As a Rangers fan this hurts to propose but here goes nothing. The clock is ticking for HL and Kreider, two of the very last remaining members of the old guard. This is especially painful to consider Lundqvist gone so soon.
But, similar to the Miller & Ott deal which saw Halak, Stewart, Carrier, 2015 1st and a conditional 2016 3rd go to Buffalo, could the Rangers see a similar return for Hank + Kreids.
Kreider is a far superior player to Ott, but is a rental so that has to be taken into account. Despite the pending UFA status I still give a substantial advantage to Kreider.
Henrik Lundqvist is older than Miller, but his underlying stats still say he's capable of elite things at his age. Rangers would be willing to retain 50% and he still has another year, which gives either team acquiring 2 kicks at the can with a motivated HL.
Colorado Avalanche
To COL: Henrik Lundqvist (50% ret.), Chris Kreider
To NYR: 2020 1st, 2021 3rd*, Tyson Jost, Philipp Grubauer, Shane Bowers
* becomes 2021 2nd if Kreider re-signs or COL win Cup in '20 or '21, 2021 1st if both happen.
- 1st + cond. 3rd + young roster player (Stewart/Jost) + goalie (Halak/Grubauer) + younger prospect (Carrier/Bowers) looks similar to return for Ott + Miller. Bowers is better than Carrier, but Kreider was better than Ott and Lundqvist has term and is not a pending UFA.
- This may be too steep a price for the Avs to pay, since Jost is much younger than Stewart was, but I don't think the Rangers would accept much less. Maybe Bowers gets downgraded to Kaut (idk how COL values him considering heart issues) or Kamenev, to compensate for Jost youth.
Carolina Hurricanes
To CAR: Henrik Lundqvist (50% ret.), Chris Kreider
To NYR: 2020 1st (TOR), 2021 3rd*, Brock McGinn, Petr Mrazek, Dominik Bokk
* becomes 2021 2nd if Kreider re-signs or COL win Cup in '20 or '21, 2021 1st if both happen.
- Once again similarily matches Miller/Ott trade. McGinn seems close to Stewart, while the Canes would elect to give us Mrazek, because they can let Reimer walk and run with Hank/Nedeljkovic next season. Bokk could also be Gauthier or Suzuki, although I'd assume Suzuki would not be available.
The Miller trade didn't work out well for St. Louis, so COL and CAR could very easily believe that they should err on the side of caution and wait for the offseason. There is also the potential Kreider stays and it's juts Hank, which alters the deal drastically. CAR and COL could beleive their duos (both backups are outperforming starters) can get it done through internal competition and they may see no desire to pay a steep price for Hank + Kreider.
Either way, justa thought based on one of the only recent trades involving an aging elite netminder. There have been rumors lately of both teams being interested in Hank.