{"id":546918,"date":"2026-04-08T06:40:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546918\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:40:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T06:40:50","slug":"2-early-rangers-trade-targets-after-missing-2026-stanley-cup-playoffs-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/546918\/","title":{"rendered":"2 early Rangers trade targets after missing 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 early Rangers trade targets after missing 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The New York Rangers<\/a> are heading towards another rebuild this offseason, five years after accelerating their previous rebuild by signing Artemi Panarin to a long-term contract. Ironically, this new rebuild was triggered by trading Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, and New York hasn\u2019t exactly overachieved since signing Panarin in 2021. Despite sending a warning letter to fans, it\u2019s still hard to believe that the Rangers organization is fully committed<\/a> to a full-blown teardown, especially with big-name players like Auston Matthews<\/a> and Brady Tkachuk as potential trade targets.<\/p>\n

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Head coach Mike Sullivan is very familiar with both of those players, which could make it even more intriguing for Chris Drury to explore a potential trade. Sending out future assets to acquire one of those captains from a Canadian team would give Rangers fans visions of the Panarin signing, which made them happy at the time but left them in the same position by the end of the 2025-26 season. The Rangers forgoing a rebuild to try to be competitive in the 2026-27 season is unlikely and short-sighted, but not completely out of the realm of possibility<\/a>, according to The Athletic\u2019s Vincent Mercogliano.<\/p>\n

Auston Matthews as the new star on Broadway\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Matthews\u2019 time with the Toronto Maple Leafs looks to be getting short<\/a>. Despite some individual success, the team\u2019s newest captain has carried a losing stench with him since joining the organization. He was their first-round draft pick in 2016 with visions of ending their Stanley Cup drought, but despite some sustained regular season success, he has just two playoff series wins to show for it.<\/p>\n

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This year\u2019s team bottoming out and missing the playoffs has Maple Leafs fans begging for change, and the organization is oddly going in the direction of a new coach and management team that values analytics, something they had with Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe but got rid of for Brad Treliving and Craig Berube. The franchise seems to be heading in the wrong direction, and it\u2019s unlikely that Matthews has the stomach to stick around and see the end result.<\/p>\n

An interesting wrinkle in the entire drama and why Matthews feels like a good fit in New York is that the one man who made him the captain and saw it end in a championship is Sullivan at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Despite the organization\u2019s apparent desire to rebuild, it feels like a safe bet that Sullivan is going to push for them to get his guy if the Maple Leafs do put him on the market.<\/p>\n

Rangers\u2019 consolation prize could be Brady Tkachuk<\/p>\n

The long-held belief that has never been proven true is that if Matthews leaves Toronto, he wants to head to the western United States, closer to his home in Arizona. It is purely just speculation, but if the Leafs\u2019 captain doesn\u2019t want to stay in the Eastern Conference, the Ottawa Senators\u2019 captain, Tkachuk, might be another option for Drury and the Rangers.<\/p>\n

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Tkachuk doesn\u2019t bring the offensive upside of Matthews, but he does fit with the identity that the team is trying to build. He is also a fellow gold medalist with Team USA and someone that Sullivan knows well. It\u2019d be interesting to see how quickly his fiery playstyle would turn him into a fan favorite at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n

The rumors of Tkachuk seeking a fresh start aren\u2019t as strong as those about the Leafs and Matthews\u2019 breakdown, but if Ottawa fails to make the playoffs, there could be changes coming to the team\u2019s locker room culture. One easy way to change things would be to trade their captain.<\/p>\n

Related: Gabe Perreault, Will Cuylle combine for unique Rangers history<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2 early Rangers trade targets after missing 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,464],"tags":[3039,532,536,337,5,145,1955,35,4,60,25,14,104,718,33,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-546918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-playoffs","8":"category-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-artemi-panarin","10":"tag-auston-matthews","11":"tag-brady-tkachuk","12":"tag-chris-drury","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-los-angeles-kings","15":"tag-mike-sullivan","16":"tag-new-york-rangers","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-nhl-playoffs","19":"tag-ottawa-senators","20":"tag-stanley-cup","21":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","22":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs-nhl","23":"tag-the-rangers","24":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116367726333269246","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}