Rangers Send Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to the Avalanche

Ryan Lindgren arguably leads the league in pain tolerance. Toronto’s Chris Tanev may be the only defensemen who can match him in terms of a willingness to sacrifice the body and battle through discomfort. He goes all-out physically in the corners and around the net and he’ll do whatever it takes to make a play, whether that’s absorbing a hit to move a puck or eat a snapshot straight in the ribcage.

At his best, these traits help Lindgren play the role of a top-four shutdown defenseman and penalty killer. For a few years he earned his place alongside Adam Fox on the top pairing as someone who kept it simple with the puck and gave strong defensive outputs.

His most admirable traits led to his downfall in New York. The wear-and-tear of numerous playoff runs and a lengthy catalog of injuries seem to have affected him physically. Questions regarding how those maladies have impacted his skating and range of motion are correlated to notable declines in his ability to retrieve pucks and find outlets and win physical battles. For two seasons he’s been a liability for Fox.

Again, you can’t question his work ethic or will. The Colorado Avalanche are betting that, by reducing his role to third-pairing minutes, they’ll be able to keep him fresh enough physically that he is able to effectively play a courageous shutdown game. There is definitely risk baked into this deal for Colorado but, if they are right about Lindgren being a better fit for his role in Colorado, then he’ll be a pretty special player to have on the backend for a long playoff run.

Don’t sleep on Jimmy Vesey, either. The former college goal scorer completely remade his game in New York following a career crisis. He is now one of the better defensive wingers in the league and can chip in offensively. He’s the perfect fourth-line wing for how the Avalanche want to play.