Rangers Roundup: Crazy stuff out of St. Louis, Hayes to Boston and more

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Hayes (USATI)

Tis the season for trade rumors fa la la la lah lala la lah

Crazy Stuff out of St. Louis

The Blues have hit that crossroad where they face a seismic decision to blow up an underperforming team and rebuild. Sound familiar Rangers fans?

“You mentioned L.A. and you mentioned Chicago and there’s St. Louis. There’s a lot of crazy stuff, rumors, coming out of St. Louis. We’ll find out somewhere down the road how much of it is truth and how much of it is fiction. But they’re definitely open to ideas there.” – Friedman on TSN Radio

Of course, as we saw yesterday that 25 year old defenseman Colton Parayko topped TSN’s list but I still have my doubts on the Blues moving him in a rebuild. What about Vladimir Tarasenko? Well, here’s what Bob McKenzie said in a radio interview.

“It’s funny. At times he’s been obviously a tremendous goal scorer, but the team success hasn’t been there, so – He’s just listening. He’s not saying, ‘I’m trading Tarasenko.’ And that would be a really difficult deal to do. And I think too, it’s important – when we hear the word that Doug Armstrong is ‘listening’ and there are virtually no untouchables – although I really think Jaden Schwartz is probably the closest thing to that on the Blues – but if he’s listening on just about everybody, it doesn’t mean he’s trading everybody. He’s already been through as a general manager – he kind of got rid of one core group of players that included David Backes and T.J. Oshie and some others as he turned it over to be a younger group led by Tarasenko and Schwartz.” – McKenzie on TSN Radio

So we know that Armstrong is listening and while there’s no guarantee, the right offer could pry a 27 year old goal scorer like Tarasenko out of St. Louis. Who knows, maybe if the Rangers had a guy like him on the 5 on 3 PP they would’ve buried Arizona and won the game.

Hayes to Boston?

After the deadline deal with the Bruins that sent Rick Nash there, I wouldn’t rule it out. Of course, does Boston have the assets to make a deal that Jeff Gorton would bite on? Would they part with a player like Jake DeBrusk? I’m not sure, but the Bruins have been looking for a center since the start of the year and Hayes could fit that bill.

I also think that if Hayes really wants to play for his hometown Bruins, all he has to do is get to UFA status this summer in July. This is the one scenario most Rangers fans seem to ignore and dismiss far too quickly.

Unpopular Opinion on Last Night’s Loss

So the Rangers blew another lead and lost to the Coyotes. While most people blamed the defense and even Lundqvist for not stopping that knuckle puck laser in the third, I blamed it on the lack of a true scoring threat.

By Anthony Scultore

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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