Getting no better mins on average than Kevin Hayes, Brandon Pirri had a goals per game pace that equaled out to 22, 36, and 18 goals respectively the past three years, with not that of a sample size either. He's already a more established goal scorer than Chris Kreider, and Kreids plays more mins.
Rob Vollman suggested last week that teams who missed out on Vesey should look into signing Pirri. Guess the Rangers ignored the whole "missed out on Vesey" part because we basically have a player who is a good bet to out-produce Vesey, marginally more expensive, and only one year older, on a one year deal. This is an excellent pickup, and Pirri gives us the breathing room to trade one of our Top 6 forwards for a RD.
Honestly, forget the notion of trading Staal or Girardi. If this team moves one of our Top 6 out for that impact RD to pair with McD, Pairs Skjei with Klein, and Staal with McIlrath, with G as the 7th D, this team can contend. Thing is, I highly, highly doubt Girardi will be a 7th D who plays 25 games with sheltered mins. More likely he still plays 20 mins per game, for 68-75 games or more. That is the real Girardi conundrum. If you can survive a bad cap hit, players like Girardi can be severely minimized. But management seems not to be willing to do that.