They weren’t going to pay either player on long-term deals to prevent them from hitting the free-agent market, so each was traded prior to the deadline.
No, this is not a reference to Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes, sent to Dallas and Winnipeg, respectively, over this past weekend, but rather to Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller, both of whom were traded to the Lightning minutes before the 2018 deadline and who returned to the Garden on Wednesday to help their new team defeat the Rangers 4-3 in overtime.
In the 12-plus months since the Rangers declared their intention to tear down and rebuild the existing structure that had grown old and insufficient, management has made seven trades involving Nick Holden, Michael Grabner, Rick Nash, McDonagh, Miller, Zuccarello, Hayes and Adam McQuaid.