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Joe Morrow To Attend New York Rangers Camp

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The New York Rangers have brought along another veteran for training camp, announcing today that Joe Morrow will attend on a professional tryout. Morrow spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets, but was not issued a qualifying offer and became an unrestricted free agent.

Morrow, 26, was a first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2011 but has bounced around the NHL since then. Making his debut with the Boston Bruins in 2014-15, he’s played 162 games since then including 41 last season with the Jets. Once a feared offensive threat in the WHL, Morrow hasn’t brought much of that to the NHL level where he has just 32 points over the years. Still, he will provide some extra depth in Rangers camp and get to show teams around the league that he’s still worthy of an NHL deal.

The Jets payed Morrow $1MM last season, but you have to think he won’t get much more than league minimum at this point if he was unable to find a deal through the summer. That could be a savvy pickup for a team like New York that could potentially flip him at the deadline to a defense-needy team for an asset, however small.

Rangers To Assign Matt Beleskey To The Minors

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Training camp hasn’t even officially started yet and the Rangers have already made their first cut.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) that New York plans to sent winger Matt Beleskey directly to training camp with AHL Hartford and will not have him at camp with the big club when it opens up later this week.

While uncommon, this type of move isn’t entirely unprecedented as Buffalo did the same with winger Matt Moulson last season.  However, the Rangers will officially have to wait for the waiver period to open up before they can make the move official.  That will occur when it gets to twelve days before the start of the season which is September 20th.

Beleskey spent the majority of last season with the Wolf Pack so the fact they intend to send him there should come as little surprise.  In 53 games at that level, he had just five goals along with 17 assists while he picked up a goal in four games with New York.  As a result, it’s quite likely that he’ll pass through unclaimed once again.

The eventual move will free up some extra cap room for the Rangers.  Teams can bury someone making up to $1.075MM in the minors without any cap penalty; any amount after that will still count on their cap.  Beleskey’s cap hit with New York is $1.9MM (Boston is also on the hook for that amount) so he will only count on their books for $825K.  With winger Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo still sitting as restricted free agents, that extra space will go a long way towards helping to get those players under contract in the coming days and weeks.

RFA Profile: Anthony DeAngelo

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If asked to rank the remaining unsigned restricted free agent defensemen by offensive efficiency, most would easily be able to tab Zach Werenski and Charlie McAvoy as the top two. However, few would name Anthony DeAngelo third ahead of the likes of Ivan Provorov and Marcus Pettersson. In fact, last season DeAngelo finished just behind Werenski and McAvoy in points per game, with 0.49 compared to their 0.54 and 0.52 respectively. He also did so with three minutes less of ice time on average. DeAngelo has quietly developed into a potent offensive contributor on the blue line and working out an extension will be no small task for the cap-strapped New York Rangers. Here is a closer look at his situation.

DeAngelo, 23, is already on his third NHL team, a fact that may contribute to his perceived lesser value compared to his RFA peers. The 19th overall pick in 2014 by the Tampa Bay Lightning, he never played a game for the Bolts and was surprisingly dealt to the Arizona Coyotes for a 2016 second-round pick following a productive first pro season in the AHL. The ‘Yotes did not hesitate to bring DeAngelo up, and he recorded a respectable 14 points in 39 NHL games in 2016-17. Yet, he was moved again that off-season in the deal that sent Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta from New York to Arizona. DeAngelo’s first season with the Rangers was nothing special; he again split the season between the NHL and AHL and failed to scorer a goal in 32 games with New York. Through three pro seasons, DeAngelo was beginning to look like a bust as a first-round pick.

However, the team handed DeAngelo a regular role last season and he ran with it. The talented puck-mover registered 30 points in 61 games to lead all Blueshirt defensemen in scoring despite missing more than 20 games. DeAngelo also led the entire team with a +6 rating and was second in even strength time on ice. There is no hiding the fact that DeAngelo was one of the best players for New York last season. Despite their considerable additions this off-season, especially on the blue line in Jacob Trouba and prospect Adam Fox, the Rangers will still need to sign DeAngelo to a deal that accurately reflects that value, even if they don’t necessarily have the cap flexibility to do so. After that showing last season, DeAngelo is no longer a mystery or an enigma and if the Rangers won’t pay him, another team will.

