The New York Rangers vs. the Salary Cap

Today, the New York Rangers extended goalie Henrik Lundqvist through 2021, or, until "The King" is 39. Obviously, this wasn't a cheap move for the Rangers. It'll cost them $8.5m per year, or $59.5m over the next seven seasons. That's roughly $1.6m more than the current cap hit for the Swede. Going through his worst season in recent memory, this deal could lift a giant weight, allowing Lundqvist to hit the form that dragged the Rangers into last years playoffs, and help Sweden in the upcoming Sochi Olympics.

The King - aka The $59.5m Man

With Lundqvist signed, the Rangers now have nine players (two goalies) signed on for the 2014-15 season, at a pretty high approximate figure of $39.5m. This will leave them with around $25m to spend on 12-14 more players. Now comes the interesting part. Ryan Callahan, Derick Brassard, Mats Zucarello, Chris Kreider, Brian Boyle, Taylor Pyatt, Benoit Pouliot, Darroll Powe, Aaron Asham, Dominic Moore, Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto, Justin Falk, John Moore & Anton Stralman will all become free agents in July. Kreider, Zuccarello, Brassard, Falk, John Moore, and Del Zotto as RFAs that, in Kreider and Del Zotto, might fancy themselves a small pay rise. The rest will be free to negotiate with whomever they wish.

My guess is that Callahan, Kreider, Stralman and Zuccarello will most likely be Rangers next season. The problem starts with players like Girardi and Del Zotto, already on average size salaries for the quality of hockey they give. Anyone would be stupid not to think Girardi could be in for a nice pay day in July. Perhaps in the $5-6m per year range, possibly higher. At 29, there'll be plenty of clubs lined up for his services if the Rangers don't pay up.

The obvious thing that'll help take a load off the Rangers cap problem, is to buyout Brad Richards. That alone will open up an extra $6.66m on the cap.

So what do the Rangers do?

They probably buyout Richards and give themselves about $32m to spend on 14 players. If they plan to keep Callahan, Kreider, Girardi, Stralman and Del Zotto then I'd imagine at least half of that sum goes to those five players. Leaving the Rangers with six attackers, five defenders, and the Lundqvist/Talbot tandem. Then they can hope players like Boyle, Brassard, Pyatt and Moore take similar deals to their current ones. Adding small rises to current salary would mean all pending FAs mentioned in this paragraph could cost a combined total of $26-31m. Leaving $3-8m spare for 3-5 players.

What about trades? Only players I see being traded are Staal and Dorsett. Richards cap hit is huge, not many teams might want to take that punt. Girardi isn't the sort of player a team like the Rangers would trade to a fellow playoff contender. McDonagh just signed a big deal and Del Zotto would only fetch back a similar cap hit. But would be a rental. I can't see teams taking him on as a rental. On offense, they have Stepan, Nash and Hagelin signed beyond the current season. Three guys they must, and probably will keep.

Staal is currently a cap hit of just under $4m. Dorsett is a tidy $1.6m. Both become UFAs in 2015. If any player is traded away it'll be one, or both, of those two. If they manage to trade away Richards for a similar player with two thirds or even half the cap hit, give Glen Sather the key to the city.

Is it worth the Rangers trying to keep the majority of the current team together, minus Richards? Or should they go into the summer seeing who they can bring to NYC? Will Girardi remain a Ranger? Might Callahan take a hometown discount? Is there any scenario Richards is still around next season?

Definitely an intriguing July awaits for the Rangers and their fans.