The New York Rangers are desperate to change the mix. The team has lost six out of the last seven games and the locker room atmosphere is rotten.

General manager Chris Drury either exacerbated the problems or rightfully ripped off the band-aid with his memo to NHL teams that indicated a desire to fundamentally change the makeup on Broadway.

Speculation of whom the Rangers might move has spread like wildfire. It makes sense, as there's a lot of drama in debating who will or should be released.

For the most part, though, the Rangers won't be fixed merely by jettisoning a sacrificial lamb. But this also isn't a team that seems ready to give up on the season and liquidate the roster for draft picks. At least, not unless they have separate transactions to bring in NHL talent from elsewhere.

If ambition alone mattered, the Rangers would have made a big splash weeks ago. It's not so simple, though. Early December isn't the best time for meaningful trades. Teams would often rather wait until the trade deadline in March or perhaps even the summer.

To find potential fits, the Rangers will have to seek out teams, or specific players, who are in their own moment of uncertainty and may be eager to make something happen.

Here are five realistic trade targets for the Rangers in their pursuit of a December shakeup.

Jamie Oleksiak, Seattle Kraken

The Rangers are putrid defensively. Only the Anaheim Ducks concede more expected goals this season, both at five-on-five and overall, than New York.

There are many reasons for this, but the simplest is they bleed rush chances and the coaching staff has two defensemen it truly trusts to defend.

Seattle's Jamie Oleksiak would check both of those boxes for the Rangers. The left-hander offers little offensively, but he is one of the better shutdown defensemen in the league. He's 6'7" and 252 pounds, and teams are reluctant to attack his side of the ice through the neutral zone.

The Rangers can't afford to throw away more picks for rentals. Oleksiak is signed to a reasonable $4.6 million cap hit through the 2026 season, so Seattle won't be in a rush to move him. But the Kraken are well outside the playoff picture and 22-year-old Ryker Evans is due for a promotion to the second defensive pairing.

Could Seattle be willing to move fellow lefty Oleksiak to make financial space for much-needed upgrades on offense? If it's possible, it's an avenue the Rangers should explore.

Jake Walman, San Jose Sharks

The Detroit Red Wings inexplicably handed the San Jose Sharks a second-round pick for the pleasure of taking defenseman Jake Walman off their hands.

On a team with its share of questionable contracts, why Steve Yzerman picked Walman as a cap dump remains a mystery. His $3.4 million cap hit through 2026 is no burden for a player whois an offensive producer and a favorite of data analysts.

The move now looks indefensible. The Red Wings remain stuck in mediocrity. Walman, despite playing difficult minutes on a rebuilding team, is shining in San Jose. The lefty has 19 points through 25 games and is playing respectable defense as well.

It's fair to ask why San Jose would move him, but the Sharks are still years from realistically making playoff noise. Walman, who turns 29 in February, is probably a placeholder in the team. And Sharks GM Mike Grier has a good relationship with Drury.

Undoubtedly, Walman would cost far more than the negative value San Jose extracted from Detroit just months ago. But if the Rangers could tempt San Jose from their pool of young wingers then maybe San Jose would consider a move for a player with more value on the trade market than he will provide to their long-term vision.

Joel Farabee, Philadelphia Flyers

This list is mostly defensemen for good reason: The Rangers are strong on the wings and adding a top-six center, their other major need, is unrealistic at this juncture.

However, the management is fixated on change and will have to work within the confines of the existing market. One winger who could fit what the team is looking for is Joel Farabee.

The 24-year-old was a first-round pick in 2018 and started his NHL career well. But the Syracuse native hasn't been a fit for John Tortorella's Philadelphia Flyers and has seen his ice time decrease for three straight seasons.

Two seasons ago, Farabee's representatives reportedly "voiced their displeasure" to the Flyers. He now has just three goals and six assists, and the team is open to moving him.

When on his game, he is a pesky 200-foot winger. Despite his smaller stature, he's a puck hound around the crease. He's also the type of player who would report to his new team with the motivation to prove the Flyers wrong.

Still young and signed to a reasonable $5 million cap hit through 2028, Farabee would bring fresh energy to a group that has gone stale in New York and would be a long-term fit to replace any of Chris Kreider, Reilly Smith or Kaapo Kakko.

Nick Jensen, Ottawa Senators

Circumstance may have forced the Ottawa Senators to move on from top defenseman Jakob Chychrun, but it never made any sense that they accepted Nick Jensen as the centerpiece of their return package.

The 34-year-old is a downgrade from Chychrun and approaching the twilight of his career. He's not a fit for a team like Ottawa that is again out of the playoff picture before the halfway point of the season.

Is Jensen the aggressive defensive presence the Rangers sorely need? No. He does bring something else that the Blueshirts lack, though: puck movement from the back end.

He has long been the type of defender who does a lot of little things that add up to a bigger picture of tilting the ice in his team's favor. The Minnesota native is in his comfort zone retrieving pucks in his own end and finding ways up the ice. It would be a nice change of pace from the likes of many Rangers defensemen who are turnover machines from the defensive zone.

A right-handed defenseman signed for just over $4 million through next season, he'd bring something different on the right side of the defense. Of course, that assumes the Rangers open up that spot with a Trouba trade.

Bowen Byram, Buffalo Sabres

Bowen Byram is the most ambitious, and therefore most unlikely, option on this list.

But if the Rangers really want to make a big move that both rocks the team to its core and addresses its weakness, then this is the one.

The 2019 fourth-overall pick for the Colorado Avalanche had his promising career interrupted by head injuries. He was moved to Buffalo to address a major need at center. Since then, he has rediscovered his form, with seven goals and 24 assists in 43 games as a Sabre.

It's not just the points, though. The 23-year-old is a fantastic skater and navigator with the puck. He's a major offensive driver and can beat the opposing forecheck with the puck. He's never been an overly physical player, but good skating and instincts lead to strong positional hockey and the ability to keep pucks out of his own end.

Why would the Sabres want to trade a player like this? Well, they probably don't. But the team is closing in on another lost season that will probably result in an organizational cleaning. General manager Kevyn Adams is far more desperate than even the Rangers right now.

The team has Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power locked up long-term. Will the Sabres break the bank for Byram when he's a restricted free agent this summer?

Given all the holes across the roster and the need for fixes ASAP, the Rangers may be able to pry him from Buffalo. Doing so would give the team a true No. 2 defenseman for Adam Fox; something the team has not had since he joined the team in 2019.