Sather playing some hard puck
PHILADELPHIA—RangersGMGlenSatherishamstrung simply trying to re-sign key pending Rangers free agents, and he sees two primary reasons why: The NHL’s 2014-15 salary cap ceiling is lower than anticipated at $69 million, and he feels the team’s successful season has emboldened players to ask for more cash.
“We’d like to retain everybody, but it’s gonna be difficult because of the way the cap is today and probably because of the expectations of us being able to pay huge dollars since we got to the Finals,” Sather said at Wells Fargo Center during the second and final day of the NHL draft. “But we didn’t win. So I think realistically some of these guys probably have to pull their horns in a little bit.”
Sather was referring to any number of eight players from this spring’s run to Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, including restricted free agents such as regularseason scoring leader Mats Zuccarello and unrestricted free agents such as Zuccarello’s linemate, Benoit Pouliot.
Sather already knew he would be hard-pressed to afford any significant assets when free agency opens Tuesday at 1 p.m. He has almost $45 million committed to 10 players already, and he is hearing high numbers float around “on the street” during the NHL’s new six-day interview period for teams and agents to discuss general parameters of potential negotiations.
But now he’s seeing player price tags inflate as the cap ceiling comes in up to $2 million lower than some GMs had anticipated, so on Saturday he played some hardball with players trying to test his limits.
Of Pouliot, a career journeyman coming off a terrific season on a one-year deal, Sather said: “I think you have to decide yourself what’s the important thing, whether it’s winning or getting a few more dollars someplace else. In my book it’s always winning.”
Of Zuccarello and Chris Kreider, two valued restricted free agents whose negotiations are not expected to become an issue, Sather intimated that while both are valuable, neither has the tenure to demand outrageous money.
Keeping such free agents, including restricted center Derick Brassard, at the right price becomes even more important when Sather recognizes that both forward Brian Boyle and defenseman Anton Stralman essentially are out the door.
Stralman is a righthanded defenseman whose value should be too high for the Blueshirts to match, considering the recently signed contracts of Philadelphia’s Andrew MacDonald (six years, $30 million) and Edmonton’s Nikita Nikitin (two years, $9 million).
Boyle is coming off a strong postseason and disagrees with coach Alain Vigneault over whether his role would increase if he were to return, which in Sather’s mind is not much of a dilemma.
“If you have players that aren’t willing to accept roles, then you have conflict all the time and that creates problems,” Sather said. “And I’m not interested in problems. I want people that want to play within the team structure. That’s how you win.”
He also wants people he can pay within that structure, and so his effort to squeeze in a strong return roster began with Friday’s trade of Derek Dorsett’s $1.63 million cap hit to Vancouver.
“If you don’t have it, you can’t pay it,” Sather said. “But you want to keep your own team intact, if you can.”
insurance in goal
Goaltender Brandon Halverson, 18, of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (6-3, 176 pounds) was the Rangers’ first haul of the second day of the draft at 59th overall at the end of the second round, and in fact, the Blueshirts selected two goalies due to the organizational dearth at the position behind Henrik Lundqvist and upstart backup Cam Talbot, plucking Russian Igor Shesterkin, 18, at 118th overall in the fourth round.
The Rangers had held only four picks in the draft as of Friday morning, but Derek Dorsett’s trade to Vancouver gave them a fifth pick to select center Keegan Iverson, originally of St. Louis Park, Minn, 85th overall in the third round. And then they swapped their original third-rounder at No. 89 for two fourth-round picks to give them seven overall.