Statistics

2018-19: 61 GP, 4-26-30, +6 rating, 77 PIMS, 111 shots, 19:20 ATOI
Career: 132 GP, 9-43-52, -25 rating, 125 PIMS, 239 shots, 18:00 ATOI

Comparables

Neal Pionk, Winnipeg Jets

Platform Year Stats: 73 GP, 6-20-26, -16 rating, 25 PIMS, 132 shots, 21:10 ATOI
Career Stats: 101 GP, 7-33-40, -17, 47 PIMS, 186 shots, 21:30 ATOI

Contract: Two years, $6MM
Year Signed: 2019

There’s isn’t a much better comparable than a player who played on the same team. Last season, Pionk was given more ice time and played in more games than DeAngelo for the Rangers and still was outscored and outplayed. When it came to trading away a young defender in the Trouba deal, it was Pionk that New York was willing to part with and not DeAngelo. With similar platform and career stats, especially on a per-game scoring basis, DeAngelo can point to Pionk as a comparable but also prove his slight edge as well as argue that his younger age and greater experience help his case. Pionk’s deal is the floor for a DeAngelo extension.

Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers

Platform Year Stats: 82 GP, 9-26-35, -4 rating, 22 PIMS, 121 shots, 19:34 ATOI
Career Stats: 131 GP, 11-34-45, -10 rating, 42 PIMS, 193 shots, 18:04 ATOI

Contract: Two years, $6.5MM
Year Signed: 2019

DeAngelo took a big step forward this season, but Sanheim took a leap. A fellow 2014 first-round pick facing criticism, Sanheim finally showed he was a starting-caliber NHL defenseman with a nine-goal, 35-point campaign. However, those numbers did come in a full 82-game season. Sanheim’s career numbers also trail DeAngelo’s in almost the exact same games played and total ice time. Both young defensemen are part of busy blue lines with a fair amount of talent but have carved out a role for themselves. DeAngelo maintains a slight edge based just on per-game production, but these two players are very similar.

Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils

Platform Year Stats: 78 GP, 4-26-30, -17 rating, 18 PIMS, 108 shots, 19:16 ATOI
Career Stats: 159 GP, 9-65-74, -16, 26 PIMS, 196 shots, 17:38 ATOI

Contract: Three years, $11.2MM
Year Signed: 2019

Like Werenski and McAvoy, few would think to associate DeAngelo with Butcher, the prize college free agent of a few years ago. In reality, DeAngelo and Butcher had the same stat line last season, with the Devils standout playing in 17 more games. In his career, Butcher does have the slightly superior per-game scoring numbers, but it is hard to look at their platform seasons and DeAngelo’s more balanced game at a younger age and not feel they are at least close to equal.

Projected Contract

There are several fair comparisons to DeAngelo, all of whom have signed extensions within the last few months. It paints a pretty clear picture of what a defenseman of DeAngelo’s age, experience, and production should be seeking: a short-term deal worth $3-4MM.

The Rangers are tight against the salary cap and have several long-term contracts on the blue line already, as well as a handful of prospect defenders who could push for a role sooner rather than later. For that reason, the team will likely push for a shorter, more affordable bridge deal, taking the risk that DeAngelo could continue to improve and boost his price tag, but landing a contract that they can accommodate more easily in the short term. If DeAngelo is slightly better than Sanheim, who makes $3.25MM on a two-year deal, and slightly worse than Butcher, who makes $3.73MM on a three-year deal, a two-year deal with a $3.5MM AAV is likely just right for the young Rangers defensemen.

Now, even at a very fair two years and $7MM, a DeAngelo resolution is still too much for the Rangers to carry at current time, with RFA forward Brendan Lemieux still to sign as well. The team has a number of young players they can freely demote as well as multiple veterans that are candidates to be buried in the AHL, but nevertheless the team may still need to make a space-saving trade before the season begins.

Micheal Haley Joins New York Rangers On PTO

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33-year-old Micheal Haley may only have 31 career points in parts of nine NHL seasons, including just six points last year, but the veteran forward still has value around the league. The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello writes that Haley is expected to join the New York Rangers in training camp on a professional tryout offer, returning to the team he played in nine games for in 2012-13.

