Per Elliotte Friedman, the Rangers may be the front runners to sign Vlad Gavrikov. Friedman has now said this twice, once on his written 32 Thoughts over the weekend and again this morning on the 32 Thoughts podcast. Gavrikov reportedly has a small list of places he’d like to go if he hits free agency, which is apparently why many think he will sign with the Rangers when free agency opens in a week.
The Rangers were linked to Gavrikov (and Ivan Provorov) two weeks ago, so now we have some additional smoke to the Vlad Gavrikov rumors. The 6’3, 220 lb left defenseman is good, but likely had his numbers bolstered by an overall defensively solid LA Kings team. If he lands in New York, Gavrikov would be expected to get top pair billing alongside Adam Fox.
For what it’s worth, we are hearing the Rangers likely aren’t in on Provorov, but it’s far from confirmed.
