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Free Agent Focus: New York Rangers

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Free agency is now a little less than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Here is a breakdown of New York’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Vladislav Namestnikov – The Rangers have plenty of restricted free agents to sign this summer, and while Kevin Hayes and other forwards may have had a bigger impact on the team, it’s Namestnikov that remains the biggest enigma. After coming over from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the deadline as part of the Ryan McDonagh trade, Namestnikov failed to find much chemistry with his new team. The 25-year old registered just four points in 19 games down the stretch, after notching 44 in Tampa Bay (mostly alongside Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov). Those 44 had already guaranteed he would reach a career-high in points, and he had already cracked 20 goals by the end of February.

There is still some question as to where he fits into the Rangers plans though. As the team continues to try and get younger, they essentially swapped two players the same age when they sent J.T. Miller along with McDonagh to Tampa Bay. Now Namestnikov, the 27th-overall pick from 2011, will have to show that the team actually upgraded with that trade and show he can be a top-six contributor in 2018-19 and beyond. Since he’ll be turning 26 in November any long-term deal will be buying out several unrestricted free agent seasons, substantially increasing the cap hit of the overall deal. After being paid an average of just $1.94MM the last two years, Namestnikov will be looking for a substantial raise. It’s not clear if New York wants to commit long-term to a player that has had trouble producing when not playing alongside elite linemates.

D Brady Skjei – If Namestnikov is the most unclear decision on the team’s RFA list, Skjei might be the most important. The 24-year old turned into one of the team’s most reliable defensemen in the second half of 2016-17, and showed again that he could be a big time contributor this season. Though his point production dropped significantly, Skjei was asked to log more than 21 minutes a night for a team whose defensive unit was constantly in flux. McDonagh was traded midseason, Kevin Shattenkirk dealt with injury and Brendan Smith was banished to the minor leagues, leaving Skjei the lone defender who could be counted on all season.

Skjei is coming off his entry-level contract later than many other impact players, meaning that he’s closer to unrestricted free agency than many would be heading into their second deal. It’s clear that he is a player to build around for the Rangers, and signing him long-term right now is the only way to really keep his cap hit to a reasonable amount. If the team (or player, for that matter) decides to mitigate risk and sign a short-term bridge deal, it could end up costing them in the long run if Skjei continues to improve and looks for a big-money extension when he’s 26 or 27.

Other RFAs: F Ryan Spooner, F Kevin Hayes, F Jimmy Vesey, D Rob O’Gara, D John Gilmour, G Marek Mazanec, F Steven Fogarty, F Boo Nieves, F Chris Bigras, F Adam Tambellini

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: G Ondrej Pavelec – The Rangers sold hard at the deadline to rid themselves of nearly all valuable unrestricted free agents, leaving Pavelec as the last remaining big ticket. The team does have other potential internal options as a backup for Henrik Lundqvist, but there’s not much to complain about with their situation this year. Pavelec recorded a .910 save percentage in 19 games, and though his record was poor that’s more a reflection on the team in front of him than his performance. The former Winnipeg Jets goaltender signed for just $1.3MM this season, and could likely be brought back for a similar amount in 2018-19.

Otherwise, Pavelec would likely have several suitors around the league as a reasonably priced backup with plenty of experience. The 30-year old goaltender has played 398 games in the NHL, and could come in as a 20-game backup for one of the more established goaltenders in the league. There is also always a chance he could return to the Czech Republic as a starter, though it’s been more than a decade since he played there full-time.

Other UFAs: F Paul Carey, F Cody McLeod, D Ryan Sproul, F Daniel Catenacci, F John Albert

Projected Cap Space: The Rangers currently project to have somewhere around $30MM in cap space to spend this summer, but a lot of that will be eaten up by the group of RFAs requiring new contracts. If every one of Skjei, Spooner, Hayes, Vesey and Namestnikov are signed, the team could be looking at a lot less room to operate with for the rest of the summer. The idea that they’ll just re-sign what they have and go into next season with the same group seems foolish, especially with young players like Filip Chytil and Lias Andersson knocking down the door.

With three first-round picks and plenty of young prospects starting to fill the cupboards, it wouldn’t be surprising if New York was one of the most active teams this offseason. Either continuing to trade experience for youth and building towards a window of contention in a few years, or reloading to get back to the playoffs in the short-term, the Rangers are a team to watch closely as the draft approaches in a few weeks.

Rangers Must Continue To Upgrade Their Defense

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The New York Rangers still have to hire a coach, but the team’s top goal is to continue to improve its blueline this offseason. Just a year ago, the Rangers invested heavily into a veteran defense that was expected to be among the best in the league. The team went out and signed highly coveted free agent Kevin Shattenkirk and re-signed Brendan Smith to go with captain Ryan McDonagh and Marc Staal and a rising Brady Skjei.