Haley is one of the last of his breed. A 5’11, 205-lb. forward, Haley plays a rugged, high-intensity style that makes him an effective fourth liner and often a match-up nightmare. Haley may not play many minutes – a career 8:07 ATOI – put he makes his presence felt regardless. In fact, the gritty pivot led the NHL in penalty minutes in 2017-18; in a career-high 75 games, he spent 212 minutes in the box and just 584 minutes on the ice. A physical force in a small package, Haley’s value is not in his offense, but in his checking ability and willingness to stand up for his teammates. That value was on display again last season, as the San Jose Sharks couldn’t help but claim Haley on waivers from the Florida Panthers, bringing him back to the team he had spent the most of his career with.

However, the Sharks are committed giving more ice time to young players this season and are even turning franchise great Patrick Marleau away, so San Jose wasn’t going to be an option this time. Instead, Haley will fight for a spot on the young, up-and-coming New York Rangers. He may actually stand a good chance of landing a contract too. The Rangers are right up against the salary cap ceiling with just over $1MM in space and still have to sign RFA’s Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux. However, the team’s youth gives them some added flexibility with more than a few waiver-exempt players who can move freely between the NHL and AHL. The team could also look to bury the likes of Matt Beleskey and Brendan Smith in the minors, clearing both cap space and roster space. If there is room to sign an additional player when all is said and done, the Rangers would be smart to invest in some muscle. New York has spent considerable money and trade and draft capital to build a talented young core and now need to protect it, especially newcomers Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko. Haley is an ideal player to play the retribution role; it doesn’t take him much time to teach the opposition not to mess with his teammates.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: New York Rangers

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Rangers

Current Cap Hit: $80,489,799 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Kaapo Kakko (three years, $925K)
F Vitali Kravtsov (three years, $925K)
D Adam Fox (three years, $925K)
G Igor Shesterkin (two years, $925K)
D Yegor Rykov (two years, $925K)
F Filip Chytil (two years, $894K)
F Lias Andersson (two years, $894K)
F Brett Howden (two years, $863K)
D Libor Hajek (two years, $833K)
G Alexandar Georgiev (one year, $792K)

Potential Bonuses:

Shesterkin: $2.85MM
Kakko: $2.65MM
Kravtsov: $850K
Fox: $850K
Andersson: $850K
Chytil: $350K
Georgiev: $133K

The Rangers are in a fantastic position to be successful for the next several years as the team hit the jackpot in the draft and with being able to sign several of their top prospects this summer. Obviously, the most attractive of the bunch will be Kakko, the team’s second-overall pick in this year’s draft, who is expected to jump into the Rangers’ top-six immediately and is supposed to be more NHL-ready than any of the 2019 lottery picks. The 18-year-old scored 22 goals last year in the Liiga, playing alongside adults and is believed to be ready. On the other hand, the team also signed their ninth-overall pick in 2018, Vitali Kravtsov, who also spent last season playing with adults as he tallied eight goals in 50 games in the KHL. While he is expected to begin play with the Rangers next season, he may be penciled into more of a third-line role to begin with.

New York also brought in a pair of quality defenseman, which included trading for Fox, who forced a trade out of Carolina to get to the Rangers. The team then signed him to a three-year entry-level contract, prying him away from a senior season at Harvard. Fox, had a monster year as a blueliner, posting nine goals and 48 points in 33 games for the Crimson and looks ready to step into their blueline immediately. The team also managed to sign Rykov, their fifth-round pick from 2016, who has now played three full seasons in the KHL and could be ready to step in, although with the depth on their blueline, Rykov could start the season in the AHL.

On top of all that, the Rangers also managed to nab a stud goaltending prospect as well, signing Shestorkin, who many wondered whether he would ever come over to North America. At 23 years, old, Shesterkin has been a starter in the KHL for three straight years, putting up amazing numbers. Last season in 28 games, he posted a 1.11 GAA and a .953 save percentage. With the team’s goaltending situation likely looking different in the next few years, Shesterkin is the most likely heir apparent on the team. One player who could stand in his way is Georgiev, who only seems to have gotten better in the last year. While his overall numbers weren’t that impressive (33 games, 2.91 GAA, .914 save percentage), it did improve over the course of the year as the 23-year-old posted a 2.49 GAA and a .927 save percentage in 17 appearances after the all-star break, suggesting he could also find himself as the future.

