Avalanche Acquire Lindgren, Vesey From Rangers

Both teams have been very active in acquiring and sending off talent. The Rangers acquired J.T. Miller last month, and the Avalanche dealt Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes for Jack Drury, Martin Necas, a 2025 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick in January.

Avalanche Add More Depth

Along with acquiring Necas and Drury, now adding players of Lindgren and Vesey’s caliber can help fill out the roster and make it deeper. Acquiring a player like Lindgren, who has struggled at times for the Rangers, can help fill out the bottom pair for the Avalanche. Lindgren has recorded 19 points, including 17 assists, in 54 games played so far this season.

Vesey will add more depth to the bottom six and help improve the secondary scoring that the Avalanche have lacked at times this season. He only has six points in 33 games played. The Avalanche may put Vesey on the fourth line or even make him an extra skater heading into the playoffs.

Rangers Get Younger With Trade

With the Rangers acquiring Parssinen, they seem to be trying to get younger within the lineup. Parssinen was drafted in the seventh round by the Nashville Predators during the 2019 NHL Draft. The 24-year-old has shown some upside, but it’s nothing to drool over. This season, in 37 games played, he has recorded 11 points (four goals and seven assists). He’s also split the season in both Nashville and Colorado, as Nashville traded him earlier this season. He’s played 15 games for Nashville and 22 for Colorado. We’ll see if the Rangers keep making moves to try to get younger.

Calvin de Haan, a defenseman coming over in the trade for the Rangers, has been a solid bottom-pair defenseman for the Avalanche. He’s played in 44 games this season and recorded just seven assists so far. Nothing to write home about, considering he’s a 33-year-old bottom-pair defenseman. Putting him on the bottom pair with a player like Zac Jones is not a bad idea. This trade also gives a better opportunity for Braden Schneider to get more minutes and help develop his game. Maybe it’s the exact opposite, where the Rangers end up giving Zac Jones more playing time. Jones is currently averaging 16:30 time on ice per game, and Schneider is currently averaging 17:24 time on ice per game.

What This Trade Means for Both Teams

It feels to me, even with the previous acquisition of Miller earlier this season, that Rangers general manager (GM) Chris Drury has recognized that the team needs to get younger if they want to be a sustainable contender. Even with them on the outside looking in within the Eastern Conference playoff race, they have a fighting chance, and mixing up the roster now is not exactly that bad of an idea.

The Avalanche know they have to add good depth within the lineup if they want a chance at making a deep playoff run in the Western Conference this season. Bringing in Lindgren and Vesey definitely helps the team right now. I don’t think the Avalanche are done, either. It feels like they’ll make another move or two similar to this trade to help round out their roster. We saw a prime example of them wanting to add more depth when they traded away one of the best forwards in the league in Rantanen. But we’ll see if the Avalanche are done making moves or not.

Comment who you think won the trade! The Avalanche or the Rangers?