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2017-18 Primer: New York Rangers

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With the NHL season now less than a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come.  Today, we focus on the New York Rangers.

Last Season: 48-28-6 record (102 points), fourth in Metropolitan Division (lost to Ottawa in second round)

Remaining Cap Space: $3.05MM per CapFriendly

Key Newcomers: D Kevin Shattenkirk (free agency, Washington), F David Desharnais (free agency, Edmonton), D Anthony DeAngelo (trade, Arizona), G Ondrej Pavelec (free agency, Winnipeg), D Alexei Bereglazov (free agency, KHL)

Key Departures: D Dan Girardi (buyout), D Kevin Klein (retirement/Europe), F Derek Stepan (trade, Arizona), G Antti Raanta (trade, Arizona), F Oscar Lindberg (expansion, Vegas), F Brandon Pirri (PTO, Florida),

[Related: New York Depth Chart From Roster Resource]

Kevin ShattenkirkPlayer To Watch: D Kevin Shattenkirk – As much as rookies Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil are drawing a lot of the press this preseason, the biggest key to the Rangers offseason remains Shattenkirk. The former St. Louis Blues powerplay specialist was extremely sought after before going to Washington, where some of the weaker spots of his game were exposed. Shattenkirk remains a near-elite offensive defenseman, but will need to be more than just a second-pair guy in New York.

Ryan McDonagh will obviously still be the rock on the Rangers’ blueline, but with several question marks behind him—even though the front office and head coach Alain Vigneault seems determined to add some more mobility and youth there, getting rid of Girardi and forcing Marc Staal to compete for a roster spot—Shattenkirk was paid $6.65MM per season to be their #2. He’ll have to skate against some of the opponent’s best players, and do more than he showed in the playoffs with Washington.

Key Storyline: The Rangers had one of the best records in the NHL last season, but still finished just fourth in the Metropolitan division. Even if Washington takes a step backwards like many are predicting, the Metro is still a meat grinder. Pittsburgh and Columbus may be the class of the Eastern Conference, while the Hurricanes, Devils and Islanders could easily all take big steps forward.

The Rangers have been competitive for some time now, making the playoffs in 12 out of the last 13 seasons but a certain era may be coming close to an end. Henrik Lundqvist will turn 36 this season, and saw his play take a slight step backwards last year. With Raanta no longer in town, there isn’t a clear succession plan should Lundqvist falter. Pavelec has shown the ability to start in short spurts before, but shouldn’t be relied upon for Stanley Cup contention.

Even if their window is closing slightly, this is still an extremely talented team. With a group of core forwards and a relatively overhauled defense, no one would be surprised if they made it deep in the playoffs once again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Rangers Notes: Skjei, Kreider, Lundqvist

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New York Rangers Brady Skjei isn’t relying to just continue on after his rookie season. Afterall, the 23-year-old came off a solid rookie year in which he put up 39 points, yet still found himself sitting on the bench when the team was down. That especially was evident in the playoffs against Ottawa when the team sat him at the end of Games 2 and 5 to preserve one goal leads (unsuccessfully).

According to New York Post’s Larry Brooks, Skjei is determined to work on his defensive game and, in particular, working on his net-front play. “I’ve got to be physically stronger in front of the net and make the right plays when they’re there.” Brooks writes that Skjei spent the summer working with Ryan McDonagh on his defense and his conditioning, which received praise from head coach Alain Vigneault.

“I mean, Mac’s testing scores were over the roof and you could tell the influence and impact of Brady working out with him,” Vigneault said. “In my time here, Brady’s testing has improved, improved and improved and now he’s right near the Mac level as far as fitness scoring.”

Skjei’s improvements should bode well on a team with one of the best defenses in the league. After adding Brendan Smith at the trade deadline a year ago, the team signed top free agent Kevin Shattenkirk to the defense. However, with Skjei’s skating and offensive skills, he should thrive in New York as his 39 points last year was the second-best for a rookie defender in the league behind Columbus’ Zach Werenski.

