On a hockey landscape that is long on the gloomy prospect of an NHL lockout and short on other news, any rumor or tidbit of new information is likely to draw attention. So it is with the report from ESPN anchor John Buccigross that the New York Rangers are considering a trade of Marian Gaborik to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Dan Boyle.
The attraction for the Rangers is reasonably simple: Boyle would lend some veteran presence to a young Blueshirts defensive corps, add some punch to the Rangers' often anemic power play, and rejoin Brad Richards as players who won a Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay in 2004 under current head coach John Tortorella. Whether that's worth giving up a 40-goal scorer in Gaborik is highly debatable, but the answer - at least from Rangers general manager Glen Sather's perspective - won't be discernable until the trade is either completed or debunked.
That having been said, it takes two to make a trade, and so it's worth asking how attractive such a deal might be for the Sharks.
After a long run of strong regular season performances and a failure to get over the hump in the playoffs, the Sharks had one of their worst seasons in recent memory last season, finishing second in the Pacific Division and seventh in the Western Conference before being ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the St. Louis Blues. The Blues boasted three 30-goal scorers this past season in Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski, but were just over the league average in goals scored.
Adding Gaborik would clearly be a boost, particularly alongside one of the Sharks' talented centers like Couture or Joe Thornton. While the combination of Gaborik and an elite center doesn't guarantee anything - witness his struggles to get on the same page with Brad Richards early last season - there's a lot to like about Gaborik in San Jose.
The question, however, is how the loss of Boyle would affect the Sharks' blueline. San Jose brought in Brad Stuart this summer in a trade from Detroit to solidify the defensive end, but moving Boyle would leave San Jose without a true quarterback for the power play. Brent Burns is a good all-around defenseman and Marc-Edouard Vlasic moves the puck well, but the Sharks' extra-man unit would have a big hole if Boyle were to head to Broadway.
With Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Pavelski all due to become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2014, there's a sense of urgency in San Jose to get over the hump in the postseason. A shakeup could be what the Sharks need. Only time will tell, however, whether this is the kind of shakeup that general manager Doug Wilson and his staff have in mind.
