New York Rangers: Why Fredrik Claesson has been a steal

The first day of July marked the beginning of the first summer of free agency following the firing of head coach Alain Vigneault. The only move the Rangers made was the signing of 26 year old Fredrik Claesson, what many saw as a minor transaction.

While other teams made moves like acquiring acquired top tier scoring talent like John Tavares and James van Riemsdyk, the New York Rangers opted to just re-sign assets like Brady Skjei, Kevin Hayes, Vlad Namestnikov and Ryan Spooner.   They did make several small moves, signing Claesson and trading for Adam McQuaid, to bolster their defense, their weakest link.

It can be argued that the Rangers team of 2017-18 collapsed from the inside based on the lack of consistency from the defensive group, which also dealt with some injury issues. The heart of the Rangers defense that started the season was led by Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan McDonagh, Brendan Smith and Marc Staal, along with Brady Skjei and Nick Holden. By the end of the season that group was broken up by trade, injury or banishment to the minors.  The new Ranger defense was anchored by sophomore Brady Skjei and complimented by youngsters like Neal Pionk, Tony DeAngelo, Rob O’Gara and John Gilmour.

Among those five young defensemen, only one, Tony DeAngelo, had a Corsi percentage over 50%. Corsi measures the amount of total shots (including blocks and misses) the players on the ice you play with produce versus the amount of total shots you allow.  The entire Ranger defense, save DeAngelo, could be expected to allow more shots than the team took and that is not a recipe for winning hockey games.

It’s in the contract

Claesson signed a single year deal worth $700,000 with the Rangers, a slight bump up from amount he had made the year prior for the Senators. What makes Claesson a great pick-up is his undeniable value as a defensive cornerstone at this price. His play in the last few weeks has raised comparisons to former Ranger defenseman, Anton Stralman.  Stralman was a phenomenal defensive asset for the price and the Rangers’ decision to keep Dan Girardi over him is one they regret to this day.

With Claesson, you are not paying for offensive production.  He has only one point, a goal, in ten games. However, you are paying for an incredibly reliable back end resource with decent size.  At 6’1” and about 200 pounds, Claesson is tougher customer than DeAngelo or Pionk.

Claesson’s career

Claesson has never been an offensive force.  In 123 NHL games he has produced just 21 points.  It’s obvious that Claesson wasn’t signed to fill the offensive void left by Ryan McDonagh.   He was very dependable in Ottawa and spent more minutes as Erik Karlsson’s partner than with any other defenseman.

In his ten games with the Rangers, Claesson has averaged over 17 minutes a game, the second highest mark of his career. It seems that Claesson has demonstrated to head coach David Quinn that he is entirely capable of providing a very solid defensive game.

Claesson will be a restricted free agent after this season. If he continues to play to a high level, he could easily double his current salary.  It will be interesting to see how the Rangers handle their negotiations with the memory of Anton Stralman still in their minds.