  • In the same article, Brooks adds that Vigneault is putting a lot of pressure on the Rangers’ Chris Kreider to step up even more this year. Kreider led the team in goals scored last year with 28, but the head coach would like to see more consistency out of him. Vigneault refers to the third period of Game 6 against the Ottawa Senators last year when Kreider scored a goal 53 second into the period to narrow their deficit. The coach referred to Kreider as a “beast” and would like to see that more often. Kreider finished fourth on the team in points as he had 53 total. Now about to enter his prime, Vigneault believes he can take his game up to another level. “Like I said [on Thursday], he’s not a kid anymore. It’s his turn now. He’s got to become a real good voice in the room. We expect more from him and I know we’re going to get it.”
  • Dan Rosen of NHL.com writes that Henrik Lundqvist is more enthusiastic about this season after he helped lead Team Sweden to a gold medal at the IIHF World Championships earlier this summer. The positive experience was better than having to sit home all summer thinking about the team’s early playoff exit and his struggles last season. “I think going into this year, ending on that high note [at the Worlds], that’s definitely something I bring with me to start this year, feeling good about what I did,” Lundqvist said. “I use it as energy and motivation and a boost of confidence.”

Rangers New Defense Might Have Weakened Rest Of Team

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The New York Rangers spent much of their offseason fixing one of their biggest weaknesses in their defense. The team went out and signed free agent Kevin Shattenkirk to a four-year, $26.6MM deal, then re-signed trade deadline rental Brendan Smith to a new four-year, $17.4MM deal. They traded away top center Derek Stepan and backup goaltender Antti Raanta for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo and a first-round pick. Perhaps more importantly, they bought out Dan Girardi, who was struggling. With all the changes, the Rangers should have one of the best defensive corps in the league. With Shattenkirk paired with Ryan McDonagh, Smith paired with veteran Marc Staal and young Brady Skjei paired with either Nick Holden or DeAngelo, the Rangers should be in fantastic shape.

But at what cost? The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn writes (subscription required) that the Rangers’ knee-jerk reaction to their second-round playoff loss to the Ottawa Senators have crippled the team in other areas. He writes the goaltending situation is now worse due to moving Raanta to Arizona. Instead, New York signed Ondrej Pavelec to a one-year deal, but there is a huge difference between the two backups. Raanta was a stud backup who now will get his chance to be an NHL starting goalie. Pavelec has been inconsistent in his time with the Jets, but has struggled so bad in the last couple of years that Winnipeg demoted him to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. Incidentally, Pavelec played 18 games for Manitoba and finished with a 2.78 GAA in that span — which wouldn’t be acceptable in the NHL.  Probably not the backup you would want when your starter Henrik Lundqvist, who is 35 years old, is coming off the worst season of his career. Lundqvist finished the year with a 2.74 GAA in 57 games and .910 save percentage. Those numbers suggest that his workload might need to be diminished in the future — probably not the best time to be trading your top backup.

The scribe also mentions that the team also has to wonder if they have enough offense to get through the season. The team traded away Stepan, who he admits isn’t that big of a loss, but considering that there is no true center who can take his place, that’s not a good sign. Yes, Mike Zibanejad will likely assume the top role, but he will likely be one of the worst top centers in the NHL. Their other three centers J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes and David Desharnais are all acceptable, but none are outstanding centers. Luszczyszyn adds that what the Rangers really need is a big-name scorer, which they lack. The team instead relies on Chris Kreider and Mats Zuccarello, who are great players, but not two players you should have leading your offense.

All in all, the belief is the Rangers have traded one concern for many others. Will these offensive changes really change anything?

 

Injury Updates: Sproul, Lundqvist, Letang

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While the Red Wings are projected to be over the cap as things stand when the season starts, MLive’s Ansar Khan notes that defenseman Ryan Sproul may not be ready to start the season and could be a candidate for LTIR along with Johan Franzen which would help get them back under.  Sproul suffered a torn ACL in early March and missed the remainder of the season.

The 24-year-old played in 27 games with the Red Wings in 2016-17, collecting seven points (1-6-7) while averaging over 15 minutes per night in ice time.  However, he’s not waiver exempt and Detroit has several rearguards pushing for the last couple of spots on the roster.  If Sproul is ready to go by the start of the season, he could find himself a trade or waiver candidate pretty quickly if he’s unable to lock down a roster spot.

