This is a response to Nick's earlier piece which can be found
here
As a Rangers fan, I thought I would a) attempt to do the GM's job for him this offseason, and b) respond to it in kind. But first I will be attempting to re-sign the players needed while keeping the Rangers under the $64.3m cap.
Just so we are clear, the Rangers are up against the salary cap for this offseason, now because of the new Rogers TV deal, the salary cap will rise in the upcoming season dramatically. In just two years it is expected to be over $75m, last season the salary cap was, 60 million dollars but teams could spend $70.2m, because the salaries were prorated for the lockout shortened season. It has increased from 60 million up to 64.3 Million Dollars.
Before resigning Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers had just 8 players signed up and under contract for next year. Now they have 9, and they are signed up for a grand total of $39m. Which is a lot considering what I'm about to point out next.
As Nick also pointed out earlier today, and I'm going to directly quote from his article.
"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."
First things first, Glenn Sather has a compliance buyout, which no matter who it is used on their salary will not count against the cap in future years. Most people tend to think (myself included) that it will be used on Brad Richards and his $6.667m salary.
The Rangers can also trade players away of course, but I am not doing that.
Important Things of Note.
- The Rangers have a compliance buyout. Which removes salary from the cap without consequence.
- JT Miller is pretty damn good and is cheap, so instead of 13 players needed to be resigned it's actually 12.
- The Salary cap is $64.3m for this year, and we do not know what the salary cap will be for next year, so for now we are assuming that it will stay exactly the same.
With all the above taken into consideration, here is my take on what Glen Sather should do this offseason or in the coming months.
For this, we are going to run, with the highest figures or worse case scenario in my eyes. (you'll see what I mean when we get to re-signing Dan Girardi.)
First things first, i would recall JT Miller from the AHL permanently for next year, meaning I would only need to sign 12 players, and for two years he is dirt cheap under a million dollars. Roughly he comes in at $925k.
I'm going to dissect what the Rangers should do with the Unrestricted free Agents that they have.
Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, Brian Boyle, Taylor Pyatt, Benoit Pouilliot, Dominic Moore, Dan Girardi, and Anton Stralman. are among the UFA's on the Rangers NHL Roster, there may be more UFA's on the Connecticut Whale's roster.
And here is the salaries each of these players earn currently. Per
Capgeek.
Ryan Callahan: $4.275m
Brian Boyle: $1.7m
Taylor Pyatt: $1.550m
Benoit Pouilliot: $1.3m
Dominic Moore: $1m
Dan Girardi: $3.325m
Anton Stralman: $1.7m
The Rangers also have Arron Asham, and Darroll Powe down in the AHL, and they make Asham: $1m and Powe: $1.066m.
What to do with Unrestricted Free Agents
Now right away, if I was Glenn Sather the first thing I would is grab my calculator, and work out how much cap space i have for next year after resigning Mister Lundqvist.
For those who are wondering, currently the Rangers have $25,137,500 spare cash if the salary cap was to remain at $64.3 million, which i doubt, and ideally 13 players to sign. So for the opening salvo here what I am going to do is to decide which of the UFA's I would resign and which I would let go.
We'll start with the big guns, Dan Girardi and the captain, Ryan Callahan, these are two of the easiest yes' of the entire article, just a question of how much is needed to reacquire their services. I'd consider resigning Dominic Moore for some veteran presence, at the same price roughly, which is $1m.
Benoit Pouilliot: an interesting case, I like the guy, but I don't think he is good enough to be more than a 3rd liner currently. And again, it isn't like that isn't easily provided by the feeder systems, the Rangers possesses.
Taylor Pyatt: It's a no from me, he is a decent little player, but his output can be easily replaced by a drafted player or by a player already in the system, someone like JT Miller.
That leaves Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, I'd keep Boyle, and release Stralman.
Down In the AHL: Arron Asham and Darroll Powe. No, if push comes to shove these guys go, saving some cap space.
So, Captain Cally, Girardi, Boyle, and Dominic Moore.
Callahan and Girardi will cost Sather the most easily. My key question as a hockey blogger is would either or these two be willing to take a minor hometown discount. They're both on big bucks at the moment, despite the commonly held view that Girardi is underpaid, and Cally is slightly underpaid.
Nick believes Girardi would easily surpass $6 million next season, and I agree. He is a quality defenseman. My initial offer would be $5.2m and I would be willing to rise up to $6m. This leaves $19,137,500 spare.
Moving onto the next big resigning. Captain Ryan Callahan. New York Born and bred (born in the state of New York, Rochester to be exact), fearless leader, (you have to be to block as many shots as he does) and is currently paid $4.275m. Like Lundqvist this isn't too bad, as I'd offer a starting offer of a million more than what he is currently on. So $5.275m. Again I'd increase this up to $5.75m if Ryan turned down the first offer.
$19,137,500 minus $5.75m leaves the Rangers $13,387,500 to play with and 11 players to sign to field a roster. (edit: the art of editing as you write, I've only just remember JT Miller as you will already have read, so by subtracting his salary of 925,000 leaves $12,462,500.)
Moving onto Dominic Moore, I'd quickly organise the same deal as he has had now, 1 year, $1m. Maybe push an extra couple hundred grand in there to secure the signing. That leaves $11,262,500.
The last guy I would resign from the UFAs is Brian Boyle, he is currently on $1.7m. I'd Offer, $2.25m, and move up to $2.6m as a maximum. Taking the highest offer as lore in this article, that would leave the Rangers with $8,662,500 to sign 8 players.
Now that is not a lot to sign 8 players with but the Rangers have a major advantage here, They have a compliance buyout in their pocket.
But before that, lets look over the New York Rangers restricted free agents. This is the same for all teams, if they sign anyone's RFAs.
