, one player could make a ton of sense, especially if they move one of their players. 

Charlie Coyle Is Great Option in Free Agency

Columbus Blue Jackets center Charlie Coyle / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Even though the plan for the Rangers might be to get younger, they could get creative this offseason up the middle. With Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller, likely to be the center on the first two lines, they could move Vincent Trocheck in a trade for a younger player and then pursue a player like Coyle to fill the same role in free agency. 

This would certainly be a creative way for the Rangers to go about doing some retooling this summer, but it could check some boxes. The team likely wouldn’t lose much, swapping Trocheck for Coyle in terms of production, and getting a young player in return for Trocheck would be ideal. 

Last year, Coyle had a really strong year with the Columbus Blue Jackets, totaling 58 points with 20 goals and 38 assists in 82 games played. With six goals and seven assists on the power play as well, he was a solid contributor on the man-advantage. 

At 34 years old, the veteran likely wouldn’t be getting a long-term deal, and he could fit in nicely for the team if they trade Trocheck. With a goal of retooling and being competitive, this strategy could accomplish multiple goals for the team this summer.