The team also has to find out about what it has in both Chytil and Andersson. Both drafted in the first-round back in 2017, the two centers haven’t proven that they are part of their future yet. Chytil showed some success last year, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 75 games, while Andersson got into 42 games last year, but only scored two goals and six points. Both must show they are ready to take that next step or they could find themselves replaced down the road. The team also has Howden, who appeared in 66 games last season and also must prove he can take on a bigger role. He tallied six goals and 23 points last year.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Chris Kreider ($4.63MM, UFA)
F Vladislav Namestnikov ($4MM, UFA)
F Ryan Strome ($3.1MM, RFA)
F Matt Beleskey ($1.9MM, UFA)
F Jesper Fast ($1.85MM, UFA)
F Greg McKegg ($750K, UFA)
F Boo Nieves ($700K, UFA)

The most intriguing story that likely will go on all season is what will the Rangers do with Kreider. The 28-year-old winger posted 28 goals and 52 points last season, but after the team shelled out quite a bit of money this offseason for other key pieces to their franchise, there are a number of questions whether the team can now afford to keep Kreider, who becomes a free-agent this summer. While it’s still possible that New York could trade Kreider before the season starts, it’s possible the team will keep the winger to bolster their ever improving top-six and deal with his contract later or potentially move him at the trade deadline. The problem is that if the Rangers become playoff relevant next season, the team might have a difficult time moving out Kreider and then might decide to hold onto him instead, potentially losing him for nothing on July 1.

Many players will have to prove their value to get a new contract. Namestnikov, who performed well with the Lightning, has been a disappointing since coming over in the Ryan McDonagh trade. The winger scored 22 goals in 2017-18, but still struggled after the trade and then managed to get 11 goals last year. With a $4MM contract, the team could use some cap relief, but have failed to find a taker for the 26-year-old. Strome will be a restricted free agent still after next season, but if he can duplicate what he did with New York last year, he likely could have a future with the team. Despite starting the first 19 games with Edmonton with just one goal, the trade to New York got him going as he scored 18 goals in 63 games after that.

Fast, Beleskey, Nieves and McKegg all are now depth options who will have to fight to win bottom-line depth and prove their value for a potential new contract.

Two Years Remaining

G Henrik Lundqvist ($8.5MM, UFA)
D Marc Staal ($5.7MM, UFA)
D Brendan Smith ($4.35MM, UFA)
F Pavel Buchnevich ($3.25MM, RFA)

The team still has two more years remaining with Lundqvist at a high AAV, but the team has also seen the 37-year-old’s play continue to decline. While his GAA has dropped consistently in the last few years, it was his save percentage that dropped to a .907 save percentage, the lowest mark of his career. Much of that could have a lot to do with the Rangers’ rebuilding process this year. The team has to hope that if they can limit his starts (he played in 53 games last season) and with the improvement of both the offense and defense this season, Lundqvist should be able to bounce back. With the addition of Shesterkin and development of Georgiev, that is quite possible to pull back his starts into the 40-range.

The team is stuck with a pair of veterans in Staal and Smith. Both were discussed as potential buyout options this summer, but it was decided that neither move would have helped the team in the long-term. Staal continues to be a solid, but unspectacular blueliner and should continue in that role, while Smith will have to prove he belongs on the team and could find himself buried in the AHL as he was in the 2017-18 season due to his struggles.

The team has hopes that Buchnevich will continue to progress this season. He has gotten better each season in the league and is currently on a bridge-deal to prove his value. With 21 goals and 38 points last season, Buchnevich could be a key component of the Rangers future, especially if he can take his game up a notch next year. Ultimately, the 24-year-old is playing for a big contract in two years.

Three Years Remaining

F Mika Zibanejad ($5.35MM, UFA)

The Rangers finally got what they wanted last season when Zibanejad took that next step and proved to be the No. 1 center the team has been waiting for for years. The 26-year-old put up a career-high 30 goals, but more importantly saw his points improve from 47 points in 2017-18 to 74 points last year. With that next step taken, the Rangers have now added the firepower next to him to give the team one of the top lines in the league with Zibanejad as the centerpiece. The Rangers signed him to a five-year deal back in 2017 when he tallied just 14 goals and 37 points in 56 games, gambling on his potential, which now looks like quite a steal as the team still has three more years of a No. 1 center for a very reasonable price.

