New York Rangers Need to Figure Out Their RFA Situation

The New York Rangers have not had any contract extension talks with their RFAs, and that can spell trouble for the expansion draft.

In an article by Larry Brooks of the New York Post which was put up around midnight, he dropped an interesting, but not all that surprising tidbit.

While his article talked about how the New York Rangers may be screwed in this upcoming expansion draft in terms of protecting forward Michael Grabner, he mentioned that the Rangers have told The Post that they have not had contract extension talks with any of their RFAs.

In a normal year, this would be no big deal. The Rangers have only one key player entering RFA status after the season (Mika Zibanejad) and even still they wouldn’t and shouldn’t necessarily feel the need to get that situation under wraps until the offseason.

But with the Expansion Draft looming in late June, the Rangers need to start to figure this situation out.

The Rangers have seven RFAs at the NHL level. Six forwards (Zibanejad, Brandon Pirri, Oscar Lindberg, Jesper Fast, Matt Puempel and Marek Hrivik) and one defenseman (Adam Clendening) make up the group.

More from Blue Line Station

• Blake Wheeler’s Broadway Calling: Why He Chose the Rangers
• Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
• Rangers’ Roster Chatter: Who’s Making the Cut and Who’s in the Penalty Box?
• Jacque Plante Trade Tree Between the Rangers and Canadiens
• These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly

You could make the case for the team tendering each of those RFAs when the time comes except for maybe Marek Hrivik, who will be 26 by the start of the 17-18 season. The team can most certainly wait until the offseason to worry about most of them, but if they want any chance of keeping Michael Grabner on the roster next season, they need to get Zibanejad and two more of their forward’s under contract.

What Two Should be the Priority?

More from Analysis

• Blake Wheeler’s Broadway Calling: Why He Chose the Rangers
• Rangers’ Playoff Redemption Recipe: Grit and Fresh Hopes
• These Rangers must learn Peter Laviolette’s ropes before they can fly
• New York Rangers: Expectations For The 2023-24 Season
• Brennan Othmann and Will Cuylle Set to Shine in the NHLPA Rookie Showcase

Regardless of who the team re-signs, any of the RFAs the Rangers have can be taken in the expansion draft. This was confirmed to me by Brooks himself. The reason they need to get two of them under contract is because, per the Expansion rules, each team must expose two forwards who played at least 40 games this season or 70 games combined over the past two seasons.

Of those five, the only three that fit that criteria are Lindberg, Fast and Pirri.

Since it really doesn’t matter which of those three get signed as long as two of them have a contract by the time of the expansion draft, the Rangers might as well get Fast and whoever they like more going forward, Lindberg or Pirri, under contract. If they want a more defensive 12th/13th forward going, er, forward… they should go with Lindberg. But if they want more of an offensive fourth line, they should go with Pirri.

Next: Finding a Taker for Kevin Klein

If they do this and follow the same path that I wrote they should take with Antti Raanta, they will be able to make sure Michael Grabner will be in a Rangers’ uniform come next October.