After wading through all of the possibilities, the Rangers came out on the other side of Monday’s trade deadline just about where they thought they would be. That is to say, they continued this rebuild by shipping out the present and focusing on the future.
The trio of pending unrestricted free agents are all gone, as general manager Jeff Gorton most notably sent Kevin Hayes to the Jets in exchange for a first-round pick, hard-nosed 22-year-old forward Brendan Lemieux — son of former Devil Claude — plus a fourth-round pick in 2022 if Winnipeg ends up winning the Stanley Cup.