New York Rangers: Keeping Marc Staal limits options for center

The New York Rangers chose not to buyout declining veteran Marc Staal. The buyout would have given the team immediate cap relief to make room for a much needed center. In deciding not to do it, the Rangers will have a difficult time finding a way to fill the gaping hole in their lineup and J.T. Miller is likely to end up moving to center.

The Case for Buying Out Staal

Rangers GM Jeff Gorton is one center away from completing an impressive offseason makeover. But the Rangers do not have much room under the cap to fit in a center. So when a second buyout window opened, Gorton must have given serious consideration to buying out Staal to give him some room to maneuver.

The case for the buyout was compelling. It would have provided immediate cap relief and the long term cap hit did not look too onerous on a year-by-year basis, especially when you take into account the $5.7 million cap hit they are currently on the hook for him in each of the next four seasons.

The Dead Money

However, when you line up the cap hit numbers next to the hit they’re already taking for Dan Girardi, the case gets murkier. With the two combined buyouts, they would have $4.4, $5.7, $6.7, and $5.0 million of dead money counting against the cap in 2017-18 through 2021-22. That is a substantial disadvantage to overcome.

If you think Staal has no value or negative value, then it makes sense. The Rangers clearly think he has some value and decided that taking the cap hit for him not to play didn’t make sense, even with a stocked blue line. Perhaps the $3 million per year deal Girardi got from Tampa has affected their decision. Maybe they’ll buy Staal out next season, when there is less of a hit and less overlap with Girardi.

If Staal does end up playing out his current contract, he will finally be off the books in 2021-22. If the Rangers had bought him out now, they would still be on the hook for a dead money cap hit that year of over $5 million ($3.9 for Staal and $1.1 for Girardi).

The immediate cap relief is tempting, especially with Henrik Lundqvist’s career winding down, but $5 million is a material chunk. For perspective, Jesper Fast, Brady Skjei, Jimmy Vesey, and Pavel Buchnevich combined will make less than that this season. I’m cherry picking of course, but it illustrates the impact dead cap money can have on a roster.

Remaining Options

As it stands now, the Rangers have just over three million in available cap space. But that only includes 21 of 23 roster spots and Jesper Fast will start the season on the shelf. So the Rangers will have to bring in three more players under the cap to start the season.

This leaves them almost no flexibility to trade for a center. The Maple Leafs are in need of defensemen, so Tyler Bozak has been mentioned as a target. But the Rangers have no way to fit his $4.2 million cap under the cap without trading another contract. Nick Holden’s $1.65 million doesn’t get you anywhere close. They would have had to include another player like J.T. Miller, who still has room to grow.

The free agent market for centers has been picked dry. Gorton is going to have to get creative is he is going to add another proven center before camp. He’s no doubt trying to trade from a surplus on the blue line, but has not been able to find a partner yet.

It seems more like the Rangers would bring in a veteran wing like Thomas Vanek. Free agent wings can be had for much less money and a wing could slot into Miller’s vacated spot if he moves to the pivot.

Moving Miller back to center seems more likely with each passing day. They seem to prefer keeping him on the wing, but their other options at center are the 18-year old rookie Lias Andersson, and the unproven Boo Nieves, who did not develop as hoped last season at Hartford.

Next: Finding the real Kevin Hayes

The Rangers had a chance to buyout Staal to give them cap flexibility to add the missing piece to a quality but unfinished roster. They chose not to do so, deciding it was too much of a future burden. This leaves them in a tight spot and the bold off-season rebuild is in danger of falling one piece short.

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