New York Rangers: Ranking the importance of the upcoming restricted free agents

The New York Rangers have rendered themselves to the mercy of the draft lottery.  It is paramount they extend key restricted free agents this off-season as a rebuilding team.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Last year the Rangers were a bounce or two away from the Eastern Conference Finals. This year, they’d be lucky to be competing in a beer league final. The poor roster construction finally caught up with the team and it burned them badly. The trading away of veteran assets for younger and cheaper players was the right decision for the long term.

The Rangers as a whole are a fairly young team. Of the players expected to make next year’s team, only six will be over the age of 26 at the start of the season. All six of these players: Mats Zuccarello, Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Kreider, Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal and Ryan Spooner are key contributors that will be a big factor in the team’s overall success.

With the way the league’s salary and contract system work, it is absolutely crucial to find a common ground with restricted free agents. The trick to signing these players that are under team control is determining who needs an extension and who is deserving of a bridge deal.

A bridge deal is a contract that is essentially a short-term prove it deal at the end of team control. A player that gets a bridge deal is a player that a team is still undecided on. The player is too good to just be allowed to walk away but isn’t worth the long-term financial commitment of a true extension. This summer the Rangers have five key players about to enter restricted free agency.