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Saying he's 'all in', Yandle trying to ignore trade talk

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Keith Yandle and family have grown comfortable in the Big Apple.Frank Franklin II/AP

Keith Yandle and family have grown comfortable in the Big Apple.

Keith Yandle is the Rangers’ most likely trade candidate if GM Jeff Gorton makes any big moves prior to the Feb. 29 NHL trade deadline, due to the defenseman’s expiring contract and future cost. The more the Rangers lose, the more likely it becomes that Gorton will take significant action to change his team’s dynamic, so it follows that Yandle’s days in New York could be numbered.

That is not what this 29-year-old defenseman from Boston wants, though. Yandle and his family sold their place in Arizona after the Coyotes traded him here last spring, and now he, his wife and two young daughters enjoy the Big Apple, living in Tribeca near teammates such as Kevin Hayes and Tanner Glass.

“As soon as I got traded here I was all in, my family was all in,” Yandle told the Daily News Tuesday morning at the Garden before the Rangers hosted the Vancouver Canucks at the Garden. “My life, the day-to-day situation I’m in is great. I have a lot of fun coming to the rink. I try not to listen to (the noise), but it happens every year with different names. It’s something (for the media) to talk about. I love my situation here, though. I love playing here, being here.”

Gorton faces a complicated pros-and-cons list when he assesses Yandle’s future as a Ranger and his trade value to others teams. On one hand, Yandle has a team-leading 21 assists, possesses an unpredictable but effective mean streak, and is an extremely popular player with his teammates – a good fit, as they say. It might be difficult to trade him and improve the team if a Stanley Cup is still a realistic goal.

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On the other hand, Yandle takes risks and commits turnovers that make coach Alain Vigneault turn away in frustration; the coach does not trust him on the penalty kill (2:06 total of shorthanded ice time this season); and he has long been bumped to the second power play despite his offensive skills.

Vigneault backed Yandle Tuesday morning when asked how big a part of the Rangers’ future he considered the left-handed blue liner. “At this point he’s one of our six defensemen and when Yands is on top of his game moving the puck he’s a very good player,” Vigneault said, “and I would like him to be a Ranger and help us win.”

The rub is, however, that Gorton would have a difficult time paying Yandle under the NHL’s cap ceiling.

If he stays, Keith Yandle needs to deliver more consistent play for the Rangers.Seth Wenig/AP

If he stays, Keith Yandle needs to deliver more consistent play for the Rangers.

The Coyotes agreed to continue paying half of Yandle’s salary after last year’s trade, so the Rangers are only on the hook this season for $2.625 million. In unrestricted free agency this summer, though, Yandle will command more than his total current salary of $5.25 million, and the Blueshirts already have $15.9 million committed to the contracts of Marc Staal (current no-move clause), Dan Girardi (current no-trade clause) and Ryan McDonagh (captain, not going anywhere).

Dan Boyle’s $4.5 million salary will come off the books, but Boyle plays the right, Yandle the left, and left-handed 2012 first-round pick Brady Skjei ($925K) is a heavy favorite to make the NHL jump next fall. And if the Rangers aren’t going to re-sign Yandle, they presumably won’t want to lose him for nothing in free agency, especially since they traded top forward prospect Anthony Duclair to acquire him.

Gorton said in a conference call on Jan. 9 that he has had discussions with Yandle’s agent, Jerry Buckley, but the GM is going to wait to “see how our team does” before making any decisions. Buckley confirmed to the Daily News Tuesday that he and Gorton have been in frequent contact but said there is nothing new to report.

For Yandle’s part, he seemed well aware he was not close to good enough in Sunday night’s 5-2 loss in Washington. Vigneault asks all of his players to make “high-percentage decisions” with the puck, but in Yandle’s worst stretches, he takes risks that have higher chances of backfiring.

“Sometimes if you’re gripping the stick tight, you go with simpler plays, but sometimes your mind doesn’t let you do that and it’s all instinct,” Yandle said of the risks he takes to create offense. “When you’re not playing your best, though, it’s probably best to try and make those simple little plays.”

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In Yandle’s defense, Vigneault posited that the Rangers’ greatest problem is not that they make mistakes; it’s that they are allowing one mistake to snowball into more. He cited Justin Williams’ goal on the doorstep after a J.T. Miller defensive zone turnover on Sunday as Exhibit A.

“You’re never gonna be perfect on the ice,” Vigneault said. “Like J.T.’s pass last game, that’s one play from his book that we’re trying to take away from him so he becomes a little bit more consistent. But at the end of the day, you’re gonna make some plays like that, and if you noticed on that play, we could have stopped that goal.

“The puck ended up on the side, J.T. could have hit the guy, and Marc (Staal) and Dan (Girardi) could have done a better job in front of our net,” the coach continued. “We could have stopped that goal even though we made that awful turnover. You can make one mistake. It’s that second and third mistake a lot of times that’s gonna cost you. That’s what we’re trying to get away from.”

Still, while Yandle is a talented and popular player, he has been a mistake-prone risk-taker on a team that is committing too many errors. There is clearly a place for him in this city and in this locker room, but it remains undetermined whether, after Feb. 29, there will be a place for him on this team.

BRASS TACKS

Struggling center Derick Brassard was likely to receive a much-needed night-off Tuesday due to an illness. Brassard also took a maintenance day last Wednesday and did not practice, but Vigneault said Sunday in Washington that “the injury is not part of his performance.” Brassard then took a holding-the-stick penalty that led to Alex Ovechkin’s game-tying power play goal and aggravated his coach.

Tags:
keith yandle ,
jeff gorton ,
derick brassard ,
new york rangers ,
nhl

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