This is a FLAWLESS trade...

This trade is absolutely flawless as Braden Schneider has been linked to the Seattle Kraken in this video. We're going to talk about why this is the best trade destination for him, how the new player that they trade for looks on the Rangers and how he looks on the Seattle Kraken. So you're not going to miss this episode of NHL Digest. But before we dive into everything here, just want to say we're on the road for 20,000 subscribers here on the channel before the season starts. So if you're new here, you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the NHL. We're home for it here on YouTube. But we got to talk about Braden Schneider because I feel like ever since last year at the trade deadline, his name has came up a lot in regards of trade rumors and reports at the deadline. It looked like he might have been heading to San Jose. The trade didn't pan out. And here we are almost into the new season and we're still hearing rumblings of him being traded out of New York. It seems like they want to get rid of him and just bring in some help up front. So let's see what this athletic report had to say about Braden Schneider today. Vincent Mercogliano from The Athletic said, I still believe the Rangers would like to leverage Schneider into forward help, especially given the improved defensive health, defensive depth. They like adding guys like Sean Dursey this year, you know, on that right side, you know, kind of pushes him down within the pairings here and they don't really need a $5 million defenseman on their third pairing. So it's looking like they are going to be shipping him out here for some forward help. And here we have a report from NHL trade rumors on Twitter who put forward this interesting idea of a Braden Schneider trade. Shane Wright for Braden Schneider, question mark. He says the Rangers would gain a 22-year-old center and save roughly $4.6 million in cap space because Wright is still on his entry-level deal. He will have to sign an extension this season, but it will ultimately, I believe, be cheaper than getting Braden Schneider back, who was also on the last year of his deal. They say Seattle will get a more established NHL player, a more established defensive defenseman, no doubt about it. I'm going to dive in to the Seattle side in just a bit, but I do want to talk about the Rangers side first because I love this trade for the New York Rangers. Like I said, they went out, got a lot of defensive help this offseason, and they're just trying to, you know, kind of get some players in here to fill out their roster and to make their offense a lot better than what it was last season. They still have a great goaltender, which is Sturgeon in that, and a great defensive core, but they do need a little help up front, and that's where Shane Wright will help. A guy who was once, you know, touted to be a number one overall pick in this league ultimately did drop the four to the Seattle Kraken and hasn't really panned out, but I do think at 22 years old he still has a lot of room to grow, and if you're a Rangers fan, you're not quite sure on Shane Wright. This is a little breakdown on his game and how he's played so far through the first couple years of his career. He's a highly intelligent two-way center, relies on excellent positioning, a quick release, a wrist shot, high IQ playmaking rather than explosive speed. He excels at driving possession through controlled calculated zone entries and maintaining strong defensive responsibility and competitive work ethic in high traffic areas. A guy who can also play on the Pendlake Hill as well, and just taking a look at how Shane Wright's season was last year, he had 27 points in 74 games, 12 goals, 15 assists, just, you know, having about 12 percent, 12.4 percent shot percentage, which is really good. Six power play points for him as well, and 40, about 40 percent on the faceoff dot, which isn't bad from your third line center. Maybe you'd like to see it a bit higher, but having a plus minus, a plus six on a team that missed the playoffs is also great as well for this player, and just want to take a look at his stats across his career. He had 44 points back in 24-25, and we played 79 games, 19 goals, 25 assists, and, you know, you see here he's not getting much opportunity playing 14 minutes a game, 13 minutes a game last season, so maybe on the Rangers he will get a little bit more experience in that aspect and maybe get some more minutes, but looking at how he looks on this New York Rangers roster, I love him on this third line here with Taylor Radish and Will Cooley. I do think that he would really give this line a great spark in terms of playmaking and obviously his defensive play as well. I think we could see him start to create a lot more high danger opportunities with guys like this on his line, and then looking at the defense where you lose a guy like Brayden Schneider in that third pairing, you could either put Vakanainen back there. I know he's a lefty, but he could also, you know, maybe try to play him over on that right side to start the year, or you could call up Dennis Cholowski from the AHL and try to start him in that role to start the season, but like I said, I do like this defense this year with Marcus Pettersson, Sean Durzie, Fox Robertson, and Gavrikov. I do really like this core, and I really do think the New York Rangers are going to be a lot better of a team this year. I do think that they could be fighting for a wildcard spot going into the playoffs next year, or maybe even fighting for that third spot in the Metro Division. I think adding a guy like Shane Wright is vital for this team's offense, and just vital for this team's special teams as well, and just adding some increased offense down within the bottom six of this lineup, and I mean, we're talking about a team that could potentially have Alexey Lafrenier and Shane Wright on the same team, which is absolutely insane, because those are two highly touted guys at one point. We thought they were going to take over the league like the Medards of today, but they haven't really got there, so having these two guys on this team would just be great, and having Shane Wright coming to a new scenery could really help revitalize his career as well in the bright lights of New York, but let's talk about Brayden Schneider, because if you're a Seattle fan watching this, and you don't know much about Brayden Schneider, I'm a big fan of this guy, and you know, I really am. He plays a physical shutdown game, who excels at maintaining tight gap control blocking shots, delivering heavy hits along the boards, while he possesses a heavy shot and can make crisp, unflashy breakup passes. His game prioritizes defensive responsibility and penalty killing over high-end offensive creativity, and I really do like the Seattle Kraken getting this guy. I do think they can really add a big shot, you know, physical defender here. Look, 163 hits last season and 141 blocks. This guy is just going to play a pure shutdown game. He's going to, you know, be able to shut down a lot of offenses, a lot of penalty kill, a lot of power play opportunities from other teams as well. He's just a guy who's a warrior. He goes out, puts it all on the line every single night, whether it's with a big hit, whether it's with a big, you know, block, you know, at a crucial time in the game. This guy can do it all. He had 18 points as well, 16 assists with two goals. He's not afraid to rip them on net either with 102 shots, and I just do want to take a look a little bit at his advanced analytics, where he is averaging about 20 minutes on ice a night, so he's a guy who can eat a lot of minutes for you as well. He's a guy that you can rotate in and up and down these pairings depending on what team you're playing. If you need a more defensive guy in there, if you're playing, you know, a more high-octane team, he's a guy who can shut that opportunity down. I really do like Braden Schneider on the Seattle Kraken team, and just taking a look at this new-look Kraken team, I will bring it up a little bit bigger for you guys. We have him here on this third pairing with Riker Evans. I do think him on this third pairing would be great for this team at 24 years old. He's on the last year of his deal. He's going to need an extension, but this is a guy who you can have. You can lock up for maybe five, six more years, have him for the prime of his career, and just be a great shutdown guy for you. And like I said, he's a guy who can play up and down these pairings, whether you put him on the second pairing some nights, the first pairing some nights. I really do like the addition of Braden Schneider on this team. I really do think it really tightens up the decor here, and on a team that's going to need a lot of help defensively this year, I do believe with just looking at this bottom six, you are losing Shane Wright, but you give some more opportunity to, you know, maybe Freddie Goudreau and get Curtis Douglas into this lineup. But, you know, the bottom six is really going to rely on these young guys like Sam Skevich, Katton, Nyman, and Winterton as well. If these guys have a good year, this team will have a good year, but it really relies upon this young talent in Seattle. But I want to hear your guys' thoughts on everything we talked about today. Do you think that Braden Schneider is a great fit in Seattle? Do you think Shane Wright is a great fit in New York? I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on everything down below in the comment section. And if you enjoyed, leave a like, subscribe to the channel. As always, I've been your host KC. Keep your stick on the ice.