Ongoing facelift still far from perfect
IN the parlance of the day, the Rangers’ facelift 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 seventhoverall draft selection Lias Andersson, young defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and backup netminder Ondrej Pavelec.
If Saturday’s whirlwind signing of free agent Shattenkirk reveals one truth, it is that management has no intention of taking a step back and presiding over a tear-down rebuild. The Rangers will be in it to win it again — with “again” meaning for the first time in 24 years and the second time since the pre-World War II era.
Not that there necessarily is anything wrong with that. Tear-down rebuilds have a way of lasting into dismal, dreary perpetuity.
No one is guaranteed Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Sidney Crosby, or Alex Ovechkin with the first-overall pick. Sometimes the lottery ticket comes up stamped Nail Yakupov, Erik Johnson, Rick DiPietro or Alexandre Daigle. Races to the bottom are just as often not worth running.
So the Blueshirts pulled off a nip-and-tuck here in altering the complexion of their team that also previously excised Dan Girardi via a buyout. And with the significant hole remaining in the middle that general manager Jeff Gorton acknowledged he is attempting to address, it is not clear at the moment that the Rangers are necessarily a better-looking group than they were upon their second-round defeat to Ottawa.
Though much will rest on Gorton’s ability to fill the void at center via trade, the ultimate success of all this maneuvering will depend on Shattenkirk, who has an extremely impressive advanced analytics résumé but never has been leaned on the way he will be in New York and has never been under the microscope as he will be on Broadway.
Short-term deal and hometown romance aside, $6.65 million per represents an enormous cap investment in a player who was sheltered on the third unit last year by both the Blues and Capitals. At the same time, it is true that the 28-year-old with substantial point skills on the power play has never operated with a partner the caliber of Ryan McDonagh, so there is that to consider in attempting to hot-take this signing.
“Ryan McDonagh was a big part of my decision,” said Shattenkirk, who is known to have spurned more lucrative offers from at least the Devils, Sabres and Coyotes. “My goal is to be a phenomenal defenseman in all aspects and I think that Ryan McDonagh will help me achieve that.
“It was a major part of my decision to be able to play with one of the best.”
The Rangers have an effective $4.1 million of space with which to operate after factoring in Kevin Klein’s expected retirement and the anticipated re-signings of restricted free agents Mika Zibanejad and Jesper Fast.
Shattenkirk’s addition to a top-four including McDonagh, Brady Skjei and Brendan Smith creates a potential down-roster blueline logjam among Marc Staal, Nick Holden, DeAngelo and prospects Neal Pionk and Alexei Bereglazov.
That group is likely to be trimmed as Gorton goes about the process of making sure that the Rangers’ new face does not bleed.