New York Rangers: Balancing the salary cap like a contender

Of the three teams remaining in the playoffs, none have a player that makes more than San Jose Sharks’ defenseman Brent Burns who makes $8 million per season. With free agency on the horizon, the New York Rangers need to tread lightly.

Building through free agency adds a level of risk to roster design that other methods don’t. While only having to give up cap space to a player is preferable to trading away a roster player to get another back, it does add an added level of control. As of now, the New York Rangers are expected to have around $12 million in cap space once the team’s restricted free agents are signed.

The rumor mill linked Columbus Blue Jackets forward Artemi Panarin to the Rangers almost as soon as he arrived in Ohio. The Russian’s desire to play in a better market is one of the worst kept secrets in the entire league. So, with ample cap space and a need for an elite player, New York makes sense as a landing spot this summer.

However, it’s just not that simple. On the open market, Panarin is expected to court north of $10 million per season. That figure will represent nearly 1/8 of the team’s salary cap if the rumored $83 million ceilings come to fruition for next season.

In the short term while a majority of the Rangers’ roster is designed around young players on entry-level contracts it’s not an issue. Yet, it’d limit the team’s ability to retain its own young talent with so much money tied up in just one player.

The contenders

Using the three remaining teams in the postseason, there is a clear model for success. Granted, the Carolina Hurricanes are in a slightly different boat in terms of their cap situation, but the point is true regardless. Instead of one or two big ticket players that hover around $10 million annually, there is a heavy concentration of players that fall between $6 and $8 million per year.

After the aforementioned Burns who makes $8 million per, the next two closest players are Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Evander Kane who make $7 million each. These mid-tier contracts allow for a greater volume of quality players throughout the lineup and avoid a top-heavy group that overly relies on a single line.

The Sharks’ opponent in the Western Conference final, the St.Louis Blues follow a similar model. The duo of Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly each make $7.5 million per season with defenseman Alex Pietrangelo checking in at $6.5 million per year.

Switching over to the Eastern Conference, it’s more of the same up in Boston with the Bruins. The team that swept the conference final’s highest paid player is center David Krejci at $7.25 million per year. After the Czech are Patrice Bergeron who makes $6.875 million, David Pasternak who makes $6.66 million per year and Brad Marchand at $6.125.

The Hurricanes are a special case as a small market team that’s got nearly $16 million in cap space. The bunch of jerks’ highest paid player is Jordan Staal who makes $6 million per year.

How they set up for success

What all of these teams have in common aside from not having enormous commitments to a single player was a willingness to take a risk on one of their own. These organizations were able to recognize the importance of a player like Burns or Tarasenko early on that paying them wasn’t just prescient, it was building the foundation of a contender.

Instead of bridge dealing along one of these players through their mid-20s, their G.M.s were willing to pay a premium price for restricted free agent years to save money in the long-term. The Blues having defenseman Colton Parayko under contract for four more years at $5.5 million per is highway robbery.

On the open market, Parayko could easily fetch north of $8 million per from a team desperate to fix its defense. But, since the Blues were willing to pay him more than it needed to as a restricted free agent, they saved money in the long-term.

Look at what the Rangers did with both Brady Skjei and Mika Zibanejad. Signing both players to long-term deals early on in their careers keeps their cap hit manageable. It’s a lot easier said than done to draft well or acquire quality talent that can be extended before becoming an unrestricted free agent, but it’s an essential component of any contender.

Final thoughts

So, before New York’s front office goes running into free agency with guns blazing, it should think long and hard about what it took to get to this point. Over the last 18 months, the Rangers’ executives put an emphasis on acquiring young talent and building through the draft. Signing a player like Panarin is a fine move, but it does put a strain on the rest of the lineup.

If one player is making $11.5 million they need to be able to provide the impact that comes with that price tag. Even if Panarin were to hypothetically score 40 goals next season and record 85 points, would that translate to fair value for that cap hit?

Now, to be fair, the Rangers aren’t going to enter this upcoming season with the expectation of winning a Stanley Cup. The front office has the leeway to keep building slowly over time, after all, the prospects need time to develop into players. So a Panarin signing might have subsequent moves attached to it to create more cap space.

With a workable model so clearly on display in front of them, the Rangers should tread lightly going into the summer. Committing too much money to one player can cripple a team’s ability to contend.