Other injury notes from around the league:

  • Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti that he has fully recovered from the knee injury he sustained at the World Hockey Championships. Although the injury had a rehab time of four-to-six weeks, the netminder noted that he was still able to resume skating and begin his normal preparation routine at the same time he usually does during the offseason.  The 35-year-old will be looking to rebound from an uncharacteristically weaker 2016-17 campaign where he posted the highest GAA (2.70) and lowest SV% (.910) of his NHL career.
  • In a reader chat, Sam Werner of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is progressing well in his recovery from a neck injury but that he might not be 100% by the time training camp opens up next month. Even if Letang weren’t quite ready to start the season, Pittsburgh has been active in supplementing their defensive depth so they shouldn’t need to make any other moves to add some help on the back end. [Related: Penguins Transaction Tracker from Roster Resource]  Letang missed half of 2016-17 plus their entire postseason run between the late-season neck issue and various upper-and-lower body ailments earlier on but still had the second most points of all Pittsburgh defenders with 34 (5-29-34) in 41 contests.

Rangers Sign Goalie Alexander Georgiev

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Wednesday: The team has officially announced the contract.

Monday: The New York Rangers have made an interesting off-season move, signing Russian goaltender Alexander Georgiev to an entry-level contract. The 21-year-old keeper, who went undrafted in 2014 and 2015, was a free agent playing in the Finnish Liiga. CapFriendly reports that he’ll now head across the Atlantic to join the Rangers organization on a three-year deal worth $792.5K at the NHL level.

Although undrafted, Georgiev has begun to make a name for himself on the international stage in recent years. Unlike most promising Russian prospects, Georgiev left the country to join TPS in Finland for the 2014-15 season. His performance as the backup for the team – a 2.21 GAA in 14 games in 2014-15 and a 2.28 GAA in 10 games in 2015-16 – caught the eye of the Russian World Junior team. Not only did Georgiev make the team, he started five games at the 2016 tournament. He then took over as the starter for TPS this past season, posting a stellar 1.70 GAA and .923 save percentage in 27 games as just a 21-year-old in a men’s league. The young goalie has plenty of upside to go along with many questions about his game as well.

Yet, his current resume seems to have been enough for the Rangers to give him a shot in the AHL. With Henrik Lundqvist and the newly signed Ondrej Pavelec as a solid one-two punch at the NHL level, Georgiev will certainly head for the minors, where he can compete for starts on the Hartford Wolf Pack. After losing Magnus Hellberg to the KHL and choosing not to re-sign Mackenzie Skapski, there’s definitely room for someone to take control in Hartford. Georgiev will battle incumbent Brandon Halverson, a 2014 second-round pick who struggled in his first pro season, and Bowling Green University’s Chris Nell, who also struggled in his brief AHL showing at the end of last season. Georgiev may just end up as the AHL starter, and candidate to see NHL time, when all is said and done.

Rangers Expected To Sign Ondrej Pavelec To One-Year Deal

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TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported earlier this morning that Ondrej Pavelec was on his way to New York. The Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe tweets that the deal is a one-year, $1.3MM agreement. The deal was anticipated, as it was reported yesterday that the Rangers were in discussions with the netminder.

Pavelec will now be the backup to Henrik Lundqvist, following the departure of Antti Raanta. Last season, Pavelec only saw eight games with Winnipeg and posted a 4-4 record with a .888 save percentage.

New York Rangers In Discussions With Ondrej Pavelec

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When the New York Rangers traded Antti Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes, it was clear they’d have to enter the goaltending market in free agency. Though Magnus Hellberg played well in his very short sample with the team this year, he never seemed like a legitimate backup option for a team with an aging goaltender and eyes on a deep playoff run. He since signed in the KHL after becoming a Group VI free agent. Instead, they were likely to get a more veteran name who could step in and play a few games should Henrik Lundqvist miss any time.

Darren Dreger of TSN is now reporting that the team is in ongoing discussions with Ondrej Pavelec, the former Winnipeg Jets goaltender who spent most of the 2016-17 season in the minor leagues after clearing waivers. Pavelec does fill the experience portion of the backup requirement, but it’s been over a year now since he showed he was a capable netminder in the NHL. Perhaps at 29 the Rangers believe he can have a bounce-back season, or they think he’ll come at a relatively cheap price and invest the savings at a different position.

In eight NHL contests last year, Pavelec recorded an .888 save percentage. Beyond that his 2015-16 numbers weren’t much better, registering a .904 in 33 contests. Even in the AHL last year, where NHL backups usually perform quite well he was just average, posting a .917 save percentage and going just 8-7-2. It’s not certain that he’d struggle in the NHL again, especially behind a 100-point team like the Rangers but he’s far from the safest option on the open market.

Pavelec didn’t make it into our Top 50 Free Agents, a list that included six goaltenders at the time. From that group, Mike Condon has already re-signed with Ottawa, and both Brian Elliott and Anders Nilsson look to have already agreed to new homes. Even Keith Kinkaid, who just missed out on the list and may have placed ahead of Pavelec was retained by the New Jersey Devils to back up Cory Schneider.

Vegas Will Not Select Rangers’ Antti Raanta

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Although New York Rangers backup goalie Antti Raanta has been a popular draft selection by the Vegas Golden Knights not only in our PHR Mock Expansion Draft, but by pundits throughout hockey media. Yet, according to a Rangers insider, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks, the pick will not be Raanta after all. Instead, Brooks is reporting that young center Oscar Lindberg will be selected.

This news should come as a major sigh of relief for Blueshirt fans, as Raanta was spectacular in relief of starter Henrik Lundqvist in 2016-17. In a career-high 30 appearances, Raanta posted a .922 save percentage and 2.26 goals against average en route to 16 wins for the Rangers. The extra rest for Lunqvist also allowed the 34-year-old veteran to stay fresh and making nine less starts than in 2015-16 led in part to Lundqvist’s strong performance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Had the Rangers lost Raanta, not only would they have surrendered a great asset for nothing, but they also would have been pressed into the goalie market this summer to try to find a new suitable backup without much cap space to spare.

Not only should New York fans be happy about not losing Raanta, but the Lindberg leak also means they’ve avoided losing Michael Grabner as well. Grabner had an excellent first season in New York, scoring 27 goals and 40 total points as an unexpected key contributor to the Ranger offense. Yet, Grabner could not be protected what with the impressive young forward depth that the Blueshirts have. Signed on for one more year at just $1.65MM, it also would have been a shame to see such a good fit and affordable weapon leave via expansion. Instead, the 25-year-old Lindberg, who has played a regular role for the Rangers in the past two years but has failed to make the jump to a scoring role, will take his place.

Expansion Primer: New York Rangers

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We’re continuing to break down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, coming up next week: which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.

Until today, the Expansion Draft plan for GM Jeff Gorton and the New York Rangers remained unclear. The time had come and gone to ask overpaid blueliners Marc Staal and Dan Girardi or the underachieving Rick Nash to waive their No-Movement clauses and the team declined. They were also cutting it close should they choose to extend one of their impending free agent forwards and make their expansion decisions easier, with protection lists due on Saturday. New York has one of the deepest groups of forwards in the NHL, even with rookies Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich draft-exempt, yet the team had not taken any steps to protect their core. At least not until this morning…

The Rangers announced two moves earlier today, the first being an extension for impending restricted free agent forward Matt Puempel. With term now on his contract, Puempel meets all the criteria to be one of two mandatory forwards exposed in the Expansion Draft, saving them from otherwise having to expose a core forward. The second announcement was the long-awaited end to the Girardi era, as the stated their plans to buy out the veteran tomorrow, opening up a slot on the blue line for them to protect the underrated Nick Holden.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards
Rick Nash (NMC), Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Michael Grabner, Mika Zibanejad, Jesper Fast, Daniel Catenacci, Matt Puempel, Oscar Lindberg, Nicklas Jensen, Brandon Pirri

Defense
Marc Staal (NMC), Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Klein, Nick Holden, Steven Kampfer, Michael Paliotta, Adam Clendening

Goaltender
Henrik Lundqvist, Antti Raanta, Mackenzie Skapski

Notable Exemptions

Jimmy Vesey, Brady Skjei, Pavel Buchnevich, Cristoval Nieves

Key Decisions

With Rick Nash holding on to his No-Movement clause, the Rangers have just six spots left to protect a large group of impact forwards: Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, J.T. Miller, Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, Michael Grabner, and restricted free agent Mika Zibanejad. Despite a unexpected outburst of 40 points in his first season in New York, Grabner is the easy target to point at as not like the rest of the Rangers’ young and mostly homegrown talents. Many Ranger fans wouldn’t have minded holding on to Grabner, at $1.65MM next year, over Nash, who will make $7.8MM again in 2017-18 after recording less than 40 points in three of the past four seasons.

