New York Rangers: Dispelling the Kevin Shattenkirk is bad myth

Ever since New York Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk arrived in New York, it’s been an uphill climb for the New Rochelle native. However, considering him a buyout candidate is flat out absurd.

With one of the most loaded free agent classes in NHL history expected to be available on July 1st this summer, teams around the league are scrambling to find cap space wherever each can. As of now, the New York Rangers are expected to have around $20 million in cap space when free agency opens before signing any of its restricted free agents.

With New York rumored to be in the mix for both Columbus Blue Jackets Forward Artemi Panarin and San Jose Sharks defensemen Erik Karlsson, the team would need to be creative to get up to the roughly $25 million in cap space it’d require to sign the pair of all-stars.

One of the potential methods for freeing up some money this summer is buying a player out of their current contract. The three candidates for the Rangers are defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith and Marc Staal, all of who have two or more years remaining on their respective contracts.

Of the three, Shattenkirk has played the best this season and it’s not much of a debate. Even if the defenseman is no longer the player he was in St. Louis, the New Rochelle native is still one of the best power play quarterbacks in the league and has a great vision of the ice. In today’s NHL, Shattenkirk has the necessary skills to thrive.

As for Staal and Smith, neither is well suited for the modern NHL. In the heavy league of 2013, both were able to mash along the boards and stop the other team from getting the offensive zone. But at this point in their respective careers, having both on the team at the same time is redundant.

Just how good is Shattenkirk?

Much of the frustration around Shattenkirk’s time with the Rangers stems from the initial courtship process and the expectations. Fresh off of a disappointing second-round exit from the 2017 postseason against the Ottawa Senators due to a terrible performance from the blue line, Shattenkirk was supposed to be the missing piece.

At the time replacing the bought out Dan Girardi with Shattenkirk seemed like an obvious upgrade. Putting then number one defenseman Ryan McDonagh alongside a quality puck mover was supposed to be a move that put the Rangers over the top and bolstered their Stanley Cup chances. However, the core of that team was falling apart and head coach Alain Vigneault lost the team.

Throw in the fact that Shattenkirk missed a majority of his first season in New York due to a knee injury and the recipe for a Wade Redden-esque signing was brewing. But, assertions like Larry Brook’s of the New York Post that the defenseman is playing for his Rangers career feels like a step too far.

Both sides wanted more for this relationship when the contract was agreed to. When Shattenkirk has been healthy, he’s been a perfectly fine second pair defenseman. There were always defensive holes in his game dating back to his time with the Blues organization. However, with less offensive production, the holes seem more glaring.

Shattenkirk’s 23 points on the blue line rank second of the team’s defenseman only behind the emergent Tony DeAngelo. In addition, the New Rochelle native is still a quality possession player as a basically even corsi for percentage, meaning that when he’s on the ice, the Rangers and the other team have about the same number of scoring chances.

Part of what made the Mats Zuccarello, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider combination so potent last month was Shattenkirk’s work on the power play. As a distributor, the defenseman is still above average even though he lost a step.

With a clogged right side on the Ranger blue line, someone like Shattenkirk should be given priority. Unless the team is fully committed and knows that Karlsson will be a free agent come July, it’d be dumb to buyout Shattenkirk at this point. With two years remaining on his deal at $6.64 million per year, he’s a reasonably priced offensive defenseman.

If the team were to buy him out, it’d cost $1,483,333 for next season, $6,083,333 for 2020-21 and $1,433,333 for each of the following two seasons against the cap. The Rangers need to be mindful of the dead money situation which includes Matt Beleskey, Ryan Spooner and Girardi.

If anything, the team needs to consider buying out Staal the most. The veteran has the most term remaining on his deal and contributes pretty much nothing in the offensive zone. Even though Smith doesn’t either, he’s at least good at holding his own blue line and only has two years remaining on his deal.

The Rangers need to prioritize offensively inclined defenseman that drives possession. The NHL of the future doesn’t have a place for guys like Staal and Girardi that leave the team playing four on five in the offensive zone. It’s okay to expect more from Shattenkirk, but acting like he’s the worst defenseman on the team is an over reacation based on his play.