Just this afternoon, the New York Rangers made it official and signed free agent veteran winger Ryan Malone to a one year deal, worth $700K. Â This is a low risk, high reward move, but you would not know it from the disgust of some fans.
Being a lover of social media, I love to see what my fellow Rangers brethren are saying and a good number of reactions I have seen from Malone are negative. Â For some reason, there is this great fear that now with the Rangers signing Malone that he is going to take away a roster spot from a youngster, whether J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, or someone else. Â This I believe to be highly untrue.
I will explain why in a bit.
Now Malone is coming off of his worst year as a pro last season, for various reasons, both on and off the ice. Â While on the ice Malone only recorded 15 total points, off the ice he was arrested for DUI and cocaine possession.
With Malone being a consistent 40 point player throughout his whole career, I think the huge drop off in points last season, while maybe having to do a little bit with age, as he is now 34 years old, can be mostly contributed though to the demons he was battling in his personal life.
Malone has been reported working out and skating hard this whole offseason, not only trying to get his hockey career back on track but also his life. Â He skated and worked out with Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh in Minnesota, before the Rangers even gave him a tryout, and when the Rangers showed interest in him, he was vouched for by not only Stepan and McDonagh but his ex-teammates with the Tampa Bay Lightning, now current teammates with the Rangers, Martin St. Louis and Dominic Moore.
Despite Malone’s off the ice problems last season, it has never affected his relationship with his teammates.  He is considered to be a positive influence in the locker room and a great team player.
So now that he is a Ranger, where does he fit in the team’s starting lineup?
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Here is where the fans against the signing freak out. Â Like I said before, there is this great fear that Malone is going to take a roster spot away from youth, but I just do not think that is true.
At this stage of Malone’s career, nevertheless needing to prove he can still play in the NHL and earn his trust back, he will probably be limited to a fourth line role, splitting time with Tanner Glass.  Similar to what we saw last year from Derek Dorsett and Dan Carcillo sharing time.
This still leaves two rosters spots open to be won, at third line center and fourth line winger, meaning both J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes can still make the Rangers starting lineup out of training camp.
There is really no need to freak out or panic.  Malone is just another depth signing and even though this technically puts the Rangers over the salary cap, it really doesn’t.  This is because the Rangers still have to send some depth players down to the AHL, and once that happens, their contracts do not count against the salary cap.
So all in all, I feel the Rangers signing Ryan Malone was actually a good move.  He is a depth signing, for cheap, that adds size and grit to the lineup and I believe will be a very good addition to the Rangers fourth line.
However, that is just my opinion.  What’s yours?