It’s hard to make a case for any of the other six being offered up instead of Grabner. Zuccarello is the oldest of the group, but he’s still only 29 and has led the team in scoring in three of the past four seasons. Zucarello is almost certainly safe. At just 23 years old, Miller has taken a bigger and bigger role for the Blueshirts with each year and is perhaps the franchise’s best building block. He too is a near guarantee. While both Stepan and Kreider have heard whispers of trade rumors in each of the past two seasons, with Stepan’s growing louder in recent days, both are far too good to give up for free and will likely be protected. After trading away Derick Brassard last off-season to acquire Zibanejad, it seems highly unlikely that the team would risk losing him already, even if his first season in New York was marred by injury. Finally, Hayes, who has done nothing but excel in any role the Rangers have given him since signing with the Rangers out of college three years ago, and it would be a major surprise to see them choose Grabner over him.

Thus, it seems Grabner will likely join Puempel as the Rangers’ unprotected forwards and with the decisions in net and on the blue line pretty clear-cut, the Rangers have gone from a confusing expansion scenario about 24 hours ago to one of the easiest teams to project.

Projected Protection List

Scheme: 7F/3D/1G

Forwards

Rick Nash (NMC)
Mats Zuccarello
J.T. Miller
Derek Stepan
Chris Kreider
Mika Zibanejad
Kevin Hayes

Defensemen

Marc Staal (NMC)
Ryan McDonagh
Nick Holden

Goalie

Henrik Lundqvist

The Rangers barely have any decisions to make in regards to their protection on defense and in net. All-world keeper Henrik Lundqvist is obviously safe, leaving skilled backup Antti Raanta as an intriguing target for the Golden Knights. Vegas GM George McPhee has stated that the team could select many promising goalies in the Expansion Draft and guage who to keep and who to trade away after the fact. Raanta could indeed be one of those picks.

On the blue line, the buy out of Dan Girardi will leave one more spot open to join go to the team’s best defender and captain, Ryan McDonagh, and Marc Staal, who was not asked to waive his No-Movement clause. The only real candidate to fill that spot is Nick Holden. Kevin Klein, who is reportedly mulling retirement, meets the 40/70 criteria to fill the one-defenseman exposure quota, but is not a viable target for Vegas. The only other defenseman under contract for the Rangers is journeyman Steven Kampfer, another player who would be a strange selection for the Golden Knights. Restricted free agent Adam Clendening, despite showing signs of upside in 2016-17, has already been informed that he will not receiving a qualifying offer and will become an unrestricted free agent, like several other Rangers blue liners, and again it is unlikely that the Knights will waste picks on UFA’s.  For all intents and purposes, the Girardi buyout ensures that no further changes will be coming to the New York defense in the coming week.

If Vegas passes on Raanta, they will likely instead turn to offense and, more likely than not, Michael Grabner. After his best season since he nearly won the Calder Trophy in 2010-11, Grabner appears to be back at the top of his game and could be hard to pass up for a Vegas team that will have a hard time finding scoring in the Expansion Draft and this summer’s free agency class. The loss of Grabner would be far greater than that of Jesper Fast or Oscar Lindberg or any other possible player, though don’t rule out the possibility that the Knights simply take youth and upside over established skill.

The situation in New York has gained great clarity today and now they face one of the more predictable expansion situations in the NHL. However, that doesn’t mean that they will escape the draft unscathed. A deep, talented team like the Rangers seems destined to take a hit next week.

Deadline Approaches To Ask Players To Waive No-Movement Clauses

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On the heels of yesterday’s report that both Keith Yandle and Dion Phaneuf had been asked to waive their no-movement clauses in order to be exposed for the upcoming expansion draft, speculation is running rampant around the league on who else will be asked. Below is the full list of players who currently require protection due to their clauses. The deadline to submit a request to a player is 4pm CDT today, while the player must inform the team of his decision by the same time on Friday June 16th. Because the Stanley Cup Finals ended last night, Nashville and Pittsburgh will not receive an extension and will need to submit their requests at the same time as every other team.

Elliotte Friedman was on Sportsnet radio today and mentioned that the Anaheim Ducks have spoken with Kevin Bieksa about possibly waiving his clause, something examined at length in our recent Ducks Expansion Primer.

Anaheim (4)
Kevin Bieksa — Expected to be asked.
Ryan Getzlaf
Ryan Kesler
Corey Perry

Arizona (1)
Alex Goligoski

Boston (4)
David Backes
Patrice Bergeron
Zdeno Chara
David Krejci

Read more

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