Carrying three goaltenders is rarely ideal but over the past month, the Rangers have been making it work and it seems as if it will carry on for a while. Although Alexandar Georgiev has been in trade speculation for a while now, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the process has reached the point where they have no desire to move him.
Part of that may be that one of their more ideal trade partners in Toronto turned around and made another move for a goalie this past week which takes them out of the equation. But at the same time, Georgiev is still quite young (he turns 24 on Monday) and with a career .913 save percentage (at a time where New York has largely been rebuilding), he’s certainly good enough to be part of their future plans alongside Igor Shesterkin who clearly isn’t going anywhere either.
Georgiev is a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights this summer and even with his limited playing time as of late, he’ll still be in line for a considerable raise on his current cap hit which checks in at just under $800K. With Kevin Shattenkirk’s buyout cap charge increasing by $4.6MM for next season and players like Ryan Strome and Anthony DeAngelo also in line for raises, New York could be facing somewhat of a cap crunch for next season.
That takes us to veteran Henrik Lundqvist. He still has one year remaining on his deal after this one but as Brooks notes, a buyout could be a distinct possibility and would open up an extra $3MM in cap room for next summer. Accordingly, if the team was to communicate that this is the direction that they’re leaning, would he be open to a trade if a suitor could be found between now and the February 24th trade deadline? The 37-year-old has long stated his desire to only play for the Rangers and is believed to have turned down at least one opportunity to go elsewhere in the past. But if the writing is on the wall with the tandem of Shesterkin and Georgiev being the plan for both the long and short term, he may have to reconsider that if he wants to keep playing.
In the meantime, it certainly seems as if Georgiev, who many felt was going to be the odd man out, may be sticking around after all which would take one of the more intriguing trade chips off the market.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
They’re just saying that to create leverage in a trade. Lundqvist isn’t going anywhere and Shesterkin has significantly outplayed Georgiev. Teams are always leaking for young affordable goaltenders and would be willing to pay a decent amount. With all the draft picks the Senators and Canadiens have they should both be looking at Georgiev.
Canadiens have Price and his 10M cap hit. They don’t make sense.
So stupid if true
Why? Don’t they have to expose a goalie for the expansion draft? Keep Henry.
Draft isn’t for another year, at which point Lundqvist will be a FA so they still have to expose one of Shesterkin or Georgiev. Keeping all 3 doesn’t make sense.
Shesterkin is exempt and if they keep Georgiev they wouldn’t expose him, so they would need another goaltender to expose.
Larry Brooks is a self serving narcissist pundit…the fictional Max Mercy from The Natural was more genuine. He rarely has a clue and he speculates wildly in the hope that he can get the story to shut him up…anyhow…he works his clickbait magic and it should surprise no one that he has always had more enemies in the locker room than friends. He’s profited from creating the “Rangers need to see Shesterkin” under the auspice of “Rangers need to avoid another Kravstov or Lias” and now the convenience of “Rangers can’t continue with 3 goalies” to the “Hank looks at his own prophecy” most recently…stirs the pot with one hand and types with the other.
@maddo. very funny “stirs the pot with one hand and types with the other”
link to rotoworld.com
OOOOOOH !!!!! someone isn’t happy in New York , do you smell a trade coming! Georgiev will be on trade block