Avalanche land Lindgren, Vesey from Rangers
The Colorado Avalanche acquired defenseman Ryan Lindgren, forward Jimmy Vesey, and prospect Hank Kempf from the New York Rangers in exchange for center Juuso Parssinen and rearguard Calvin de Haan, the teams announced Saturday.
New York is also receiving a 2025 second-round pick and fourth-round selection as part of the deal. The former will be the better of the Carolina Hurricanes' or Rangers' pick this year, while the latter will be the better of the Colorado Avalanche's or Vancouver Canucks' selection, according to USA Today's Vince Z. Mercogliano.
The Rangers are retaining 50% of Lindgren's $4.5-million cap hit, bringing his price tag down to $2.25 million. The blue-liner can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
Lindgren, 27, has potted two goals and 19 points in 54 games this season while averaging 19:56 minutes of ice time per contest. He could be helpful to the Avalanche's 13th-ranked penalty kill (79.9% success rate).
However, Lindgren has struggled lately after a few strong seasons on the top pair with star defenseman Adam Fox. The Rangers were outscored 43-38 with Lindgren on the ice at five-on-five this campaign while dictating just 48.97% of the expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The defensive blue-liner missed the first five games of the campaign after suffering an injury during a fight in the preseason.
Lindgren was selected by the Bruins in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft but never played a game for Boston. New York acquired him in 2018 as part of the deal that sent forward Rick Nash to Beantown.
Lindgren is sitting on 99 career points in his 387-game NHL career.
He was reportedly part of a nixed deal with the Vancouver Canucks for J.T. Miller in January.
Vesey is also a pending unrestricted free agent and comes with a cap hit of $800,000. A depth forward, Vesey has scored four goals and six points in 33 contests this season. He was in the midst of his second stint as a Ranger.
The Avalanche are the 31-year-old's sixth NHL team. He's amassed 100 goals and 92 helpers in 616 career games split between the Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and New Jersey Devils.
Kempf, 22, is in the midst of his fourth season at Cornell University. The 6-foot-2, 203-pounder has logged two goals and seven points in 28 games this campaign.
The Blueshirts selected him in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Draft.
Meanwhile, Parssinen has totaled four goals and 11 points across 37 games this season. The new Ranger started the year with the Predators before Nashville traded him to Colorado in late December.
Parssinen, 24, has registered 48 points in 126 games across three NHL seasons after being drafted in the seventh round in 2019.
The Rangers were reportedly interested in acquiring Parssinen when he was with the Predators and believe he can slot right in at center, per the New York Post's Mollie Walker. He'll be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this offseason.
Finally, de Haan is a capable veteran defenseman and pending unrestricted free agent. The 33-year-old potted seven assists in 44 games with the Avalanche this season while averaging almost 15 minutes of ice time.
He's also suited up for the New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Both he and Parssinen carry cap hits below $1 million.
The Avalanche occupy the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with a 35-24-2 record, while the Rangers are just outside the playoff picture with a 29-26-4 mark.