ELMONT, NY — Carson Soucy already had to move his family across North America once last year when he was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers.
With the Blueshirts “retooling” and the veteran defenseman’s name a regular in trade talks, the prospect of doing that again was especially agonizing, considering his second child is less than two weeks old.
Thankfully for Soucy, though, the crosstown-rival Islanders needed to shore up their blue line after losing Alex Romanov for the season. Their offer of a third-round draft pick was good enough for Rangers general manager Chris Drury to greenlight the deal, marking just the fourth time ever that the New York clubs hooked up for a trade — and only the second since 1972.
Instead of another significant move, the Soucy family can stay where they are, much to the 31-year-old’s relief.
“It kind of showed where both teams are at, really,” Soucy said. “Drury kind of did me a favor of not wanting to ship my family, like last year, across the country. It was my wife and kids, and we have a newborn right now, so it’s nice that we’re not having to move around all of these things, so I appreciate Chris for making that work.”
An added bonus is that he now finds himself in the thick of a playoff race rather than languishing with the bottom-dwelling Rangers, who lost 12 of their last 15 games — including a 5-2 decision against Soucy and the Islanders on Wednesday night — entering Thursday’s rematch at Madison Square Garden.
There is not much pizazz to Soucy’s game. He is a stay-at-home defenseman who plays a straightforward, physical game. The early returns were good, as he held his own against his former team on Wednesday night and impressed his new head coach, Patrick Roy.
“It’s nice to have a veteran like this coming in,” Roy said. “I thought [Scott Mayfield] and him had a strong game together. They were physical, and I feel like it brings that element that we lost when Romanov got hurt. It’s nice to have a guy like this right now playing for us.”
