Lack of cap space limits options
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Man, there are big names out there all over the place as the NHL descends on this fine outpost for its annual entry draft extravaganza that leads almost immediately into the opening of free agency.
Pierre-Luc Dubois is on the move to Los Angeles. Tyler Toffoli has been dealt to the Devils. Noah
Hanifin is there for the taking. Gabe Vilardi is going to Winnipeg. Kevin Hayes was sent away. The
Maple Leafs might break up their Big
Four up front by dealing William Nylander. Blink, and a new name will be in play.
While the Rangers sit out the meat market.
That is what having approximately $11.7 million in cap space with which to fill eight varsity roster spots while having five no-move contracts on the ledger does to you. That is what having to sign impending restricted free agents K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere means.
Bright Lights, No Action.
This instead should represent Replenishment Week for general manager Chris Drury and the Rangers, who have divested themselves of a dizzying array of draft picks over the last two years in exchange for adding deadline rentals and moving an undesirable contract.
Fact is, through deals involving the likes of Andrew Copp; Vlad Tarasenko; Patrick Kane; Tyler (Two Times) Motte, Going to be Traded at the Deadline, Going to be Traded at the Deadline; Frank Vatrano; Ryan Reaves; and Patrik Nemeth, the Blueshirts will have lost one first-rounder, three second-rounders, two third-rounders and a fourthrounder from 2022 through 2026.
If the varsity needs to be restocked, so does the pipeline. Take a look at the defense. Take a look at the center position. Look again. Tell me if you find anything. There seems little of consequence pushing up from down below at these vital positions.
The first round of the entry draft will be conducted here on Wednesday, with Rounds 2 through 7 scheduled for the following day. The Blueshirts have the 23rd overall selection on Wednesday and then picks 91, 152, 178 and 183 the rest of the way. Correct, no second-rounder.
This is has been framed as one of the deepest drafts in a generation. Players will be there. For that reason, and because the cupboard has been emptied, Drury should be amenable to moving back in the first round to pick up a second-rounder or even an early thirdrounder if the GM and his staff believe one of their target group would be available a few picks down the line. The Blackhawks own four second-rounders, the Red Wings and Ducks three apiece.
These respective GMs should be on Drury’s friends and family plan.
The Rangers would like to get Miller and Lafreniere under contract before they become eligible to receive offer sheets on July 1, but we’re told that seems highly unlikely. Sources have told The Post that signing Miller is an organizational priority but the hierarchy does not control the timeline. Miller does.
The likelihood is that the 23-year-old defenseman is monitoring 23-year-old impending restricted free agent defenseman Evan Bouchard’s next contract with the Oilers. The Rangers best hope that Miller is content to take a little bit less on a two-year bridge deal to remain in New York and will not solicit an offer sheet.
The Bruins were able to clear space by sending Taylor Hall and his annual $6 million cap hit to Chicago, a team that needs to add money to hit the floor. The Rangers, realistically though, have only one cap-dump available and that would be Barclay Goodrow, who is carrying an annual $3,641,667 charge for the next four years.
The Rangers are in need of more players with Goodrow’s sandpaper, blue-collar mentality, not fewer. He was the guy who sacrificed his body to fight the towering Kevin Bahl in the second period of Game 5 in New Jersey when his team was flat-lining. He took a bit of a beating in the exchange that produced a Blueshirt power play while trailing 2-0. Suitably inspired, the Blueshirts surrendered a shorthanded goal 1:28 later.
But moving Goodrow makes sense if management can use his money to sign two players with similar qualities. The Rangers are going to be swimming in the shallower end of the free-agent pool, anyway. If they could add, say, Teddy Blueger and Garnet Hathaway or Noel Acciari or Nick Bjugstad for the price of Goodrow, it will merit discussion.
If the Rangers move Goodrow, who has a 15-team no-trade list, there is no reason at all to add a sweetener to the deal the way Drury was obligated to last year in sending a pair of second rounders to Arizona in order to get Nemeth’s contract off the books.
That is because a buyout remains available through Friday that would not only erase Goodrow’s full cap hit but somehow add a $200,000 credit to the ledger this year and a $100,000 credit next year. The folks at Cap-Friendly have said they cannot remember seeing a contract quite like this one.
The Blueshirts wouldn’t begin to pay in any meaningful way until they’re clipped for $1.26 million for four seasons beginning with 2027-28. Do you think Drury or chairman
Jim Dolan are concerned about 2027-28?
So, if management decides maneuverability must be created by shedding Goodrow’s money but cannot find a trade partner willing to take
No. 21’s full ride, there is an attractive alternative.
This is where the Rangers are at the moment.
The big names will move and the big trades will take place without them.
It is Replenishment Week.