Jimmy Vesey

Jimmy Vesey has picked the New York Rangers once again, this time signing an extension with the team. The two-year deal will keep him in New York through the 2024-25 season and according to Emily Kaplan of ESPN, will cost the Rangers just $800K each year.

Vesey, 29, said no to both the Nashville Predators and Buffalo Sabres before signing with the Rangers back in 2016, after his outstanding college career at Harvard University made him a hot commodity. Things went okay through those first few years in New York but were never the same after leaving the Rangers. After setting a career-high 17 goals and 35 points in 2018-19, Vesey bounced around the league, playing for Buffalo, Toronto, Vancouver, and New Jersey, struggling at each stop.

Last summer, he decided to go back to the beginning, signing a one-year, $750K deal with the Rangers to try and get his career back on track. It has worked out pretty well so far, with Vesey gaining the trust of the coaching staff and adding a bit of depth scoring to a talented lineup. Through 38 games he has six goals and 12 points while averaging more than 13 minutes a night. He has been more physical than ever before, is committed to the defensive side of the puck, and has shown versatility when asked to move up and down the lineup.

For $800K against the cap, he can be a valuable depth piece for the Rangers to work with. Vesey likely won’t ever reach the hype that followed him out of school, but he’ll at least get a chance for some stability and consistency with a new contract extension.

Jimmy Vesey has officially found his way back to the Big Apple. The New York Rangers announced this afternoon that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year deal. The team has not yet disclosed the salary or whether the contract is a one-way or two-way deal. The New York Post’s Mollie Walker reports that the deal is worth $750,000, the league minimum. Vesey had been in Rangers camp on a PTO after spending the 2021-22 season as a member of rival New Jersey Devils.

Much like Zach Aston-Reese who signed moments earlier with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Rangers bring in a scrappy two-way forward of their own who should help them round out their game and contribute to the unsung areas of the game. Vesey was in fact one of the league’s better penalty killers during his time in New Jersey, where he also added an additional eight goals and seven assists in 68 games. Now 29, Vesey returns to the Rangers for the first time since the 2018-19 season, a career-year for him, but his last in Manhattan before the team dealt him upstate o the Buffalo Sabres that offseason.

Vesey is perhaps best known as the exciting prospect out of Harvard University who ultimately refused to sign his ELC with either team that held his rights – the Nashville Predators, who drafted him, and the Sabres, who acquired his rights. After becoming a free agent in the summer of 2016, a then-23-year-old Vesey opted to sign with the Rangers. The forward was far from bad during his first stint with the team, but he had failed to live up to the lofty expectations many had set for him. After being dealt to Buffalo in 2019, he bounced around, eventually spending time with Toronto, New Jersey, and even briefly the Vancouver Canucks.

Despite not putting up the offensive numbers he was once able to earlier in his career, Vesey did impress this season with the Devils, his ability to work hard and kill penalties evident, which seemed to give him an opportunity this offseason to prove he still belongs in the NHL. The Rangers gave him that opportunity with an invite to training camp in early September and the winger returned the favor with a strong showing in camp. Now, as the Rangers eye their first Stanley Cup since 1994, they’ll have another veteran to rely on, especially in the difficult situations along the way.

After being linked to the New York Rangers last month, Jimmy Vesey has agreed to attend camp on a professional tryout, according to CapFriendly. The veteran forward is an unrestricted free agent after his one-year, $800K contract with the New Jersey Devils expired this summer.

It’s been quite a career so far for the 29-year-old Vesey, who was once considered the “next big thing” out of college hockey. Selected in the third round of the 2012 draft, he became such a dominant force at Harvard that there were sweepstakes when he decided not to sign with the Nashville Predators–the team that had picked him.

First, the Buffalo Sabres sent a third-round pick to the Predators for a chance to sign him before he hit free agency, and then when he turned them down, several clubs put on the full-court press. He decided then to sign with the Rangers, and he would be relatively effective for them in his first three seasons, scoring 16, 17, and 17 goals. A trade then took him back to Buffalo, before stops in Toronto, Vancouver, and New Jersey have led him to today.

Given the fact that he has just 22 goals in 155 games since leaving the Rangers, it makes sense why he might want to go back. One might have expected him to be able to land more than just a PTO but rosters are tight at this point in the summer. He’ll now have to try and showcase his skills and land himself a contract in New York or elsewhere, even if it ends up being a two-way deal.

Vesey has never played a single game in the AHL and would need to clear waivers to be sent there, but at this point in his career, it is unclear whether he will be able to secure a full-time NHL gig.

Jimmy Vesey spent the first three seasons of his career as a member of the Rangers before bouncing around in recent years.  However, it appears a return to New York is on the horizon as Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the unrestricted free agent is expected to sign with the Rangers.

After opting not to sign with Nashville and later Buffalo, Vesey became one of the more prominent mid-August college free agents in recent memory.  He eventually agreed to join the Rangers and was a serviceable depth scorer, notching 50 goals and 40 assists in 240 games over three seasons.

Things haven’t gone as well since then as the 29-year-old has moved around frequently.  In the last three seasons, he has only put up half of the points that he did with New York while playing for four different teams – Buffalo, Toronto, Vancouver, and New Jersey.  Vesey spent last season with the Devils, collecting eight goals and seven assists in 68 games while averaging 14:25 per night.

Brooks suggests that Vesey’s contract should check in at or around the league minimum of $750K, making it a low-risk proposition.  If he’s able to secure a spot at the end of their roster, he’ll give them some low-cost depth.  If he’s unable to do so, the Rangers can clear his entire contract off the books by waiving him and sending him to AHL Hartford.

After starting his career with plenty of fanfare, Vesey has seen his stock drop quickly as of late.  With that in mind, a return to the one team that he had some success with makes a lot of sense as he looks to get back on track and extend his NHL career.