Pittsburgh / NY Rangers

[PittsburghGM]

to Pittsburgh
D Seth Jones (76)
C/R Calle Jarnkrok (71)
C Rasmus Kupari (68)
NYR 2nd 2021

to NY Rangers
L/C Nico Hischier (77)
L/R Nikolaj Ehlers (80)

well, there it is... been working on this one for a while. To be honest, I thought when acquired Hischier he'd be in Pittsburgh for a long time, especially since he's one of my favourite players in real life. But, I felt like I needed a real #1 defenseman, and Seth Jones is what I was looking for. Jarnkrok is no Hischier, but will help replace his offense, lets us continue to roll three pretty skilled forward lines. He's an effective face-off man, and is a playmaker that pairs nicely with the abundance of shooters we have. Kupari and the 2nd add some future value.

Thanks for the deal and discussions NYR.

[NYRNYRNYR]

Confirmed.

Long time coming on this one. I've had lots of interest in Jones, and as I've been clear I was looking at packaging him for a legit top F. When PIT finally said Hischier could become available, it just flowed from there. I'm sad to see Jones go, he is great, but I have a lot of defensive depth, and it opens up a spot for Quinn Hughes to develop. Hischier now gives me 2 very strong top 2 lines, and I can really try the Toews - Novak - Dal Colle combo I wanted to without fear that Line 2 wouldn't have any follow up.

Thanks and good luck Pit!