NHL Trade Grades: Rangers Send Reilly Smith Back to Vegas

The Vegas Golden Knights are gunning for their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Now, they're enlisting the help of a former hero.

Reilly Smith, an original Golden Knight who played a critical role during the 2023 championship run, is headed back to Nevada.

The New York Rangers received a draft pick and prospect a part of the deal. What does this indicate about the direction the Blueshirts are taking the rest of the season, and is the value worth giving up a quality player in the middle of a playoff race?

Let's analyze and grade the deal for both the Golden Knights and Rangers.

The Golden Knights are lacking on the wings behind Mark Stone. They've squeezed good value out of cheap finds such as Tanner Pearson and Brandon Saad, but they'll need better than that against the NHL's elite.

Reilly Smith is at least an upgrade to the top six. For starters, Vegas knows what they're getting from him. Smith grades out anywhere from a B- to a B+ in practically every facet of the game. He's a cerebral winger who knows how to find an effective role among very different types of linemates. He's equal parts passer and shooter. Smith is good at anticipating how plays develop and finds spaces to get open or support the puck. He makes good defensive reads and created goals for the Rangers off turnovers. He was playing at a 41-point pace over 82 games amid a ton of chaos in New York, and he'll give similar output in Vegas while killing penalties as well.

Could Vegas have held out for the splashy move typical of their franchise ethos? Sure. It's to be determined whether Mikko Rantanen, Brock Boeser or Brad Marchand could offer more upside. It's uncertain if any of those three even get traded, let alone what the price would be. This is the Golden Knights returning to a sure thing for a very reasonable price.

Brendan Brisson's game has stagnated, and there is no spot for him on Vegas' stacked center depth chart. Given what deadline rentals often go for, a diminishing prospect and a third-round pick is a palatable price for a difference-maker who should easily acclimate to his new surroundings.

Grade: A-

The Rangers got exactly the player they expected when they traded a second- and fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in July.

Very few players in New York can claim to have performed at an acceptable level the entirety of this season, but Reilly Smith comes close. His versatile, complete game was evident even during the team's worst stretches, and he played to the caliber of a middle-six winger from October to early March.

It was the right player for the wrong moment. The Rangers have major underlying problems as an organization. They're still in the playoff race, but they have a bigger picture to work out and can't afford to sit on players with expiring contracts in hopes of a playoff miracle.

Brendan Brisson, drafted by Vegas 29th overall in 2020, was a notable part of the recent generation of stacked University of Michigan squads. He is skilled with the puck and shows good hands in the offensive zone with the ability to create goals when afforded time and space. He's yet to fully prove that he can operate at the quicker pace of pro hockey (the NHL in particular) and without linemates who can help reciprocate his skilled game.

Vegas is stacked at center, and Brisson's regression in the AHL this season implies a player who felt stuck. He had some good moments in the NHL, but the contending Golden Knights struggled to find him a consistent lineup spot.

The Rangers, in contrast, are desperate for any young center who can break through. He's proven enough in pro hockey to earn another chance in a new environment. He's a project, but he has a third-line upside. The 23-year-old doesn't have much time to figure it out, though.

With the benefit of hindsight, the Rangers would rather have the draft picks they gave to Pittsburgh. In the grand scheme of everything that's gone wrong in New York this season, this is small potatoes.

The availability of top-six wingers is the one strength of the current market. The Rangers did well enough to get this over with before the market could move on them, and they recovered most of what they gave up in the initial trade.

Grade: B