Four Or More Years Remaining

F Artemi Panarin ($11.64MM through 2025-26)
D Jacob Trouba ($8MM through 2025-26)
D Brady Skjei ($5.25MM through 2023-24)

The Rangers took the next step in their rebuilding project this summer when they spent $19.64MM AAV on two key players. They had to go higher than they wanted to for Panarin, but the Rangers inevitably sealed the deal and locked him up for the next seven years, giving them one of the best left wings in the game and another key piece to turning the franchise around. With Panarin and Zibanejad already locked into the first line, the franchise has a solid core to start the season. Who will play on the right side will be determined at training camp. The 27-year-old Panarin put up impressive numbers last season, scoring 27 goals and adding a career-high 87 points last season. The team also went out and traded for Trouba, who for years had made it clear he didn’t want to be in Winnipeg. Once the Rangers acquired him, it took a little time, but they were able to extend him for seven more years. The pressure will be on Trouba, who now has everything he wants, which includes becoming the team’s No. 1 defenseman. He will have to prove that he is up to it in New York.

As for Skjei, the defenseman rebounded last year with a stronger season after struggling in 2017-18. Despite seeing his offensive numbers drop from 39 points to 25 and finishing 2017-18 with a minus-27 rating from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign, the Rangers still signed Skjei to a six-year, $31.5MM deal. While his points total didn’t change at all, his plus/minus did improve as he finished with just a minus-four rating last season. The hope is that his development will continue and he will remain a key top-four option for New York for years.

Buyouts

D Kevin Shattenkirk ($1.48MM in 2019-20; $6.08 in 2020-21; $1.43MM in 2021-22 & 2022-23)
D Dan Girardi ($3.61MM in 2018-19; $1.11MM from 2019-20 to 2022-23)
F Ryan Spooner ($300K through 2020-21)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Salary Cap Recapture

None

Still To Sign

F Brendan Lemieux
D Anthony DeAngelo

The cap situation will only get more challenging. Despite the Shattenkirk buyout, the team will have to pay out $6.08MM for him next season, which will make it difficult to continue to upgrade the team, another reason why Kreider might be difficult to re-sign.

However, the team does still need to sign two younger restricted free agents in Lemieux and DeAngelo. The team likes Lemieux’s irritating style of play and hope he can continue to improve in a bottom-six role with the team. DeAngelo also seems to have turned the corner and looks to be a lock on the team’s defense after several years of waiting on his skills to come around. With the cap struggles it’s dealing with this year, the team is still holding out hope that both players will eventually accept their qualifying offers to save the team money, while both players would prefer to get a little more.

Best Value: Zibanejad
Worst Value: Smith

Looking Ahead

The Rangers have pulled off an impressive rebuilding campaign that started in February of 2018 and in just a year in a half, the team has managed to bring in a number of top players and talent to give the team the faces of the franchise it needs to be competitive for many years into the future. With the impressive array of prospects it has managed to sign this offseason, the team has a bright future and a present that could begin as early as this year with Panarin and Trouba now under contract.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rangers Don't Want To Budge Off Qualifying Offers For Lemieux And DeAngelo

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The Rangers appear to be sticking to their guns when it comes to their remaining restricted free agents in winger Brendan Lemieux and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the team has no apparent inclination to move off the qualifying offers that they tendered back in June which were worth just over $874K each.  Neither player had salary arbitration rights which limited their options while they don’t have a multi-year track record to really command a bigger deal either.  New York is also tight to the salary cap which is playing a factor as well.  The duo could try to solicit an offer sheet where the compensation thresholds would be low but beyond that, it appears the waiting game for these two will continue.

New York Rangers Hire Tanner Glass, Tuomo Ruutu

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The New York Rangers have made quite a few additions to their hockey operations department today, with several familiar faces among the group. Tuomo Ruutu and Tanner Glass have been hired as assistant directors of player development, Chris Morehouse will become the director of North American scouting, Marshall Davidson and Derek Ginnell have been added as amateur scouts. Steve Konowalchuk will move from the amateur to pro scouting department, while David Cunniff has officially been named assistant coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Glass, 35, played three seasons in the Rangers organization just a few years ago and became something of a folk hero for some fans. The fourth-line winger 69 regular season points over parts of 11 NHL seasons, but ended up playing in 30 postseason contests with the Rangers and scored a game-winning tally in 2017. The hard-nosed forward was never asked to do much more than protect his teammates and set a physical tone, but carved out a pretty impressive professional career.

Ruutu, 36, had a very different role in the NHL. While his brother Jarkko Ruutu was known as one of the league’s most effective pests, the younger Tuomo brought plenty of skill to the table. Selected ninth overall in 2001, Ruutu scored 148 goals in his 735-game NHL career and broke the 40-point mark three times. That’s not to say he didn’t have his own agitating edge, routinely being among the league leading forwards in hits.

