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Shattenkirk follows heart to Rangers, spurning bigger offers, Pavelec signs |
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Kevin Shattenkirk is a New York Ranger. Let that sink in. I had mentioned a few times that Shattenkirk's decision may come down to hometown fandom (NYR) vs. Finances (NJ) vs. Fraternity (Bos). In the head, his heart outweighed everything else in bringing him to New York, as he left money and additional contract years on the table to sign with New York.
Official Announcement:
Contract Terms:
Why Shattenkirk signed with the Rangers:
Great quote from Shattenkirk:
Before I even heard Shattenkirk's interview with the NHL Network, my first thought was something he ended up saying. "Well it doesn't have to be a 7 year deal right away. Who is to say it can't be a 4 year deal followed by a 3 year deal" By getting four years, $26.65 mil, he sets himself up for another pay day in the future. If he plays well and remains healthy, he likely will get a three-year deal for potentially similar money, meaning he won't end up losing anything. Now, he is taking the risk and betting on himself to both play well and stay healthy.
The Score gave the signing an A grade, noting "not a massive force in his own end, Shattenkirk is a positive possession player at even strength and is averaging 0.61 points per game over his career. His right-hand shot will nicely complement the team's more defensive-minded lefties." Shattenkirk spoke of his desire to play with Ryan McDonagh, noting how he feels the two will complement each other. Having Shattenkirk will take a ton of pressure of McD, as he won't have to do anything and can defer to 'Kirk offensively, which should improve McD overall game.
The most interesting part, presuming we can believe Larry Brooks, whose track record the past two weeks hasn't been great, is how 'Kirk ended up in NY. "Yes, in a complete reversal of the norm, the proposal was made to the organization by the free agent even as other offers rolled into him for far more money on longer-term deals." This means that Shattenkirk is the one who proposed the deal, not GM Jeff Gorton. In essence, he basically refused to let the Rangers say no and came up with a deal that would work for each side. A strong source, who triple checked this, said that NY was basically out as of June 25, when they new NJ had offered what was reported and Arizona was a close second. But 'Kirk's desire to be in NY outweighed everything else. Gorton has to be given credit for slow playing the whole situation and willingness to go beyond likely where they wanted to go.
The D now looks like:
McDonagh-Shattenkirk
Skjei-Smith
Staal-Deangelo
7th D- Holden/Kampfer/Poink/Berzgalov/Graves/Day (based on Kevin Klein retiring), plus Sergei Zborovskiy and John Gilmour
As seen from the above, the Rangers now have an abundance of d-men. I expect Graves and Day to open the season in the minors. Pionk and Berzgalov may battle for a spot in training camp. ADA has flaws to work out, especially defensively, but he can be sheltered on the third pairing. I would have liked to keep Adam Clendening, who signed for 650K with Arizona, because he would have been a nice extra d-man. Due to the need for centers and a bottom-six winger or two, Holden is likely to go, as I don't expect anyone to take Staal's contract, even with NY eating a piece of it. Once free agency plays itself out a bit more, I look for Gorton to try and move.
Ondrej Pavelec signing:
As reported yesterday, the Rangers did sign Ondrej Pavelec to be their back up goalie. I don't love the $1.3 mil hit, especially when Antti Niemi got 700k to sign in Pittsburgh. But when you see what Mike Condon, Jonathan Bernier, Ryan Miller, Chad Johnson and Anders Nilsson all signed for, I guess $1.3 mll isn't horrible. With Keith Kincaid sticking in NJ, the available options were very few. The below is what I wrote yesterday on Pavelec.
"Pavelec would be a one-year stop gap as a back up goalie. He has regressed substantially in Winnipeg, which might have been caused by the team around him. Some of the advanced metrics show a solid goalie 5x5 but one with technical and concentration issues. The hope has to be that goaltending coach Benoit Allaire works his magic again. Sooner or later relying on that may prove to not end up with the desired result and to me, this will be an area of concern entering the season. One bit of a good news is that the Rangers only play 11 back to back games, fewest in the Eastern conference. But, the back up will need to play 20-25 games to keep Lundqvist fresh, so maybe opponents can be cherry picked."
Now what:
As Brooks wrote, if you want to view it this way, the change from 2016 to this year looks like this: "First-line center Derek Stepan’s annual $6.5 million cap hit for the next four years plus backup goaltender Antti Raanta exchanged for presumptive first-pair right defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk’s $6.65 million cap charge over the same term plus seventh-overall draft selection Lias Andersson, young defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and backup netminder Ondrej Pavelec." In addition, you have to factor in the buyout of Dan Girardi, who signed a two-year, $6 mil deal with Tampa Bay yesterday and loss of Oscar Lindberg. Work still needs to be done, as the team needs a handful of centers/wingers, so it's hard to just view it like Brooks wrote until we see where the Rangers end up.
