New York Rangers trade rumors: Why muscling up with Sabres’ Jordan Greenway should be considered ahead of deadline

Chances are, New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller probably won’t be too happy about the expected return of Buffalo Sabres forward Jordan Greenway from injury Feb. 22, when the teams meet in their first game after the 4 Nations Face-off break.

Unless, of course, Greenway will be taking the KeyBank Center ice as Miller’s teammate.

The hulking Greenway, at 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, sent the 6-5, 215-pound Miller to injured reserve Dec. 11 with a hard hit in a 3-2 Rangers victory. Miller missed six games due to an upper-body injury, the only ones he’s sat out all season.

Thunderous body checks are characteristic of what Greenway brings, and few teams would welcome that more than the Rangers, who could benefit greatly by landing the upstate New York native ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.

Jordan Greenway brings size, strength, attitude Rangers seek

Greenway is big and strong and mean. He battles in the corners, gets in opponents’ faces and fights in front of the net. Acquiring him would be another step in the progression for a Blueshirts team working to become tougher and more physical. They’ve re-assembled their Twin Towers fourth line (though Adam Edstrom is currently out 2.5-3.5 months), acquired defenseman Will Borgen and brought back power center J.T. Miller in a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 31.

The best part is that Greenway should come relatively cheaply.

The winger has been out since Dec. 15 with a mid-body injury that required surgery. He’s made progress, and the Sabres have targeted that first game after the two-week tournament break for him to rejoin the lineup.

The Rangers front office should use some of that down time to inquire about Greenway’s availability. Buffalo is once again going nowhere, sitting last in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres seem sure to try and shake things up before the trade deadline, and the 27-year-old, with an expiring contract, is a prime candidate to be dealt.

Other contenders will probably be interested, but with a $3 million salary-cap hit, Greenway might be an expensive luxury that teams up against the cap can’t afford. That isn’t a concern for the Rangers, who project to have more than $16 million in deadline space. They can add Greenway’s salary without it affecting their ability to make additional upgrades at all.

Given that, should the Rangers follow the growing trend of teams jumping the market and moving well before the deadline for a player they want? Doing so for Greenway seems to make an awful lot of sense. The left wing is coming off a serious injury and doesn’t produce much in the way of offense never topping 12 goals, which would in theory limit his market. Add in the fact that his cap hit is prohibitive for a bottom-six rental player, and it follows that there won’t be too many rabid suitors emerging well before the deadline.

Armed with so much cap space, the Blueshirts can essentially take a flier on Greenway, who could bounce between the third and fourth lines as needed – especially with rising fourth-line giant Edstrom expected to miss much, if not all, of the rest of the regular season. Greenway’s jagged edge is where the Rangers want to be headed, and if healthy, he’d provide that in spades – even he turns out to be only a temporary replacement for what the 6-7, 234-pound Edstrom brings.

Sure Jimmy Vesey was moved up to play on the top line Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But the veteran’s been primarily the replacement for Edstrom in the lineup. Greenway would provide a different look to the lineup if he took Vesey’s spot.

And boy, does this team need someone who can get to the net. The utterly inconsistent Rangers still struggle to get the puck to the inside and string together close-in scoring chances, something painfully apparent in a disheartening 3-2 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. Staying in the character that has defined them throughout this frustrating season, the Rangers of course bounced back with a key 4-3 victory over the Blue Jackets the next night, improving their standing in the crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.

It should be noted that it was rugged, straight-ahead forward Will Cuylle who saved them with an assist on the game-tying goal in the third period and the game-winner late in regulation.

Rangers could acquire Jordan Greenway on the cheap, with little downside

There are few players in the NHL who can keep Greenway away from the crease. If he can’t play his usual style because of the injury or maintains his inconsistent play that’s been a big part of his NHL tenure with the Sabres and Minnesota Wild, the Blueshirts could afford to just put him aside – again, provided they don’t pay too high a price to acquire him. It doesn’t seem as if Greenway would command much more than a mid-round draft pick or marginal prospect – especially if the Rangers struck early.

General manager Chris Drury showed a willingness to do just that two years ago, when he traded for Vladimir Tarasenko more than three weeks before the deadline, and Patrick Kane three days in advance of it.

Of course, they struck early already this season, making three significant trades, including the Miller deal.

Greenway is the kind of potentially high-reward pickup that Drury might target this trade season after the heavy lifting acquiring a star in Miller. The Rangers haven’t resembled a legitimate Stanley Cup contender at all in 2024-25, and the GM seems unlikely to put the club’s best young assets in play for a high-end veteran rental, especially with a postseason spot far from guaranteed.

Perhaps Greenway ‘s presence could help the Rangers secure one. Despite their Jekyll-and-Hyde nature, the Blueshirts are 11-5-3 since the calendar flipped to 2025. Edstrom’s improvement (before he was injured), the return of Matt Rempe to regular fourth-line status and the arrivals of the physical Borgen and Miller have played no small part in that.

Greenway would fit right in. He’s genuinely nasty, boasting the size, strength and attitude to bully opponents – which he often does. The Rangers have been on the receiving end of that far too often in recent seasons, especially in the playoffs, and their offense remains way too perimeter- and skill-oriented to be consistently effective. Greenway would give the Blueshirts an enforcer, not to mention someone that plays the style that the Rangers so desperately need to adopt.

Very few teams can easily take a chance on an injured player with hardly any potential downside. The Rangers shouldn’t wait long to do just that with Greenway.