How Did The Rangers Steal Frank Vatrano?
The New York Rangers may have went from fraud to real contender over night? It’s true… New York had one of the busiest but productive trade deadlines. Andrew Copp may have been the headliner but it’s Frank Vatrano that may turn out to be the missing puzzle piece. I just don’t understand how they stole him away from Florida?
Vatrano, 28, was acquired from the Panthers for a measly 4th round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. I understand that the Panthers had to move some money around and had a lot of excess depth. Especially after bringing Claude Giroux over. However, Florida still got robbed.
This isn’t hindsight either. This trade was awful for the Panthers from the get go. Let’s really go back in time.
March 15th is the day. Vatrano scores two goals for the Panthers including an overtime game winner over the Sharks. He’s traded for peanuts the very next day. Did Bill Zito watch his own team the night before? Vatrano can play and decided to let him go for nothing. Ice time was the problem. Not talent.
With the Rangers, Vatrano has exploded skating with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. It’s amazing what happens when you rid yourself of Kaapo Kakko (who can’t play and belongs in the AHL) for a real pro like Vatrano. With New York, Vatrano currently trots a ridiculous 23.8 shooting percentage. A number that will surely come down but it should be noted he looked great on this line.
Vatrano already has five goals in nine games with the Rangers. An impressive feat when you consider Vatrano hasn’t sniffed the powerplay unit yet. His ice time, however, is up more than three minutes more with New York.
I just don’t understand why Florida handed Vatrano over to the Rangers for free. New York was a fraud contender. They were worse than the Coyotes in five on five play at one point during this season. That’s not a joke. They were that bad. Adding necessary depth was all this Rangers team needed. With Igor Shesterkin in net, the Rangers always had a chance if they could actually skate with the opposition. Now it feels like they can.
Chris Drury deserves a lot of credit for this move. Stealing Vatrano away from the best team in the Eastern Conference feels like highway robbery. So far, it’s the move of the deadline.
