The positive news is that the Vancouver Canucks are still a good enough team that most fans and pundits can look at them and identify only one major deficiency. The negative side of that is that the one major deficiency is a lack of at least one more top-four-quality blueliner, and those tend to be among the trickiest assets to acquire in the sport of hockey.

But the hunt is on all the same. At this point, folks would be shocked if GM Patrik Allvin and Co. didn’t trade for at least one additional defender at some point during the 2024/25 season. The question is who, and the answer is a variety of options that we’ll be going over in the days and weeks to come here at CanucksArmy.

Next up on our tour of possible blueline solutions: the New York Rangers.

If you joined us earlier in the week, we discussed the now-overloaded blueline of the Vegas Golden Knights, and how their need to eventually trade off a D might correspond nicely with the Canucks need to eventually trade for one.

The same, we think, might be true of the New York Rangers. And if that’s the case, they might naturally be a better fit as a trade partner than Vegas, just on the basis of their not being a divisional rival.

Another key difference between the two situations is that while the Vegas blueline crunch has been brought on by recent re-signings and extensions, the Rangers’ is more of an impending issue brought on by soon-to-expire contracts.

That could prove a little easier to manoeuvre.

Let’s start with the piece they’re definitely not going to move: Adam Fox.

Already a Norris winner by his sophomore season, Fox is simply one of the best defenders in the NHL, and he’s appropriately signed to a lengthy deal that will pay him an average of $9.5 million until the year 2029.

He’s a foundational piece now and in the future in New York, and he won’t be going anywhere.

The rest of the blueline?

Decidedly less settled.

Jacob Trouba represents perhaps the biggest complication. The Rangers’ captain just hit 30 and is signed for this season and next at $8 million.

The last few years, there’s been some noise about the Rangers wishing to part ways with Trouba, but that moment seems to have passed – at least for the time being.

Trouba’s no-trade clause has gone down to just 15 teams as of this season, and will drop again to just 12 teams for 2025/26. That increases any team’s odds of landing him, theoretically, although it should be noted that his unhappy departure from Winnipeg might make it likely that other Canadian markets find their way onto any NTC list.

On the flip-side of that, Trouba’s contract status creates some urgency. The Rangers are in win-now mode, and they probably don’t want to enter next season with their captain as a pending UFA. That’s an unnecessary distraction.

Trade or re-sign, the decision on Trouba probably gets made well before the start of 2025/26.

In any case, at $8 million and increasingly less effective as time wears on, Trouba is not a great solution for the Canucks.

The real solutions come lower in the lineup, and are perhaps made more available by whatever goes down with Trouba.

Ryan Lindgren, age 26, becomes a UFA after this current season. He makes most of his reputation on his physicality and defensive play, but can also move the puck a bit better than the average “defensive defenseman.” He’s been a useful player for the Rangers on their climb to contention, and he’s the kind of player that any team could reasonably use, especially at his current $4.5 million cap hit.

Were he to be put to market as a rental, the Canucks would probably be one of the teams with interest. At the very least, Lindgren looks like a much better version of what they already have on the left side in Carson Soucy.

But teams like the Rangers don’t often sell rentals. The more direct way in which Lindgren’s availability might impact the Canucks is if he extends with the Rangers…leaving other defenders more difficult to re-sign themselves.

Now it’s time to talk about K’Andre Miller. No bones about it, he’s having a difficult season for the Rangers in which he’s struggled at both ends of the ice.

But the 6’5”, 216-pound smooth-skating left-hander is still just 24 years old, so he’s got ample time to sort out any struggles. And at his best, he’s already proven capable of being a puck-moving top-four NHL D.

In just his third NHL season, Miller put up 34 assists and 43 points in 79 games. Now in his fifth year, he hasn’t matched that yet. But the potential for him to re-gain that level of two-way success is high and mighty tempting to any team considering trading for him.

Miller is an RFA after this season. And given the salary the Rangers either have committed already or might be about to commit to ahead of him on the depth chart, that greatly increases Miller’s odds of being traded before being extended – especially if the Rangers are worried that his past performance will grant him a salary higher than his current performance deserves.

If Miller hits the trade block, he won’t come cheap. But he might come cheaper than the average 6’5” 24-year-old capable of skating top-four minutes in the NHL, and that could make him a big opportunity for a somewhat ‘buy-low’ success story.

The Canucks already have two Petterssons. Why not two Millers?

In any case, though, Vancouver won’t be the only team in on this player, and that could lead to a bidding war.

Right below Miller on the depth chart is a name that Vancouver fans have already discussed trading for before, and that’s Braden Schneider.

There was a time when Schneider was being hyped up as the next great RHD prospect, and was said to be hitting the NHL as essentially a younger Trouba – capable of strong offensive play at one end and devastating physical impact at the other.

So far, Schneider hasn’t quite developed into a true top-four talent as quickly as the Rangers might have hoped.

On the one hand, in four seasons, the highest average ice-time Schneider has skated in his four seasons of NHL hockey is the 16:45 he’s skating right now.

On the other hand, Schneider just turned 23 in September, and has plenty of time left on the clock to take that next step with that massive 6’4” frame. He’s already up to seven points in 18 games this season, which bodes well for his offensive development.

So why would the Rangers move Schneider?

The fact that Fox is permanently locked in on the right side has something to do with it. That might lead the Rangers to reasonably prioritize their left side, meaning Lindgren and Miller, over the extension that Schneider will need when his current $2.2 million AAV deal expires in 2026.

If the Rangers were to extend Trouba on top of that, it would really mark the death-knell of Schneider’s opportunity to move up the depth chart, and at that point he might be put to market. As a big, talented RHD, the bidding would be intense. But then it probably should be, and the Canucks should probably be one of the teams intently bidding on a guy who used to be hyped as ‘the perfect future partner for Quinn Hughes.’

But why wouldn’t the Rangers just do their best to hold on to what we’ve described as a pretty darn fine collection of blueliners?

They’ll certainly try to. But the New York forward corps needs some work, and that work will require some cash at hand. Cash that might be hard to come by as soon as star netminder Igor Shesterkin signs what is expected to be an extension with an average somewhere in the neighbourhood of $11 million.

Cuts have to come from somewhere in the budget, and the blueline seems like the likeliest bet. Especially with the abundance of young D talent the Rangers could already replace their current defenders with.

Zac Jones has cracked the Rangers full-time this year already at LHD. The right-handed Victor Mancini really surprised in training camp just two years out of being drafted in the fifth round, and has already played nine games this year.

There are your replacements for Miller and/or Schneider right there, if you so choose.

There’s also a few other names coming up, including Matthew Robertson and the recently-drafted-but-yet-unsigned Drew Fortescue and EJ Emery.

The point stands that, at some point over the next year, the Rangers will most likely trade one or more of their blueliners. Given their desire to compete this year and their need for some rearrangement up front, that could lead to said trade happening within the 2024/25 season.

There’s as of yet no way to know which of the New York defenders actually gets put on the block. But there are at least a couple of names here that would be of major interest to the Vancouver Canucks, and that makes the Rangers a key team to keep an eye on as the campaign continues to wind on.