Per Bob McKenzie, the NYR were in on Marleau/Thornton but out with Shattenkirk signing in NY. Thornton would have fill a center spot, same maybe with Marleau if he was moved there. The rumor is that JT has re-signed for $5.5 mil with SJ, but that has yet to be confirmed. Thanks to rangerdanger94 for posting this, from Gorton's press conference: "Where do things go now at center, "I would say that we have some ongoing things to try and help us at center, we know it's a need and a hole there we are trying to fix. We also have the luxury of JT Miller, who we feel is a natural center and at some point we are hoping he can make that move and that gives us a little flexibility. We are looking. We have had some discussions with teams and trade scenarios. Definitely aware of the situation and see how it moves going forward." As noted, moving Miller seems to be the lesser option, but let's say that was the case, here is the current forward lineup:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Nash-Hayes-Vesey
Grabner-Miller-Zuccarello
X Puempel Fast
The blue line clearly is better. Goaltending is likely a step back without Raanta, though the hope has to be that Allaire can work his magic. Clearly, the forwards need to be upgraded, due to the losses of Stepan and Lindberg but Gorton has earned enough trust to believe he can do.
Following the acquisitions of Shattenkirk and Pavelec coupled with the expected retirement of Klein, the Rangers have about $11.30 mil in cap room. Zib and Fast each need to be re-signed. The Rangers could go the bridge route, where Zib gets $3.5-4 million, after making $3.25 mil in salary last year with an AAV of $2.625 mil on his two-year deal, and Fast likely $1.75-2 mil after making $950k each of the last two years. I would go longer-term on Zib, but if this ends up being the case, New York, without any other changes, will have about $5.5 mil to spend.
Targets still may be: Jussi Jokinen, David Desharnais and Mikhail Grigorenko at center with Boo Nieves an internal option. At wing, Thomas Vanek, Jaromir Jagr, and Devante Smith-Pelley appear to be the best remaining options. Of course, Ilya Kovalchuk is out there, but after getting burned by losing 'Kirk, it may be a cold day in hell before the Devils trade to the Rangers.
With Hartford a tire-fire last year, the Rangers added two solid AHL signings. Paul Carey signed a 1 year, 2 way deal, $650K in the NHL, $400K in minors and Cole Schneider was added possibly to a similar deal. each should help Hartford
My take on a few signings/trade:
Scott Hartnell at one year, 1mil, very solid deal by Nashville, would have loved that in New York
Martin Hanzal, three years at $4.75 mil AVV, too rich for New York. But in Dallas, he will be their 3C, taking pressure of Seguin/Spezza while seeing PP TOI. The Stars might move Spezza to RW, making Hanzal as the 2C. A pretty good addition there.
Nick Bonino, four years, $4.1 mil AAV, looks like that's where he was always going if he left Pitt and I felt that the years and $ were too high for NY.
Sam Gagner, three years, $3.15 mil AAV, to me, that's a really nice deal and you know I wanted him on the Rangers as a 2/3C, who can play the wing and be a PP stalwart
Justin Williams to Carolina at $4.5 mil for the next two years seems slightly excessive but the 'Canes had a ton of cap space to use.
Mike Cammalleri to LA for one year, $1 mil and bonus, similar to what Patrick Sharrp received from Chicago, each of whom might have been nice fits.
Radim Vrbata, one year deal, 2.5 million base salary and $1.25 million in performance bonuses from Florida. Decent base and if he hits bonuses, that obviously means he produced, so a fairly solid signing, especially if he plays like he did last year
Brian Boyle, two years, $5.1 mil from NJ. I would have liked him back with NY, but not at that price
Benoit Pouliot, one year. $1.15 mil from Buffalo. Some of this blog were happy he didn't come back, but that figure for a bottom six winger wouldn't have been a bad addition
Marek Hrivik signed with Calgary, Still don't get why New York didn't just qualify him, since he too could have been a fit on the bottom six.
Chris Kunitz, one-year, $2 mil to Tampa. Many think he was a product of Sidney Crosby and he is aging, but he still can be productive. Looks like a solid low-risk, possible high reward addition.
Karl Alzner to Montreal for five years, $23 million. This one seems really high and I wonder what happens with Andrei Markov.
Alexei Emelin, traded from Vegas to Nashville. Appears to be a move to even further bolster the Preds D so they can trade one of their current D to get Matt Duchene. But Columbus is still in on Duchene as well.
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