TRADE: Florida Panthers and New York Rangers Complete a Deal

The Florida Panthers are sending forward Frank Vatrano to the New York Rangers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2022. The deal lands the Rangers a mobile forward who's scored 10 goals and 19 points in 49 games this season. 

Vatrano has spent the last part of five seasons in the sunshine state with the Panthers and is a former 24-goal scorer. The Rangers were looking for depth for their top-nine and certainly find a solid option who is making $2.5 million against the cap.

**Breaking News** @FlaPanthers trading Frank Vatrano to @NYRangers for a 4th Rd Pick . @espn @NHLNetwork @TSNHockey #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/b9ddTBNIEV

— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) March 16, 2022

Full trade:

To #NYR: Frank Vatrano
To #FlaPanthers: 2022 4th Round Pick*

* Condition: #NYR hold two fourth-round picks in 2022, their own and #nhljets. Pick conveyed will be the lower of the two picks.

No salary retained.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 16, 2022

What this move does is free up some serious cap space for the Panthers who are trying to make another move to land a big fish. Either Jakob Chychrun or Claude Giroux is expected to be dealt to Florida, with the latter rumored to be in love with the idea of joining the Panthers.

As for the Rangers if they make another move it's likely going to include backup netminder Alexandar Georgiev, who continues to draw interest from other teams. They also have a couple of prospects who are looking for changes in sceneries so expect to see general manager Chris Drury staying busy over the course of the next few days.

Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports