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Filip Chytil Contract Looms On Horizon

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Things just got more difficult for the New York Rangers, argues Larry Brooks of the New York Post, who posits the Dylan Cozens contract will have a serious effect on negotiations with Filip Chytil this offseason. The 23-year-old Chytil has 32 points in 43 games this season and is currently on a five-game goal streak, bringing his total to a career-high 19 on the year.

With the Rangers looking destined for the playoffs and connected to just about every high-profile trade target, they’ll have to remember to leave enough room to extend their young breakout center. New contracts are also due for several others, including K’Andre Miller, who has flashed his own moments of superstar talent this season.

  • Speaking of high-profile trade targets, San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier has been connected to the Rangers, and the club is listed in Matt Larkin’s deep dive today for Daily Faceoff as a potential destination. The piece looks at five landing spots and how Meier would fit in, both this season and on a potential extension. There will be endless speculation regarding the winger over the next few weeks as he enters deadline season with plenty of heat.

Rangers Recall Sammy Blais

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It’s not too often we see transactions during All-Star weekend but the Rangers made a roster move today.  They brought back winger Sammy Blais from his conditioning loan, per the AHL’s transactions log.

It was a successful stint with AHL Hartford for the 26-year-old.  He had a two-goal effort last night against Utica and wound up with four goals in five games in his first minor league action since the 2018-19 season.  Unfortunately for both Blais and New York, that’s basically the only success that he has had this season as things simply haven’t gone well at the NHL level.  He has just five assists in 38 games on the fourth line which is hardly what they were expecting from him when they acquired him from St. Louis as part of the Pavel Buchnevich trade in 2021.  He actually hasn’t scored for the Rangers since being acquired as he missed most of last season with a knee injury.

Blais is in the final year of his contract which carries a $1.525MM cap hit; he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer.  At this point, a return to New York seems unlikely and he’s a candidate to be moved at the trade deadline as a salary offset if GM Chris Drury is able to make a big splash on the trade front.  With his time in the minors going well, it’ll be interesting to see if Blais will be back in the lineup when their schedule resumes on Monday against Calgary in an effort to try to boost his value heading into next month’s trade deadline.

Timo Meier Emerging As Top Target For Rangers

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The New York Rangers have their sights set on San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier, according to Frank Servalli of Daily Faceoff. The pending restricted free agent is now New York’s “No. 1 target” says the insider, who also points out how well Sharks general manager Mike Grier knows the Rangers organization from his time as a hockey operations coordinator there.

They won’t be the only time, though. Meier is set to be the hottest deadline chip and currently resides at the top of the TSN Trade Bait Board, with expected interest from the New Jersey Devils, Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes and many others, along with the Rangers.

Rangers Searching For Defensive Depth Upgrade

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Although the Rangers gave blueliner Ben Harpur a vote of confidence with a two-year, $1.575MM contract extension earlier this week (a nice outcome for someone who started the year on an AHL tryout), it shouldn’t automatically be construed that he is in the plans for their upcoming playoff push.  To that end, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that GM Chris Drury is believed to be looking for an upgrade on Harpur on the third pairing alongside Braden Schneider.

New York has had a trio of defenders in that role this season with largely middling results.  Zachary Jones had the first opportunity over the first seven weeks of the year but the team decided he was better served by playing big minutes with AHL Hartford.  Libor Hajek continues to be stuck in the undesirable situation of not being deemed good enough to play regularly but is too good to risk losing for nothing on waivers.  The end result has once again been frequent healthy scratches.

Harpur has had the bulk of the opportunities lately but hasn’t stood out himself although he at least has provided a bit of consistency defensively.  Even so, he has just 14 career playoff games under his belt over his first six NHL seasons and as he’s averaging less than 14 minutes a night, it’s understandable that they’d want someone capable of doing a bit more.  All told, those three have combined for three goals and four assists across 51 games so it’s definitely a position that could stand to be improved upon.

The Rangers are one of the few buyers that are poised to have considerable cap flexibility heading into the March 3rd trade deadline with CapFriendly pegging their spending room at just over $6.78MM in full-season salary.  Between that and the potential for a trading team to retain salary, that’s more than enough space to make a splash up front as expected and then improve a depth spot or two.  And while impact defenders don’t often go at the deadline, moves to shore up defensive depth are quite commonplace.

With more than $67MM in commitments for next season already and a few key young players heading for restricted free agency (headlined by blueliner K’Andre Miller, center Filip Chytil, and winger Alexis Lafreniere), it’s unlikely that Drury would want to add someone signed beyond this season.  Fortunately, there should be several left-shot depth defenders on expiring contracts from teams that will be selling.  It’s a bit early yet to determine who all those sellers will be but Drury will have multiple teams and players to choose from when the time comes to find an upgrade on Harpur.

Will Cuylle Assigned To AHL

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  • The Rangers have returned winger Will Cuylle to AHL Hartford, reports Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The move doesn’t come as much of a surprise since New York is now in their bye week.  Cuylle got into two games in his first NHL stint but barely played six minutes per game.  The 20-year-old has 13 goals and 20 assists in 39 games with the Wolf Pack and will get some more time down there before potentially being brought back up after the break.

Auston Matthews Out Three Weeks With Knee Sprain

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be missing their best player for the next little while, as Auston Matthews is expected to miss a minimum of three weeks with a knee sprain. The injury was suffered against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. This would also rule Matthews out for the All-Star festivities next week.

There were a number of hard hits delivered by the Rangers earlier this week, though there is no clear answer as to when Matthews sustained the injury. The star center still played nearly 22 minutes in the game, blocking three shots and delivering four shots on net.

In his place, rookie Pontus Holmberg was skating between Calle Jarnkrok and William Nylander, while John Tavares assumes top-line duty. The lack of offensive center depth is a concern for the Maple Leafs, and potentially could become an area of focus at the upcoming trade deadline.

It has been a frustrating season for Matthews, who has missed a handful of games with undisclosed injuries, and isn’t scoring at quite the same pace he is used to. Though he does have 53 points in 47 games, just 25 of those are goals. It would be the first time in his career that he finished with more assists than goals, should that trend continue.

Even more surprising is his lack of even-strength scoring, an area he has dominated throughout his career. In four of Matthews’ six seasons, he has led the league in even-strength goals, including last year when he potted 44 of them. Just 15 tallies this year have come at even strength, with his shooting percentage much lower than his career norm.

Some have speculated that other injuries have disrupted that timing all season, so perhaps Maple Leafs fans will see this time away with a bit of a silver lining. If on his return, Toronto gets the fully-recovered 60-goal superstar that won the Hart Trophy last season, a three-week absence will be a fine price to pay.

In his place at the All-Star game will be Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers.

New York Rangers Extend Ben Harpur

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The New York Rangers have reached an agreement with depth defenseman Ben Harpur on a two-year extension, which will carry an average annual value of $787.5K, according to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press.

Harpur, 28, has rarely ever seen regular minutes in the NHL, but seems to have found a bit of a home in New York. The big, 6’6″ defenseman has now played in 18 games this season, all of them since the middle of December.

Signed to a one-year, two-way deal in the offseason, this contract is a very nice reward for the depth defender, who lands some security and stability. A veteran of 174 NHL games, he’s now locked into a seventh or eighth-defenseman role on a good team and will make some good money in the process.

For the Rangers, this doesn’t really move the needle. His cap hit can be entirely buried in the minor leagues if necessary, and Harpur isn’t going to be playing big minutes or providing many points. In his 18 appearances this year he has averaged just over 13 minutes a night, while putting up three points – including just his second NHL goal.

Still, if they like him as an organizational piece, there’s no reason why not to sign a contract like this to lock him up. The deal is low-risk low-reward but keeps a player in the picture that the coaching staff is comfortable icing when needed.

Injury Notes: Bennett, Jarry, Golden Knights, Backstrom, Klingberg

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Unfortunately, there’s a lot of minor injury news to report from tonight’s games. We start in Florida, where head coach Paul Maurice said pregame that Sam Bennett wouldn’t be in the lineup when they take on the Penguins tonight.

Bennett took an awkward fall in yesterday night’s loss to the Rangers, immediately leaving the game and staying in the room through the first intermission. It didn’t hold him out of the rest of the game, however, as he would later return. While he won’t suit up tonight, it does seem to be a short-term absence for Bennett, who’s been in and out of the lineup over the past month with some minor injury concerns. Eetu Luostarinen, who’s impressed with 10 goals and 22 points in 49 games this year, slides into the top six with Bennett out.

  • After leaving injured reserve a few days ago, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry is back out of the lineup with an injury. His absence leaves both Pittsburgh and Florida without backup goalies on the bench for tonight’s game, as Spencer Knight was unexpectedly still unable to play and was a late absence from the Florida lineup. It’s hopefully a short-term absence for Jarry, who’s been spectacular with a .921 save percentage in 27 appearances for the Penguins this year.
  • There’s some positive news on Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone, says ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. While he’ll be out through the All-Star break as expected, his back issue is different than the one that plagued him throughout last season, greatly reducing the likelihood of his long-term career being affected. Kaplan also says defenseman Shea Theodore, who’s been out since early December with an undisclosed injury, is an option for Friday’s game against the Rangers.
  • Days after returning from significant hip surgery recovery, Nicklas Backstrom is back out of the Washington Capitals lineup with a non-COVID illness and is day-to-day. The 35-year-old has three assists in seven games since returning to the lineup.
  • The Anaheim Ducks will also be down a player due to illness: defenseman John Klingberg. 25-year-old call-up Colton White moves into Anaheim’s top-four in Klingberg’s absence, playing on his off-side. Klingberg has just 15 points in 40 games this season, a career-low as he’s destined for free agency once again this offseason.

Sammy Blais Sent On AHL Conditioning Loan

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The New York Rangers have recalled Will Cuylle from the AHL, while sending Sammy Blais back on a conditioning stint. Blais hasn’t played in a week and was receiving just a handful of shifts in the games he did play.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post wrote about Blais’ situation yesterday, suggesting that his NHL future is in jeopardy as he continues to try to contribute in any way he can. The 26-year-old is still finding his way after a serious knee injury that required surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL. He has just five points through 38 games this season, failing to score a single goal.

Blais has registered over 100 hits, his calling card during more successful days in St. Louis, but hasn’t really been making the same kind of impact with his physicality. Averaging fewer than ten minutes of ice time when he does get into the lineup, it’s unclear where his role really lies in the New York forward group.

Cuylle, meanwhile, represents the next generation for the Rangers. A 20-year-old forward that is just scratching the surface of his professional career, Cuylle has 13 goals and 20 points in 39 games for the Hartford Wolf Pack. The second-round pick offers a good deal of physicality (even if it doesn’t quite stand up to the level of Blais), and possesses a hard, accurate shot.

Given the Rangers’ recent success, it’s not clear if Cuylle will get much of an opportunity. But Blais wasn’t giving them much of anything at the moment, and will try to find that next gear with some games in the minor leagues.

Rangers Optimistic That Julien Gauthier Will Return Monday

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  • The Rangers are optimistic that winger Julien Gauthier will be able to return Monday against Florida, notes Ethan Sears of the New York Post. The 25-year-old has missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury and is currently on injured reserve although a roster spot was created when Jonny Brodzinski was sent down after clearing waivers earlier today.  Gauthier started the season with AHL Hartford but has six goals in 32 games with New York since being recalled despite averaging just 8:29 per night.

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