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Rangers and Kaapo Kakko agree on two-year contract |
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The Rangers completed their last main bit of business, re-signing Kaapo Kakko to a two year deal with a $2.1 mil AAV. All the hand wringing and consternation regarding a possible offer sheet can now be shoved to the side with Kakko inked. The current roster may be what the team enters the season with, though it's possible one or two changes occur, including PTOs late this summer.
The specter of an offer sheet came up for two reasons. First, New York was up against the cap, and still are. Second, the perception or expectation that Kakko had his feathers ruffled by sitting as a healthy scratch of Game 6 of the ECF. Kakko said all the right things after the game and how he planned to use the scratch as motivation. GM Chris Drury also noted that the sides had been in communication and were in good stead. Most of us did not believe either, but the signing shows that maybe we were the one extrapolating the direness of a situation that was not not the case.
Kakko's AAV is in line with expectations. Evolving Hockey projected a $1.86 mil AAV over a two-year deal. Most expected the deal to sit between.$2.2-$2.5, so every savings off that is important for future compounded cap space. Kakko should slot as the second line right winger, though it's possible the Kid Line is reunited, where he would be the third line right winger. In addition, hopefully he gets an uplift in power play time, where he can use his big body in front of the net to create chances.
As seen below and the link attached to the tweet, per Cap Friendly, New York has $1,808,531 in cap space based on a projected roster of 20 players (12F-6D-2G) and 1 player on IR, which is Sammy Blais. In essence, that would be a 21 man roster, but a few tweaks to what they project may end up the case. If that happens, the cap space will be tweaked slightly.
The above, presuming Blais ends up in the active lineup has Julian Gauthier as the extra man. In addition, that lineup does not include Vitali Kravtsov, whose cap hit is 75K more than Gauthier, which would reduce the available space. Brennan Othmann ($894,167) and Will Cuylle ($828,333) are longshots. If either makes the roster, that puts Gauthier at further risk and might result in Ryan Reaves or Ryan Carpenter landing in the press box.
On defense Libor Hajek is listed as the sixth d-man, which is more likely to be Matthew Robertson, Nils Lundkvist or Zac Jones. Lundkvist and Jones each have $925K cap hits while Robertson is at $797,500, so whoever makes the roster will impact the cap. Hajek for some reason is hanging around, but the cap and roster crunch may result in him being placed on waivers.
Unless Reaves is moved, signing Tyler Motte still remains challenging. The longer he remains available, the greater the possibility New York tries to bring him back. Part of that may be wishful thinking on my part, because Motte at $1 mil or $1.25 mil would be a huge addition and really lengthen the roster.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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