Player development is extremely important all across the league, but perhaps even more so in New York right now as they try to transition from a rebuild back to contention. Their hopes rely on several young players taking positive steps towards becoming the best NHL versions of themselves, something that Glass and Ruutu will assist with.

Rangers Expected To Hire David Cunniff As AHL Assistant Coach

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  • The Rangers are close to rounding out their coaching staff with AHL Hartford. After hiring Kris Knoblauch as head coach and Gord Murphy as an assistant, New York is set to turn to David Cunniff to serve as the other assistant with the Wolf Pack, reports Rick Carpinello of The Athletic (subscription required).  Cunniff is a veteran coach at the minor league level, spending the last 17 years as an assistant or associate coach in the AHL.  He most recently has been with Minnesota’s affiliate in Iowa where he spent two years as an assistant and the last two seasons as their associate bench boss.

Rob O’Gara Signs With AHL San Antonio

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Once a highly-touted prospect, it looks as though defenseman Rob O’Gara will need to work his way back into the NHL. Newsday’s Colin Stephenson reports that O’Gara has signed with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. The 26-year-old was a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this summer after failing to play in 80+ NHL games through his first three pro seasons. Yet, 2018-19 was his first campaign without any NHL action.

A late-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 2011, O’Gara played four seasons at Yale University and grew into one of the most effective two-way defenders in the NCAA during that time. He signed with Boston in 2016 and immediately became a key player at the AHL level and also made three NHL appearances. He played in eight more NHL games for the Bruins the following season, but was traded to his hometown New York Rangers in exchange for Nick Holden. O’Gara finished the season with the Rangers, playing in 22 games down the stretch and looking like a candidate for a regular role moving forward.

Unfortunately, that’s not how things played out this past season. O’Gara was cut from training camp and never re-emerged as a top recall option, even as the Rangers struggled. O’Gara was a solid defensive presence for the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, but didn’t take advantage of a full year in the minors with an improved offensive contribution. As such, the local product did not earn a new deal with New York and seemingly was unable to find a two-way role with any other NHL team. In San Antonio, he will have to reassert himself as a legitimate NHL option with a consistent, well-rounded game if he hopes to one day make it back to the top level.

New York Rangers Expect Chris Kreider In Camp

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Since the New York Rangers used their second buyout window to say goodbye to Kevin Shattenkirk, the question on every fan’s lips has been “what will happen with Chris Kreider?” The team now has some cap flexibility after ridding themselves of the Shattenkirk contract, but with Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux still to sign that flexibility could disappear in an instant. Among the names most commonly thrown around in trade speculation is Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov who are both heading into their final seasons before unrestricted free agency and each carry cap hits of at least $4MM.

Trading Kreider has seemed inevitable at points this offseason, especially when the Rangers decided to sign Artemi Panarin to a seven-year, $81.5MM deal. Not only do the two players play the same wing, but Panarin’s contract (along with Jacob Trouba’s) really put New York on a different path financially. Re-signing Kreider would be difficult now, though not impossible. Dan Rosen of NHL.com caught up with Rangers president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton recently, who both expect the big left winger to be in training camp. They wouldn’t however go into detail on any possible extension, with Gorton even stating that they’ll “figure it out” after Kreider starts the season.

With the Rangers suddenly armed with a glut of young talent there are obvious reasons to move on from Kreider, one of the last remaining veterans from their previous core. Opening up playing time in the top-six for some of their younger players is one thing, but his value on the trade market may be the bigger draw. There’s little doubt that Kreider would draw interest as a trade deadline acquisition, adding speed and physicality to any lineup. He matched a career-high with 28 goals last season and has been a possession monster for his entire career.

Still, if New York starts the season on a hot streak and Kreider is a real part of that, they’re going to have to consider an extension. One of the biggest issues with that is Shattenkirk, ironically. While the buyout opened enough room this season to potentially keep the winger, the Rangers will deal with a $6.08MM cap hit from Shattenkirk next season, a huge number for any team to carry in dead money.

For now, it seems as though there is nothing imminent on the Kreider front. There will be a couple of other pressure points when DeAngelo and Lemieux sign however, meaning there is still opportunity for the Rangers front office to change their minds and another team to make them an offer they can’t refuse.

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