The defending conference champion Lightning, currently out of a playoff spot while walking a cap tightrope as perilous as the one on which the Rangers are tip-toeing, could use help both on their second and third pair and on their power-play point, where former Blueshirt Anton Stralman leads Tampa Bay in ice time (3:02 per game) and production (one goal, seven assists, eight points).
A return of Drouin — selected behind Nathan MacKinnon and Aleksander Barkov at the ’13 draft off an explosive stay at QMJHL Halifax, where he rang up 105 and 108 points, respectively, in his final two seasons of junior hockey — in exchange for Yandle would seem equitable within the context of previous rental deals across the league.
The Rangers have already dealt their 2016 first-round draft pick to the Coyotes in last year’s deadline-proximate trade that brought Yandle to New York. But, because the Blueshirts retain the option of deferring that selection exchange until 2017, Gorton can still trade this year’s first-rounder, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Post in an email exchange.
“It is not self-effectuating,” Daly wrote. “The Rangers can decide to transfer their [first] in 2016 or their [first] in 2017, and must notify Arizona prior to the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery which it will be.
“Once they notify, the pick becomes Arizona’s,” the deputy commissioner continued. “Prior to then, [the Rangers] would be able to transfer either of the two picks [2016 or 2017] but not both.”