The Rangers got the center they have been targeting for weeks and now the question is what kind of a third line will head coach Peter Laviolette build around Seattle expatriate Alex Wennberg?
The 29-year-old Swede, acquired for a 2024 second-rounder and a 2025 fourth-rounder at 50 percent retention of his $4.5 million cap hit, is known as especially responsible on the defensive side of the puck while also capable of playing the middle on a scoring line.
There are still two days until Friday’s 3 p.m. deadline for GM Chris Drury to add more reinforcements with just over $2.9 million in space — there’s an opening on right wing, don’t you know — so it is not yet possible to pin down with certainty who might be the best available options to play on Wennberg’s left and right.
Laviolette could create a matchup checking line with Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow on Wennberg’s flanks while Jonny Brodzinski moves down to the fourth line.
But where does that leave Will Cuylle and where would that leave Kaapo Kakko if the Blueshirts acquire a right wing to play with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider and No. 24 does not go the other way?
Laviolette could try and fashion a third scoring line with Wennberg between Cuylle and Kakko while Goodrow centers Vesey and a winger to be named later — Brodzinski, Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe — on the fourth line.
Even as the Rangers remain in the mix for the Presidents’ Trophy and will attempt to fend off the Hurricanes for the Metropolitan Division title, the remaining 20 games starting with Saturday night’s Garden match against St. Louis will act as a series of auditions for the postseason tournament.
Wennberg recorded 25 points (9-16) in 60 games for the Kraken while getting 18:49 of ice time per game that led Seattle forwards while primarily playing on a unit with Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Tanev.
His 53.73 percent goals differential was fourth among forwards. He has 330 career points (90-240) in 693 games for Columbus, Florida and Seattle.
In addition, the left-handed Wennberg has put in time on the wing, so there may be circumstances when he shifts to that spot if more defensive consciousness is required with the Blueshirts protecting late leads.
The Blueshirts will, all but certainly, add the 10-year veteran to the five-man penalty-kill rotation up front with Zibanejad, Kreider, Goodrow, Vesey and Vincent Trocheck.
This acquisition represents the first strike for Drury, who has kept his most valuable trade assets in a quiver, where they remain available for bigger game hunting the next two days.
