A little over three years ago, the New York Rangers signed Derek Stepan to a six year, $39 million contract. Little did Stepan know, but his contract helped pave the way for Kevin Hayes’ one year, $5.125 million signing.
The New York Rangers should have mixed feelings after signing Kevin Hayes to his short-term extension. The center scored a career high 25 goals last season and is looking to hold a bigger role during the team’s rebuild. While the Rangers got lucky with the deal only being one year, the $5.125 bridge deal could lead to difficult negotiations come next offseason.
The team has some notable RFA’s coming up in the 2019-20 offseason, and with Hayes becoming a UFA, things could get difficult for the team. Pavel Buchnevich and Neal Pionk are set to become RFAs in 2019-20. Buchnevich is expected to take a larger role in the offense, and Pionk is projected to make the blueline come opening night.
Where does Stepan, now an Arizona Coyote, fit into all this? It was Stepan, who bridged his contract too high that paved the way for Hayes’ deal.
Step-effect
It’s fair to say that Stepan earned every dollar he was given as a Blueshirt. His bridge contract was a two year, $6.15 million deal. While he arguably had his two best seasons during this contract, it set the stage for a contract that was more than the Rangers could afford when looking to land Kevin Shattenkirk.
Hayes’ bridge contract is already a little over two million more than Stepan’s was. Stepan upgraded from making $3.075 million AAV during the bridge deal to $6.5 million AAV. Being more than double the bridge deal, that $6.5 million was quite the raise.
Based on this, it looks like Hayes will be looking for a massive payday come next offseason. Hayes hasn’t had the same numbers as Stepan, both in the regular season and the post season. However, Hayes is expecting to follow up that 25 goal performance with a huge year. He has continued to grow and get better over the last two seasons, and on a team that has nothing to lose, he could shine.
Future possibilities
The Rangers have proven through this rebuild that they are willing to move almost anyone and aren’t afraid to make a deal, blockbuster or not. If it becomes apparent to the team that they aren’t going to be able to sign Hayes long term after the season, I expect him to be gone at the deadline.
The Rangers only have one additional draft pick in the 2019 draft, a conditional pick from Tampa Bay, and may want to load up again for the first few rounds. If they trade Hayes they will probably look to get a first rounder in the deal. Although, I’m not sure that many teams would want to take the risk on a player who may not resign with them at season’s end.
If the Rangers end up working out an extension, I think it’ll be a five or six year extension of at least $7.5 million AAV and a no trade clause. Stepan got a huge payday after his bridge deal. While Stepan’s AAV was doubled, to double Hayes’ contract is insanity. Besides the fact that the team doesn’t have that kind of money, Hayes isn’t a $10 million player.
Hayes would look to Stepan’s $6.5 as an absolute basement price, and pending a strong year, could work his way from anywhere between $7.5-$8 million. A lot of this is due to the rising cap.
It’s interesting to see how one player’s contract affects the negotiations of another’s. While ultimately Stepan was traded to the Yotes, if Hayes signs long term he’ll eventually be bought out, or traded before his NTC kicks in.