Rangers acquire ‘proven playoff performer’ Reilly Smith in trade with Penguins
NY Post
The Rangers’ most notable act on the first day of free agency was not a big fish signing or the off-loading of at least part of captain Jacob Trouba’s contract.
It was a trade with a division foe to provide a short-term solution for the Blueshirts’ right-wing stack.
Reilly Smith is New York bound after the Penguins traded the 33-year-old to the Rangers on Monday, in exchange for a conditional 2025 fifth-round pick and a second-rounder in 2027, the team announced.
Pittsburgh will retain 25 percent of Smith’s $5 million cap hit, which puts him on the Rangers’ books for just one season at $3.75 million.
Additionally, the fifth-round pick will be whichever is the worse of the Rangers’ and the Wild’s, acquired by the Blueshirts in the Ryan Reaves deal in November 2022.
“We’re very excited to get Reilly, a player we’ve been looking at and talking about for a while,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said on a conference call with reporters Monday evening. “Brings a lot of versatility to our lineup, has a winning pedigree having won in Vegas. A proven playoff performer and I think just fits in nicely with our entire group. We just were talking to a lot of different agents and a lot of balls in the air throughout the day, and just felt this was the best move we can make.”
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