Rangers doing their best to block out NHL trade deadline noise

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The NHL’s trade deadline is less than two weeks away, and the Rangers are bracing themselves for unfamiliar territory as a team that is sure to be active.

For the first time in a while, the Rangers are sitting comfortably in playoff position as the March 21 cutoff steadily approaches. President and general manager Chris Drury has no doubt been working the phones, and the Rangers are expected to bring in some new additions heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

No matter how many years a player has been in the NHL, however, the weeks leading up to the trade deadline never seem to get easier.

“I think it’s been different situations every year really,” Mika Zibanejad said before the Rangers faced the Wild on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center. “If you’re not in a playoff spot or like this year we’re in a playoff spot, it’s different chatters than it was last year and the year before. I think it’s part of it, I’ve been through a lot of them.

“It’s obviously interesting, but it’s nothing that you focus on too much. You still got to take care of business and take care of yourself and every guy in that locker room. We’ll see what happens.”

The Rangers have been aiming to acquire a middle-to-top-six forward, as well as another defenseman as they gear up for what could be their first legitimate playoff run since the 2016-17 season. To make one or both of those moves, the Rangers will certainly have to part with some top-tier prospects or a bubble player or two who may or may not have been with the team for parts of the season.

It’s something that’s unavoidably on everyone’s minds, but the Rangers are in an ideal position compared to years past.

“Definitely you’re always thinking about it,” coach Gerard Gallant said of the trade deadline. “Especially, you know, every player loves his teammates and loves his group and sometimes you get traded, and even if you don’t get traded, you’re still thinking about it right up to the deadline. So you’re concerned about it. It’s part of our game, and it’s a tough part of our game.

“I know, myself personally, I was with Detroit for nine or 10 years and I was scared every time it came up. I wanted to stay in Detroit — even when we had bad teams, I didn’t want to leave. Now, there’s more trades now it seems to be. But you’re always concerned about it and affected, there’s no doubt.”

Defenseman Patrik Nemeth — who has been traded once in his career, in April 2021 when the Red Wings traded him to Colorado — said the key to blocking out trade noise is having the same mentality as ignoring any other distraction.

“It’s always like you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It’s not the best time of year, I think. Every team goes through it, so it’s the same thing for everyone. You don’t want to lose teammates. You’ve been on both sides of it where you’ve had a team that got better and a team where you lose good teammates and good friends. It’s always tough.”