Space invaders
Drury can’t shoot for stars without impacting in-season maneuvering
CHRIS Drury’s next job is going to be trickier than the one the Rangers general manager completed on Wednesday’s opening of the free agent market.
Because after adding secondline center Vincent Trocheck within the narrow cap parameters with which the Rangers’ decider had to work, Drury now has to maintain enough space on the roster so that his team will be able to bid when the rental season opens.
Remember: Space compounds through the season. Starting with $2 million on opening day would translate into $9.3 million at the deadline, per the folks at CapFriendly. Drury was able to deal with impunity last season because the Blueshirts had accrued almost unlimited space approaching the deadline.
That’s why he was able to add four players — Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun — without shedding so much as one cent of NHL salary in order to do it. There will be no repeat of that kind of lastminute shopping extravaganza this year.
Even if managed properly, there may be enough for only one targeted, big-ticket rental acquisition. When Patrick Kane becomes available — hopefully later rather than sooner from the Blueshirts’ perspective — the Rangers will have to be in the mix. The same applies to J.T. Miller, if he is still with the Canucks deep into the year. Maybe Jonathan Toews will play well enough to merit consideration. Vladimir Tarasenko could be an option. Players always become available.
Let’s start with 12 forwards projected to be on the opening-night roster as follows (and line combinations here are used as examples): Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Sammy Blais; Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Vitali Kravtsov; Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko; Dryden Hunt, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves.
Kakko is not yet under contract as a restricted free agent, but it is safe to say he will come in at around a $2.4 million cap hit on what likely will be a two-year deal. In that case, the 12 forwards would account for just under $46.5 million.
The projected six-man defense of Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox, K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba; Libor Hajek and Braden Schneider would combine for $23.15 million. The goaltending tandem of Igor Shesterkin and Jaroslav Halak would account for a pinch under $6.8 million. So that will be $29.95 million behind the blue line. The Rangers are also carrying dead cap space amounting to approximately $3.428 million. Thus, the total of this projected 20player shadow roster would amount to $79,816,469. That would leave just under $3.7 million of space.
If you want to add a 13th forward, say free-agent signee Ryan Carpenter, a center who played for Gerard Gallant with Vegas (notice a trend?) and signed Thursday, that would account for another $750,000. And adding a seventh defenseman — for argument’s sake, Zac Jones — would amount to another $925,000.
Under this hypothetical 22man roster (13 forwards, 7 defensemen, 2 goalies), the Rangers would enter the season with just over $2 million in space. Entrylevel bonuses could become an issue that bleeds into next season if Lafreniere attains his max $2.85 million and both Miller and Schneider hit their max of $400,000 per. So that is another reason why Drury should not — cannot — go to the $83.5 million ceiling. The Rangers need a bit of cushion.
The roster is not locked, even if 16 spots are set in stone. If Brennan Othmann or Will Cuylle were to earn a spot, it would probably come at the expense of Kravtsov, Hunt or Carpenter. There would be little impact on the cap, though Othmann would carry a max bonus package of $450,000.
Similarly, there would be only a minor impact if the Blueshirts add a veteran left defenseman in the $1 million range, should the club not entrust the left side of the third pair to either Hajek or Jones.
That is where the Rangers stand three months before the season opens. There is room for maneuverability, but not much. Without Copp and Vatrano, the team will be counting on kids to produce.
That’s fine, though. Because when a team fancies itself a Stanley Cup contender, as the Eastern Conference finalists most certainly do, the roster on opening day is not as important as the roster that emerges from the deadline.