Instead the defense struggled mightily as they were ranked fourth in goals against, allowing 3.21 goals per game during the 2017-18 season. Now with McDonagh gone and the team in a rebuild, the Rangers must make more changes to improve their struggling blueline.

The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman (subscription required) writes that a few pieces are certain. A healthy Shattenkirk should boost the team’s defense after the team shut him down in the middle of the year with a torn meniscus. Throw in a much improved year for Staal and the Rangers have a couple of solid pieces to aid them. The team still has high hopes for Skjei, despite his second-year struggles, but Smith is a complete unknown as it will be up to him to get into game shape and prove he was worth the four-year, $17.4MM deal he signed last offseason. The team did like the way rookie Neal Pionk played in his 28-game trial at the end of the year. Even defenseman Anthony DeAngelo showed improvement at the end of the year as well. The team also added a number of new young d-men at the trade deadline that aren’t too far off, including Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek and Yegor Rykov.

Regardless, the team could use a boost from an experienced young defenseman that can help stabilize last year’s crew or at the very least, more young talent that will be ready within a year. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that the team should consider offering up either Kevin Hayes or Mike Zibanejad in exchange for defensive help, assuming the player they get back is a current or future top-four defenseman. While he believes that Dougie Hamilton would be the perfect trade target, he doubts the Calgary Flames would move him. However, Calgary is loaded with defensive prospects that are stuck behind their veteran defense, suggesting the Rangers go after prospect Adam Fox, who is a top defenseman at Harvard University, and who was the former partner of Lindgren. Trading one of those young veterans could work as centermen are in high demand right now with few available on the free agent market and with the Rangers putting much of their hopes on both of last year’s first-round picks in Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil at center next season.

No matter what, the team will have to make some changes if they hope to improve on their disappointing 2017-18 season.

Snapshots: Mrazek, Rangers Injuries, Hutton, Vegas

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The Flyers turned down a trade proposal from the Red Wings that saw Detroit request a third-round pick in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrazek, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.  This comes on the heels of Philadelphia losing Brian Elliott for more than a month which has them going with a current tandem of Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon between the pipes.  As a result, many have expected Philly to add another netminder at some point before the February 26th trade deadline but it appears GM Ron Hextall isn’t prepared to do so just yet or has more of a depth goalie in mind.

More news and notes from around the league:

  • It’s a case of good news and bad news on the injury front for the Rangers. Larry Brooks of the New York Post notes that winger Pavel Buchnevich will return to New York’s lineup tonight against the Senators after missing the past seven games with a concussion.  However, center Kevin Hayes is unlikely to play due to a lower-body issue that has been lingering since the All-Star Break.
  • The Canucks continue to receive trade interest in defenseman Ben Hutton, Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 reports (Twitter link). The blueliner has been a frequent healthy scratch of late and has another year left on his contract after this one at a $2.8MM cap hit which is a bit pricey for someone who is on the outside looking in at playing time.  In a separate tweet, Dhaliwal adds that Vancouver has inquired about the asking price for Coyotes center Max Domi and winger Tobias Rieder but notes that the price is quite high.
  • Vegas has been keeping tabs on the Sabres lately, notes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. David Conte, special advisor for hockey operations for the Golden Knights, has attended multiple Buffalo games over the past week while also watching their AHL affiliate in Rochester.  While they are probably not a likely suitor for winger Evander Kane, they could be interested in adding some of Buffalo’s depth players in an effort to shore up their roster before the deadline.

New York Rangers Assign Lias Andersson To AHL

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In an interesting move, the New York Rangers assigned top pick Lias Andersson to the AHL. The young forward had been on loan to Frolunda in Sweden, but will now join the Rangers organization and suit up for the Hartford Wolf Pack. The team has also recalled Anthony DeAngelo and Daniel Catenacci as they deal with injuries to Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal.

Andersson was part of the silver medal-winning Swedish World Junior Team earlier this month, captaining the squad even through a shoulder injury and recording seven points in seven games. He infamously threw his medal into the crowd after receiving it, frustrated by the late goal Sweden allowed to lose the tournament. Though he eventually got the medal returned and expressed his regret for the action, it certainly will go down as part of international hockey lore as Sweden continues to struggle in the medal rounds of the U20 tournament.

More importantly, an assignment to the AHL could mean Andersson is on his way to the Rangers this season. Impressive in training camp, there was some speculation that he would start the year with the team despite his young age and inexperience. With 14 points in 22 SHL games, Andersson once again showed off his high upside at both ends of the rink and could be an option for the Rangers up front at some point this season.

