The New York Rangers are officially in sell mode ahead of the March 6 trade deadline, and the winds of change are blowing through Madison Square Garden. Carson Soucy is already out the door, landing with the rival Islanders, and more moves could be on the horizon.
Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, and Braden Schneider are all reportedly on the trading block. But just because the Rangers are shedding veterans doesn’t mean they’re closing the door on fresh faces.
Enter Vincent Iorio.
With Braden Schneider potentially on the move and Adam Fox still sidelined, the Rangers made a quiet but intriguing move by claiming Iorio off waivers from the San Jose Sharks. He’s only got 30 NHL games under his belt, so expectations should be tempered-but there’s a reason he caught the Rangers’ eye.
And if you ask Macklin Celebrini, one of the brightest young stars in the league and Iorio’s former teammate in San Jose, New York just picked up a gem.
“He’s a hell of a player, that’s why he got picked up,” Celebrini said when asked about Iorio’s departure. “It’s tough. I know our roster and the numbers we have, it’s tough…”
Now, sure-teammates usually have each other’s backs. But Celebrini’s praise carries weight.
He’s not just tossing out compliments for fun. He’s seen Iorio up close, and he knows what the 21-year-old defenseman brings to the table.
The timing of Iorio’s arrival in New York is no coincidence. The Rangers’ season took a nosedive after the Winter Classic on January 5, when both Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin went down with injuries in a game against the Utah Mammoth.
Since then, New York has dropped 10 of its last 12 games. That stretch not only derailed their early-season momentum-it forced management to reevaluate the direction of the roster.
And that reevaluation is opening doors for players like Iorio.
He’s not going to light up the stat sheet-at least not yet. In 21 games this season, Iorio registered three assists and posted a -4 rating.
But numbers don’t always tell the full story, especially for a young defenseman still finding his footing in the league. What the Rangers are betting on is potential.
Head coach Mike Sullivan sees the Olympic break as a key opportunity for Iorio to get up to speed-not just physically, but mentally.
“It will give him an opportunity to spend some time with coaches, going through some of the details on how we’re trying to play, the X’s and O’s, the team strategy, so to speak, that might be a little bit different than where he came from,” Sullivan said. “From that standpoint, [the break] will be a huge help. He’ll get some reps in practice, he’ll get an opportunity to know his teammates, and then he’ll have an opportunity to spend some time with [David Quinn] in particular coaching the defensemen.”
Translation: This isn’t just a placeholder move. The Rangers are giving Iorio a real shot to integrate into their system and potentially earn meaningful minutes down the stretch.
With the trade deadline looming and key veterans potentially on the move, the blue line is about to get a shake-up. That opens the door for someone like Iorio to step in and show what he can do.
He may not be a savior, but he doesn’t have to be. What the Rangers need right now is energy, upside, and a willingness to grow with the team’s evolving identity.
And if Macklin Celebrini is right, they may have just found a player who checks all three boxes.