Barring an unforeseen development, the Rangers’ Oct. 12 opening-night lineup in Pittsburgh — too soon? — will have just two players who were not with the organization a year ago following a rather uneventful July and August.
They, of course, would be:
• 33-year-old right wing Reilly Smith, acquired from the Penguins with a year remaining on his contract ($3.75 million cap hit after retention) for a second-rounder plus, presumably to be a top-sixer.
• Sam Carrick, the 32-year-old fourth-line center signed to a three-year, $3 million free-agent deal, presumably to be a Nick Bonino-type placeholder.
Much to my surprise, not only do the Rangers appear to be running it back, they’re going into 2024-25 adhering to the 2023-24 Blueprint as closely as possible. At least that is how it appears at this lazy summer moment, though of course the post-deadline roster will look different than the one in October if GM Chris Drury’s history is a guide.
Still, at first glance, the inactivity this summer seemed striking. It’s not every year you could simply photoshop a couple of faces from one team picture to the next.
I figured this was a thing from before the cap that was instituted in 2005-06. Surely before the proliferation of no-move and no-trade clauses over the past decade. Obviously before free agency was adopted in 1995. Oh, prior to the inception of the WHA in 1972.
And yup, there it was.
Once upon a time
The 1968-69 season opened with only one interloper from the previous season, and he was left winger Dave Balon, back from Minnesota in a summer deal for a second tour of duty after originally having been sent away in the summer 1963 blockbuster with Montreal also featuring Jacques Plante, Gump Worsley, Phil Goyette, Donnie Marshall.
It was the same the following season, the 1969-70 club having added only Real Lemieux over the summer. Those were the days when general managers — and in this case, Emile Francis — did reconstruction work during the season. Those were the days when there was no such thing as a rental, though some of those trades (Syl Apps Jr. for Glen Sather; Curt Bennett for Ron Harris) suspiciously resembled that genre.
The 1970-71 team opened in St. Louis without a single offseason addition from outside the organization. The 1971-72 team had one new face, Bobby Rousseau, obtained over the summer from the North Stars in exchange for captain Bob Nevin. The 1972-73 club introduced only the aforementioned Bennett, acquired initially that summer from St. Louis in a deal for Steve Durbano (and rookie Steve Vickers).
The 1974-75 team had two outsiders in the opening-night lineup following summer trades for Derek Sanderson and Greg Polis. The hated Sanderson arrived after his misadventure in the WHA, perhaps presaging the oddity of Phil Esposito later slipping into the Blueshirt a season later. Polis had been an object of The Cat’s desire since the winger had scored two goals in the 1973 all-star game at the Garden. A third offseason acquisition, defenseman Nick Beverley, made his debut in the third game. He had been obtained from Pittsburgh for captain Vic Hadfield.
The party was over. The following offseason, Teddy Irvine went in a package for John Davidson. Months later, Jean Ratelle and Brad Park were gone and then soon after, Francis himself.
But to recap, back in the day, the roster rarely had more than a ripple of change, if that, during the offseason. What you were left with was pretty much what you started with the next time around before free agency and then again before the flat cap that arose out of the pandemic.
Drury’s dealings
There were four newcomers last year, the club signing Bonino, Blake Wheeler, Tyler Pitlick and Erik Gustafsson to no-risk deals. None is returning.
There was, of course, a dramatic shift when Drury replaced Gorton, the 2021-22 team opening under new coach Gerard Gallant with six additions in Ryan Reaves, Dryden Hunt, Sammy Blais, Barclay Goodrow, Patrik Nemeth and Jarred Tinordi.
That was a reminder of the 1999-2000 offseason in which Garden CEO Dave Checketts and GM Neil Smith reacted to Wayne Gretzky’s retirement by signing an entire lineup of free agents: goaltender Kirk McLean, defensemen Stephane Quintal and Sylvain Lefebvre, wingers Theo Fleury and Val Kamensky, center Tim Taylor.
That was then.
This is not now.