Restricted Free Agents:
A restricted free agent, or RFA, is a player who is slightly younger than most players, or are on their first contract. This happens with every team in the NHL. The Rangers do not have to negotiate with these players. They can even let them go to free agency and still resign even if another team signs said player. Why is because in this case the Rangers can let one of their rfa's sign with another team, and if the Rangers, think that the contract is worth it, they can match the offer. If they don't, then the player signs for the other team, the Rangers get compensation via the draft, and on how much the player signed for.
So the RFA's for the Rangers are as follows.
Derrick Brassard, who is on $3,200,000
Mats Zuccarello, whom is on $1,150,000
Chris Kreider, who makes $800,000
Michael Del Zotto who makes $2,550,000
Justin Falk who is on a grand total of $975,000
and John Moore, whom makes $840,000
Right first things first, If I was the GM, I would resign, Brassard, Zuccarello, Kreider, John Moore in a heartbeat. I would like to sign the other two, but I think it is more imperative to see how the Falk and Del Zotto contracts play out. I think Del Zotto would be in line for somewhere around the $4,000,000 mark, and I think that is too much for me. I can also see Del Zotto being traded, but as of now that is too speculative to include here. Falk is all about the price. Considering he is a 3rd line defenseman, his asking price shouldn't be too high. But he is a lesser player than what John Moore brings to the blueshirts defensive core.
Right so as we have been reading by now the Rangers would have approximately $8,662,500.
Brassard will be resigned for approximately the same price, which would be my starting offer. However I would be willing to go as high as $3,750,000. So all being well that would leave, $4,912,500. Gulp.
Mats Zuccarello is an underrated Forward. I'd offer a starting point of somewhere in the $1,850,000 range. I'd increase somewhere up to $2,600,000. And then I would be left with $2,312,500.
John Moore and Chris Kreider are interesting subjects. Yes they have improved but they also haven't performed at such high levels before and as such it can be argued by mister Sather that they haven't actually proven themselves in quite the same way that the previous two had.
I think both players could be gotten for a contract in the two million range, so obivously you low ball in negotiations, meaning you make a lower offer than your intended offer, as you do not want to make an offer so high that they are instantly accepted, or an offer that you cannot back down from, which might leave you in cap difficulty.
So as both players are on less than a million dollars, I'd make my opening offer at $1,150,000 each, and rise to $2,000,000 each. Now the more astute of you may notice that this would eliminate all cap space the rangers have. They now have Minus $1,687,500
I would let Del Zotto go, if he hasn't already been traded, and I would go as high as $1,400,000 for Falk, I will not make this signing just yet. And I'd make an offer towards Anton Stralman as well about a one year, $1,800,000 dollar contract.
So AT this Point of the article, here would be the prospective New York Rangers squad for a Salary Cap of $64.3 Million Dollars.
Forwards
Rick Nash: $7,800,000
Brad Richards: $6,666,667 Grand Total: $14,466,667
Derek Stepan: $3,075,000 GT: $17,541,667
Carl Hagelin: $2,250,000 GT: 19,791,667
Ryan Callahan: $5,750,000 GT: $25,541,667
JT Miller: $925,000 GT: $26,466,667
Dominic Moore: $1,200,000 GT: $27,666,667
Brian Boyle: $2,600,000 GT: $30,266,667
Derrick Brassard: $3,750,000 GT: $34,016,667
Mats Zuccarello: $2,600,000 GT: $36,616,667
Chris Kreider: $2,000,000 GT: $38,616,667
Derrick Dorsett: $1,633,333 GT: $40,250,000
Goalie
Henrik Lundqvist: $8,500,000 GT: $48,750,000
Cam Talbot: $562,500 GT: $49,312,500
Defensemen
Ryan Mcdonagh: $4,700,000 GT: $54,012,500
Dan Girardi: $6,000,000 GT: $60,012,500
Marc Staal: $3,975,000 GT: $63,987,500
John Moore: $2,000,000 GT: $65,987,000
At This Stage, The Rangers Salary is drumroll please....... $65,987,000.
Propective Offers:
Justin Falk: $1,250,000
Anton Stralman: $1,800,000
Ok so by adding these two defenseman above to the roster for the actual prices stated above, then the Rangers new Grand Total will be $69,037,000
So they are about five million over the Salary cap.
Now remember the compliance buyout they have? Well here is where it comes into play. I can use it on a player and remove their salaries completely off the books free of charge. Normally when you buyout a player you still have to pay him, but it still counts against your cap, with the compliance buyout you still pay the man, you just pay him out of your own cash over an extended period of time.
So for a 64.3 million dollar cap I somehow only need to find about 2 3/4 million dollars.
Unfortunately That also means I would have to use the compliance buyout on brad Richards saving me $6,666,667.
So by using the buyout on Richards, I am left with $62,370,333 this number includes having signed Falk, and Stralman.
So with that in mind, the front office of the Rangers would only need to sign a forward to have a full matchday roster, of which I would like to point out that they can just recall a forward from their ahl affilate and have some cash spare.
Plus I imagine the Ranger will get a decent haul of draft picks for Michael Del Zotto, so all is not lost.
Conclusion: The New York Rangers are in cap hell this year, with so many quality free agents who are key to their success right now, the Rangers cannot simply sign all of them. They can't, they haven't got enough space. The cap will go up after next season when the money from the new Rogers TV deal starts to find its way to the NHL's coffers. Once it does, and by golly is it ever predicted to go up. I've mentioned that in two years I reckon it will be somewhere around $75m. I've read reports that it could go as high as $90m by 2018, The lockout has hurt the league, but especially it has hurt the Rangers. One thing is for sure, this made my brain hurt trying to solve this conundrum, so good luck Glen Sather, and your staff, I don't envy your task one bit.
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