The Rangers took care of their last restricted free agent Friday, inking Brendan Lemiuex to a two-year deal. With an AAV of $1.55 million, it's about 250K a year more than I would have have liked, but as I
wrote the other day, in line what I figured he would get, especially on a two-year deal. With Lemieux signed for an average annual value of $1.55 million and Ryan Strome's AAV at $4.5 million, the Rangers are left with a shade under $2.342 million in cap space, presuming a 21-man roster.
I wrote in the aforementioned blog when arb figures were exchanged: "I figure $1.25 mil in year 1 and $1.75 mil in year 2 or any derivation therein for a $1.5 mil AAV seems to be a logical meeting point." Granted, as a I noted above, slightly above what I would have liked them to pay. But it locks up a possible fourth-liner with upside, presuming he can stay out of the penalty box and play as he did after he came over from Winnipeg, that brings a physical presence with grit. The two year deal enables him to be exposed to Seattle, if the team so desires.
For the expansion draft, the Rangers must protect Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin. That leaves four forward protected spots from among Ryan Strome, Filip Chytil, Pavel Buchnevich (RFA), Brett Howden, Julien Gauthier, Lemieux and others. Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafreniere, Vitali Kravtsov, etc., are exempt. If Buch is re-signed, he will be protected, and even not, as an RFA, I could see New York protecting him. Chytil is pretty much a given, leaving two more. As of now, I would say Gauthier will be protected and quote possibly Strome, but lots can and will change during the season.
The Cap Friendly available cap figure above presumes a 23-man roster. We know that Strome, Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich, Kaapo Kakko, Alexis Lafrenière, Filip Chytil are set in stone up front. Lemieux is pretty much penciled in as are Julien Gauthier and Brett Howden, though the latter two are not locks. Phil Di Giuseppe and Kevin Rooney and Colin Blackwell. will all be competing for spots in the bottom six and roster. If only one of those three make the team, giving the team a 21-man roster, including Anthony Bitetto as the extra blueliner, then New York has $2.34 million in cap room, allowing one of Morgan Barron or Vitali Kravtsov to break camp, even while factoring in the performance bonuses. Same during the year for K'Andre Miller with Barron and Kravtsov having a $1.775 million overall cap hit if they begin the season on the NHL roster and Miller, a $1.25 million cap figure.
As Rick Carpinello wrote:
(With) Lemieux signed, the Rangers are in pretty good shape with no outstanding free agents left. Also, this leaves them – with the current roster – no significant unrestricted free agents coming up next season, when they will also have some cap space as the combined bought-out Henrik Lundqvist/Kevin Shattenkirk dead cap hits are greatly reduced (from $11.583 million in ’20-21 to $2.93 million), Ryan Spooner’s dead space ($300,000) disappears and Brendan Smith’s contract ($4.35 million) comes off the books. (For those math challenged, that's almost $13.5 million that comes off the books)
As of now, Chytil, Buchnevich, Howden, Gauthier, defensemen Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek and Yegor Rykov, and goalies Shesterkin and Adam Huska are set to be restricted free agents after the coming season.
The team is relatively similar to the one that ended last year. Marc Staal, Jesper Fast and Henrik Lundqvist out. Alexis Lafreniere and Jack Johnson in. They do have a bit more depth on the bottom-six, though would have loved others for those spots, same for the sixth-seventh d-man. The market is still open, but New York, as noted above has little cap room. I would love to see them sign Sami Vatanen and have him pair with Jacob Trouba, but that's a pipedream. Barron would be a perfect bottom-six player, and they now have the cap room to add him, but I expect Kevin Rooney to fill that role. But the cap room after 2020-21 should allow the team to add at least one more upper tier free agent, depending on what contracts they award to their RFAs, especially Shesterkin, and if they opt to bring back Buchnevich or deal him.
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