Injury Notes: Aho, Muzzin, Nugent-Hopkins, Hayes

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Hurricanes winger Sebastian Aho took a hit to the head from Flames defenseman Mark Giordano in their game this afternoon and was forced to leave the game.  Unfortunately for Carolina, head coach Bill Peters told Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team website (Twitter link) postgame that they will be evaluating Aho for a potential knee injury as well as having him checked for a concussion.  The timing of the injury is a tough one for the Finnish winger who had been on quite a run coming into this one with 14 points over his last ten games while he leads the team in scoring with 37 points.  As for Giordano, he was assessed a match penalty on the play which not only saw him ejected from the game but also will result in a hearing with the Department of Player Safety.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin is nearing a return to the lineup but it is not yet known if he’ll receive the green light to play for their game tomorrow afternoon against San Jose, notes Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider. Muzzin sustained an upper-body injury back on December 30th but tried to play through it for a couple of games before going on injured reserve.  If he does get cleared to play, a roster move will need to be made as the recall of Jonny Brodzinski earlier today brought Los Angeles back to a full 23-man roster.
  • Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left Saturday’s game with what was speculated to be a head injury but TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports via Twitter that there are no concussion concerns. Instead, he’s dealing with some bruising that the team is hopeful will have gone away by the time they’re off their bye week on Saturday.  Although he has frequently been involved in trade speculation, Nugent-Hopkins has quietly put together a strong year, sitting third in Edmonton scoring with 31 points in 46 games.
  • Rangers winger Kevin Hayes suffered a setback to the lower-body injury he tried to play through against the Islanders on Saturday, notes Newsday’s Steve Zipay. He has been ruled out of tonight’s game against Pittsburgh but head coach Alain Vigneault provided some reason for optimism, noting that “It’s not as bad as when it was first diagnosed”.  Hayes, who scored in the game Saturday despite playing through the injury, has 18 points in 43 games so far this season.

Poll: Fairness In NHL’s Fines And Suspensions?

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In a season where penalties are down, there has been a surprising amount of newsworthy fines and suspensions early on in 2017-18. The unfortunate thing for the NHL is the only common theme between these instances of league punishment seem to be inconsistency and a lack of sense.

Three players – Steven Stamkos, Kevin Hayes, and most recently Matt Dumba – have been fined $5,000 apiece this season for water squirting. It’s not exactly a lethal offense, but is probably worthy of a minor infraction. Except, Alex Killorn received the same $5,000 fine in the same game as Stamkos’ and Hayes’ water fight for viciously jabbing Hayes until he received a slashing penalty. J.T. Brown and Steven Kampfer then riled up the benches with a long, intense fight and received no additional penalty minutes outside their matching majors and no fines. In a separate instance the other night, Patrick Kane also received a $5,000 fine. His offense: this two-handed swinging slash on Nick Ritchie which could have been much worse had it landed cleanly.

The curious thing about all of these fines is that they are the maximum under the NHL CBA. This came up earlier in the season as well, when Robert Bortuzzo’s received the max fine of just over $3,000 for pinning down and repeatedly cross-checking Brock Nelson. So in summary, water squirting has been a fine-able offense three times this season, and for the same maximum amount as slashing and more than the maximum amount for cross-checking.

Then, there are suspensions. The ten-game ban for perennial bad guy Radko Gudas was well-earned, while the ten-game suspension for leaving the bench handed out to Luke Witkowski is a tried and true policy. Yet, Witkowski was responding to this jab from Matthew Tkachuk which more or less also happened off the ice. For that offense, Tkachuk received only a one-game suspension. As minor a “spear” as it might have been, Tkachuk still made contact with a player off the ice, but the NHL thought Witkowski stepping back on the ice to have words with Tkachuk was ten times worse? Tkachuk was back in the spotlight the other night, drawing a four-game suspension for Gabriel Landeskog, who NHL Player Safety even acknowledged was not intending to hurt Tkachuk, so much as get him away from the puck.

On it’s face, the NHL’s fines and suspensions – a product of both the league and NHLPA – seem inconsistent at best. But what say you? Do you think these are isolated incidents? Or a pattern of inequitable punishment?

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Stamkos, Killorn, Hayes Fined By NHL

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The punishment doesn’t always fit the crime, especially in the NHL’s fine system. In early October, some fans were outraged when St. Louis Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo received a fine of just over $3,000 for repeated cross check to the back of New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson. The fine was the maximum amount prescribed by the NHL collective bargaining agreement, but many felt that such a relatively small amount of money was not nearly enough for a fairly brutal showing by Bortuzzo.

