The reported captain-for-captain swap between the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning may not be dead after all. Lightning captain Martin St. Louis has reportedly told the team that he would only waive his no-trade clause to go to the Rangers, and New York has been reportedly trying to move captain Ryan Callahan.
RANGERS AND LIGHTNING INITIATE TALKS ABOUT ST. LOUIS FOR CALLAHAN
According to several sources on Wednesday, St. Louis, 38, told asked to be traded from the Lightning earlier this month, and TSN followed up the report by saying that St. Louis told the team he only wants to go to New York.
St. Louis (25-31-56) won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004 alongside current Rangers forward Brad Richards and former Blueshirts head coach John Tortorella. There were rumors last week that the Rangers might move Callahan, 28, who is due to become a free agent at season's end.
TALKS DIE DOWN BETWEEN RANGERS AND LIGHTNING
If the Rangers can't work out an extension, Callahan (11-13-24) may be gone by next Wednesday's deadline due to the fact that general manager Glen Sather doesn't want to lose Callahan for nothing in July out of free agency.
The Rangers are hoping the chatter surrounding Callahan won't affect the on-ice performance of the club as it may have earlier on in the season when Henrik Lundqvist was working out his new deal and the team was struggling.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault has admitted it's been tough for the team to have to think about losing its captain along with top four defenseman Dan Girardi, who has also been involved in trade rumors.
"For me, coming in here and having our three New York Rangers - Hank, Dan and [Callahan] - going into their final years, having the situation in front of us has been a little bit challenging in the sense that those are the key guys, those are the guys that I've got to work with on a daily basis to make sure that when I'm not around, the right message and the right behavior is there," Vigneault told the New York Daily News. "Those are the guys that I make sure when the coaches are not around and when the big guy, the head coach, is not around, that the culture and what we're trying to do, they're setting the tone. Having those guys go through this has been a little bit challenging."
St. Louis is making $5.625 million per year through next season, but his age is becoming a factor. If the Rangers trade their captain, the team will lose a hard-nosed team-first player in exchange for some scoring depth.
It has been rumored that Sather and the Rangers may use their last compliance buyout on Richards after this season, but if they bring in an old teammate in St. Louis, the team may hang onto Richards. It will be tough to keep Richards considering the big deals on the books with Lundqvist and Rick Nash but it remains to be seen what the Rangers will do.
The Rangers are looking to go five years with Callahan while the captain wants a seven-year deal that totals just short of $49 million. The trade talks involving Callahan seemed like a ploy by Sather and Rangers brass to get Callahan to come down in his price at first, but now it seems as though there could be some movement prior to Wednesday's deadline.
St. Louis' relationship with Tampa Bay reportedly soured when general manager Steve Yzerman didn't select him for the Canadian Olympic ice hockey team, however St. Louis ended up on the squad when Lightning teammate Steven Stamkos had to back out due to injury.
The trade may not come to fruition, but given the Rangers need for scoring--especially with leading scorer Mats Zuccarello sidelined with a wrist injury--and St. Louis' desire to come to New York, things may heat up between now and Wednesday.
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