{"id":435849,"date":"2026-01-27T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435849\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T06:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T06:00:07","slug":"rangers-trade-veteran-defenceman-carson-soucy-to-islanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/435849\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers trade veteran defenceman Carson Soucy to Islanders"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The New York Rangers<\/a>\u2019 sell-off that general manager Chris Drury\u00a0warned fans\u00a0would be coming as part of a retooling process is now underway.<\/p>\n

They traded defenceman Carson Soucy<\/a> to the crosstown-rival New York Islanders<\/a> on Monday in exchange for a third-round pick in this year\u2019s draft. None of Soucy\u2019s $3.25 million salary was retained.<\/p>\n

It is just the fourth between the teams and first since 2010.<\/p>\n

The Islanders have been looking for a left-shooting defenceman since\u00a0Alexander Romanov injured his right shoulder\u00a0and had surgery in November, sidelining him for five to six months. That timeline means Romanov could return at some point after the playoffs begin in mid-April.<\/p>\n

Soucy, 31, is a pending unrestricted free agent and would be a rental addition for the Islanders, who have shifted into contending mode in\u00a0GM Mathieu Darche\u2019s first season\u00a0in charge.\u00a0No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer\u00a0emerging as a young star and the rookie of the year front-runner raised the organization\u2019s expectations, and making the playoffs in a wide-open Eastern Conference is now a realistic expectation.<\/p>\n

The opposite is the case for the Rangers, who are now surprise sellers. Underachieving in\u00a0Mike Sullivan\u2019s first season\u00a0as coach prompted a change of course for Drury, who\u00a0got a multiyear contract extension\u00a0from owner James Dolan in April and is getting the chance to fix a flawed roster.<\/p>\n

In a letter to fans<\/a>\u00a0posted on social media Jan. 16, Drury said the team would not stand pat and that \u201ca shift will give us the ability to be smart and opportunistic as we retool as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will not be a rebuild,\u201d Drury said. \u201cThis will be a retool built around our core players and prospects. We will target players that bring tenacity, skill, speed, and a winning pedigree with a focus on obtaining young players, draft picks, and cap space to allow us flexibility moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artemi Panarin, the team\u2019s leading scorer every season since\u00a0signing an $81.5 million contract\u00a0in 2019, like Soucy, is set to be a free agent and could be the best player moved before the NHL\u2019s March 6 trade deadline. Panarin is 34, counts $11.6 million against the cap and has a full no-movement clause, which allows him control over where he goes.<\/p>\n

Just about everyone in the organization, aside from franchise goaltender Igor Shesterkin, top defenceman Adam Fox and prospect Gabe Perreault, figures to be available at the right price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The New York Rangers\u2019 sell-off that general manager Chris Drury\u00a0warned fans\u00a0would be coming as part…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-435849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}