The Rangers knew what they were giving up when they traded Carl Hagelin to the Ducks this summer, essentially saving $3 million per season in salary-cap space. What they didn’t know was exactly what they were receiving in return in the form of 23-year-old winger Emerson Etem.
And coach Alain Vigneault said as much through Etem’s rocky training camp, and through the first part of the regular season when he could hardly crack the lineup.
But then came Sunday at the Garden, when Etem replaced the injured Viktor Stalberg and played what Vigneault called his best game as a Ranger — preseason or regular season — a 4-1 win over the Flames that could likely have been Etem’s Blueshirted breakthrough.