New York Rangers: The team should value flexibility over name brand
It is extremely early in the New York Rangers rebuilding process. This means the team should value long term flexibility over name brand free agents or trade targets.
No National Hockey League franchise wants a long term contract to bog their salary cap situation. Sure, team’s should lock up generational talents like Conor McDavid or Auston Matthews. However, no team should look to average players as long term answers. This situation arises every off season, especially in ones with weak free agent classes.
To some degree every single team feels pressured to make moves during the offseason. After all, NHL General Managers have a shelf life, and in some cases it can be as short as three years. This creates a feeding frenzy and is why July 1 is so exciting. There are GMs fighting for their professional existence offering contracts to players in control of their own fate.
This potent combination creates an environment where terrible contracts are handed out like sunscreen at a picnic. In theory, everyone needs sun screen at a picnic on a summer day, yet, too much and you look like a life guard. The same principle applies in free agency, adding new talent is good, but doing it just because other teams do it creates a contract bubble.
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Some of the more regrettable free agent deals of recent memory stem from this feeding frenzy environment. In the case of the Rangers, the team has given out some of the worst free agent contracts in recent memory.
The bad
The Rangers have the perk of an owner that is willing to commit as much financially as possible to winning, In James Dolan, the team’s front office has the green light to go all the way to the cap ceiling every single year. However, this has at times meant the team has just thrown money at problems instead of really probing into them.
Although it was not egregious, the Rangers front office probably regrets signing Dan Boyle following the 2014 season. This was a short sighted signing that locked up $4.5 million per season. In theory, this deal was supposed to give New York long term flexibility because it was only a two year deal.
However, the cap hit was a hinderance to the long term health of the roster. Due to the Boyle contract, the Rangers were not able to re-sign Anton Stralman. Sure, Boyle and Stralman are different types of players. The team signed the former San Jose Shark defenseman to give the power play a true quarterback.
This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the Rangers contract issues. At a quick glance, Brad Richards, Dan Girardi, Marc Staal, Derek Stepan, Wade Redden, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury were all deals the Rangers came to regret.
This year
The Rangers are a team directed towards the future. Outside of Henrik Lundqvist, Mats Zuccarello and Staal, no one on the NHL roster is over the age of 30. As the team’s NHL roster and prospect pool currently sit, it is unrealistic to expect the team to compete any time soon. Chief amongst the team’s problems is a porous defense that lacks a proven number one or even number two defenseman.
Outside of the roster talent, the prospect pool for the most part is at least a year away from playing in Madison Square Garden. Ryan Lindgren, Libor Hajek, Brett Howden, Igor Shestyorkin, Ty Ronning, Sean Day and Yegor Rykov all need further seasoning.
This leaves a disparity in terms of what the team has for next year and what it can supply in house. This of course means that the Rangers will need to select an immediate impact player at number nine overall, sign free agents or make trades to ice a team next year. This isn’t even about competing, in terms of logistics, the team doesn’t have enough players to have a full team.
Weak free agent class
To add to the Rangers’ problems, this year has a weak crop of free agents. Outside of New York Islander center John Tavares, who is not guaranteed to hit free agency, there are no elite free agents available. Now, if the Rangers could sign Tavares, you put flexibility aside for a generational talent. The Islander is one of the ten best players in the entire NHL and worth a long term investment. Furthermore, it is extremely uncommon for a player of Tavares’ quality to even reach free agency.
However, this post is not about elite talent. A team should always elect to lock up elite players long term. The problem for GMs is when they give elite contracts to good or okay players. This is where overpaid players get their GMs fired for doling out horrendous deals.
The Rangers need to stay away from this soggy middle of free agency. Sure, the team would be better with Evander Kane, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, John Carlson, James Van Riemsdyk or Paul Statsny. They would definitely be marked improvements from what the team has in house. However, they would all want contracts detrimental to the long term. Giving okay or good players long term deals is a recipe for mediocrity.
The Islanders have made a common practice of locking up bottom six forwards to long term deals. This has effectively gutted the team’s depth and ability to craft a roster. The Rangers would be wise to avoid giving out a long term deal to a player on their last big deal. The team is designed for the future, a long term contract to a veteran would be counter to this goal.
In Conclusion
The Rangers have gone about this rebuild or retool the right way. The front office moved expiring assets for team controlled prospects and draft picks. The team has seven draft picks in the first three rounds of this year’s entry draft. This means that the team can continue restocking the prospect pool right now or moving them for proven roster talent.
The important thing is for the Rangers to keep their options open. No matter what, the team needs to keep a bundle of assets to make things happen going forward. The worst situation to be in is stagnant. There are several teams in the league that do not have any assets to improve bad situations. The Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, and Islanders are all in that soggy middle where no team wants to be. They aren’t good enough to win the Stanley Cup but they do not have assets to get better.
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The Rangers have every opportunity to get better in front of them. If the team does not set its self up to succeed in the future, it will be their own fault. This is a summer of chances, starting with the head coach, and continuing to the roster players.