This season, Rangers aren't feeling the trade deadline jitters

GREENBURGH, N.Y.—Brady Skjei acknowledged the obvious.

The atmosphere is not the same as it was this time last year and the year before. This time, there is not the knowledge that organizational decision-makers are actively attempting to subtract from the Rangers' roster.

Instead, this time there is the thought that once the NHL trade deadline passes next Monday afternoon the team could remain intact.

“There definitely is a different feel,” Skjei said following Tuesday’s practice at the MSG Training Facility. “Obviously [there are] some guys [whose] names are being thrown around but we’ve done a really good job [staying] focused and playing well.”

As the Rangers embark on a two-city road trip, they are essentially the same squad that opened the season with the notable exceptions of Igor Shesterkin’s Jan. 6 call-up and the pre-practice acquisition of right wing Julien Gauthier from Carolina for AHL defenseman Joey Keane. A team spokesman said Gauthier will join the Rangers in Chicago for Wednesday’s game against the Blackhawks.

Gauthier, 22, is 6-4 and 227 pounds, and in 44 games with the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina’s AHL affiliate) compiled a 26-11-37 slash line, including a stretch where he scored 20 goals in 28 games.  

The Gauthier deal could signal that GM Jeff Gorton is not looking to move defenseman Tony DeAngelo, whose name has been bandied about in trade speculation since he is a restricted free agent this summer, and is in line for a significant raise from the $925,000 he is earning this season. DeAngelo is righthanded, and the most obvious in-house replacement was Keane.

But there are others who could be moved by Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. Chris Kreider’s future with the organization has been a talking point all season long. Pavel Buchnevich, Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast are in the rumor mill, and since Shesterkin’s promotion from AHL Hartford, questions about whether Henrik Lundqvist and the organization could part ways have been asked.  

So there is a very real possibility that Gauthier-for-Keane might not be the only move the Rangers  make, and as David Quinn noted, that is part of life in professional sports.

“They understand. I don’t think there’s anything to say,” Quinn said. “We’re not the only organization going through this. Thirty-one teams, really, are talking about some type of move one way or the other.”

But Quinn also agreed with Skjei. There isn’t an expectation that Gorton and the front office will break up the 2019-20 edition (30-24-4 for 64 points, 11th in the Eastern Conference).

“It’s a definite different feel than there was last year at this time,” Quinn said. “I think you can feel it more (last year) and there was a lot of anticipation, a lot of certainty that guys would be moved, at least within the locker room. And the fact (is) that we don’t feel that now.”

Notes & quotes: Both DeAngelo and Shesterkin participated in practice, but Quinn said he had not yet conferred with head athletic trainer and director of sports medicine Jim Ramsay about their availability for Wednesday’s game in Chicago . . . The players’ mothers will join the team for the two games in Chicago and Carolina.