Nothing in the first days of NHL free agency would have rivaled the seismic impact of Kevin Durant requesting a trade at the outset of the NBA summer shopping season.
Except maybe in Toronto, where the addition of two question marks to be the Maple Leafs’ new goalie tandem dwarfed the news-dump firing of manager Charlie Montoyo by the fourth-place Blue Jays.
Conversely, the Rangers and Islanders aren’t likely to steal many summertime back pages in New York from the first-place Yankees and Mets — or from the big-name trade possibilities surrounding the Nets and the Knicks.
The Blueshirts still executed a handful of impactful moves after the buying period opened at noon Wednesday, most significantly signing two-way center Vincent Trocheck to a seven-year contract worth $39.375 million as an upgrade over free-agent Ryan Strome as the team’s second-line pivot, presumably to be paired with leading scorer Artemi Panarin.
