New York Rangers: The Neal Pionk and Tony DeAngelo situation is familiar

When it comes to designing a well-balanced roster, an NHL general manager needs to eliminate redundancy and have a variety of talents. The New York Rangers are facing a similar issue this summer that they did last year.

There can only be so many of one type of player on an NHL roster. With too many similar talents, there eventually becomes a dearth of another skillset. In some cases, it’s just a matter of not having enough roster spots and salary cap to go around even if both players are talented. The New York Rangers are overstocked at several positions, in this particular case, it’s defense.

However, before covering the present, there is a similar situation we can look back to in recent memory. Going into the 2017-2018 NHL season, there was an expectation that the Rangers front office would have to choose between one of Kevin Hayes or J.T. Miller to sign to an extension because of their similarities and what was already in the system.

A middle six center capable of scoring somewhere between 40 and 50 points goes for around $5.5 million per year. There simply wasn’t enough cap space and lineup spots for the team to keep both Hayes and Miller last year. That’s ultimately why Miller was dealt at the deadline to Tampa Bay and Hayes was given a one-year extension as a restricted free agent.

Ultimately, Hayes didn’t stay with New York for too much longer, but a similar conundrum exists when it comes to Neal Pionk and Tony DeAngelo this upcoming summer. Both right-handed defensemen will be restricted free agents this summer but there is clearly a right and wrong decision to be made.

The case

Aside from being right-handed both Pionk and DeAngelo are more gifted in the offensive zone. Yet, it should be pointed out that Pionk has struggled after a hot start in his first 20 games of the season. Granted, the Minnesota-Duluth product has played the most minutes of any Ranger this season against tougher competition, but it is part of the case against him.

Yes, DeAngelo has issues in his own game, especially when it comes to defending his blue line. But, when it comes to transition and zone entry, the New Jersey native is one of the best in the entire NHL.

Using CJ Turturro’s zone entry statistics tool, we can see a couple of things. First of all, DeAngelo is excellent at getting out of his own zone as well as gaining the offensive zone. In the modern speed based NHL, these are invaluable traits and something every defenseman should be capable of doing.

While Pionk is a solid skater, his entry and exit stats pale in comparison to DeAngelo. Using the zone entry tool, there is a clear distinction between a slightly above average offensive defenseman and a great one.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that DeAngelo’s growth is one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises of the entire season for the Rangers.

The choice

There really shouldn’t be much of a debate as to what to do this summer. Both Pionk and DeAngelo are restricted free agents and 23-years-old meaning that they are four years away from unrestricted free agents. The conventional wisdom is to avoid offering a restricted free agent a bridge deal if said player fits into the team’s long-term plan and is trending upward.

The Rangers as an organization, however, are particularly fond of bridge deals as a way of minimizing risk. Sometimes they work out like Chris Kreider where the player is as advertised and doesn’t make a big jump in production which limits their potential earning power. Or, it ends up like Hayes who was bridged which likely forced him out of New York.

Both DeAngelo and Pionk will get a contract offer this summer, it’d be negligence to let the Minnesota native leave without getting some kind of compensation. However, the priority should be on giving DeAngelo slightly larger average annual value in these first two years of his deal so it can save money in the long term.

As for Pionk, his ceiling as a player at the NHL is more limited than DeAngelo and the team has higher profile pieces in the pipeline that have more invested in them. Eventually, Nils Lundkvist will come to North America and Joey Keane will get a look at the NHL level.

Since Pionk was a college free agent, the Rangers did not have to use a draft pick to select him and therefore can afford to simply let him play in the AHL or move him to another team. As this past trade deadline proved, teams are always willing to pay for a right-handed defenseman because there are so few quality ones.

While the rookie is a solid NHL player, he will likely never be anything more than a third pair defenseman who can get some time on a second power play unit.

Last time around, the Rangers made the right call in choosing to move Miller and keep Hayes even though it was brief. This time, DeAngelo is making the choice pretty easy for them.