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Approaching the 2020 trade deadline, the Rangers and their executive team of president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton had a choice. Though it was not a literal either-or proposition, the reality of the salary cap made it so that the team would have to choose between Chris Kreider and Brady Skjei.
Kreider, almost 29 and on one of his patented scoring streaks through late winter as the Blueshirts were in the midst of an unlikely charge into playoff contention, was a pending unrestricted free agent in need of a long-term extension. His deal was projected to come in with an annual average value of $6.5 million-$7 million.
Skjei, coming up on his 26th birthday and having a second consecutive difficult season, was (and perhaps not coincidentally) nearing the end of the second year of a six-year contract that would run through 2023-24 for an annual cap hit of $5.25 million.