Now, the script has flipped. Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn and New York Rangers counterpart Kevin Hayes have all been fined $5,000 for a conspiracy of… water squirting? TSN reports that in Thursday night’s game the trio all engaged in what the league has defined as unsportsmanlike conduct. Hayes got the affair started when he sprayed Killorn with water from the Rangers’ bench prior to the pair taking the ice. On the ensuing face-off, Killorn retaliated with multiple jabs directed at Hayes, for which he received a slashing penalty. In defense of the perceived wrong to his teammate, Stamkos went the “eye for an eye” route and sprayed water at the Rangers bench. All three were determined to be equally guilty in the affair, while J.T. Brown and Steven Kampfer, whose fight was heavily endorsed by their respective benches, received no share of the blame.

Objectively, it seems silly for water squirting to warrant a $5,000 fine, even if that amount is equivalent to roughly $5 for the majority. However, in the context of Bortuzzo’s maximum $3,000 fine for cross-checking, it seems that the league has their priorities out of alignment. A re-haul to the fine structure in the CBA may be need to be addressed at the table during the league’s next bargaining, if not sooner.

Morning Notes: Fines, Froese, Fraser

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Three fines were handed out by the Department of Player Safety for an incident in last night’s Tampa Bay Lightning-New York Rangers game. Kevin Hayes, Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos have all been fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The incident occurred when Hayes squirted water from the bench towards Killorn, who then retaliated by swinging his stick towards the bench. After a scrum ensued, Stamkos also squirted water towards the New York bench (h/t Shayna Goldman of Hockey Graphs for the clips). The Rangers would win the game in overtime.

  • Byron Froese has been named the first captain of the Laval Rocket, Montreal’s new AHL franchise. Froese made his NHL debut with the Maple Leafs a few seasons ago, playing 56 games in 2015-16. Since then he hasn’t been able to find a full-time NHL role, playing just six games last season between Toronto and Tampa Bay. He signed a two-year deal with the Canadiens this summer which will turn into a one-way deal next season.
  • Terrible news out of the league site today, as long-time referee Kerry Fraser shares his diagnosis of cancer. Anyone who watched hockey prior to 2010 remembers Fraser as one of the household-named officials in the league, and as one of the most beloved and reviled refs in Los Angeles and Toronto respectively (not really, but talk of “Gretzky’s high stick” seems to live on forever around the league). Fraser, 65, shared his story as part of Hockey Fights Cancer month in the NHL, and PHR would like to send our thoughts to him and his family. If you’d like to donate to the league’s cause, the link can be found here.

NHL Snapshots: Rangers Offense, Ekholm, Sanheim

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The New York Rangers’s offense has lived on their power play and their top line of Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich. They have dominated the early season on offense, while the rest of the team is quiet. However, after a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators today, it’s quite obvious that a new line is starting to step in Kevin Hayes, Jesper Fast and Jimmy Vesey.

The trio haven’t been together too long as Fast has only been back from injury for the last four games. However, they seem to have a connection, according to Steve Zipay of Newsday. Hayes, who scored the game-winner today, has had three goals and an assist in the last five games. Vesey recently picked up his first goal and assist of the season, while Fast scored the first goal in today’s game and has a goal and an assist in four games.

“It’s a real hardworking line,” said coach Alain Vigneault. “Simple, north-south, get it in deep, work the corners, work on the forecheck . . . Kevin, with his size and hockey smarts, fits in real well.”

  • Adam Vingan of the Tennessean writes that Mattias Ekholm has really established himself as the leader on defense. Already on a defense with many big names like P.K. Subban, Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis, it’s Ekholm who leads the team in even strength ice time at 19:03, which is 75 seconds more than any other player on the team. Combined with special teams play, Ekholm is currently averaging 25:52 of total ice time and after scoring a goal today, has one goal and two assists so far this year. Vingan writes that with more responsibility ever since the team traded away Seth Jones and now an injury to Ellis, Ekholm has thrived.
  • Kurt Rohrbeck of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that for the second straight game, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim is getting minutes equal to that of a top-four defenseman. Rohrbeck writes that Sanheim’s performance was a mixed bag. Sanheim, who sat out as a healthy scratch often in the first few games of the season, often struggled in the defensive zone, as the scribe points to a moment in the first period in which he allowed Edmonton’s Brad Malone to steal the puck from him and almost score. However, the scribe writes the 21-year-old made up for those rookie mistakes by showing quite a bit of offensive skill, getting off two legitimate shots that could have been scoring chances.

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?

 

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