With the NHL season quickly approaching, teams are looking to add last minute pieces in order to make sure they have enough insurance in case of struggles, injuries or a combination of the two.
A thinning free agent pool is going to necessitate some creativity for some teams, meanwhile others are likely standing pat and waiting until the regular season kicks off to get a better idea of how to move forward.
But one team who could use some extra help are the New York Rangers. A team that’s spinning their wheels with no clear direction, they have been linked to trades involving their stars like Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.
According to one analyst however, they should look to add some veteran leadership to their back end and bring in a former Stanley Cup winner.
Nestor Quixtan of Heavy.com recently put out an article urging the Rangers to take a chance on defenseman Erik Johnson as a cheap way to add some insurance:
“Erik Johnson is nowhere near a 20-minute-a-night blueliner at this point in his career. But he is a physical, defensively sound D-man who could fit in nicely as a seventh or eighth defenseman.
Assuming he signs for a league-minimum deal, the NY Rangers could carry him on the roster all season without risking surpassing the cap ceiling. That situation makes him an interesting alternative at training camp this fall.”
Johnson, 37, played last season with the Colorado Avalanche; the team he made his mark with for 14 seasons and winning a Stanley Cup in 2021-22. In 1.023 games, Johnson has 348 points (95 goals, 253 assists) but also has 1,717 blocks and 1,695 hits over his career.
Although he’s getting into the twilight of his career, he shows no signs of slowing down and as we’ve seen with John Tavares, Alex Ovechkin, Max Pacioretty, Erik Karlsson and more; age can be but merely a number.
He would be able to help a New York team at least with mentorship and young players like K’Andre Miller, Zachary Jones, Adam Fox and Victor Mancini could certainly benefit from the wisdom Johnson would bring, plus as we saw in Pittsburgh, head coach Mike Sullivan loves his veterans.
There’s really no negatives to bringing in Johnson, as the Rangers can simply say no thanks and move on; no harm, no foul.
But former first overall picks and Cup winners don’t come around too often, so he might stick around just based off that prestige alone.
