Making a case for Kevin Shattenkirk to stay

Talks of buyouts and the New York Rangers are linked arm-in-arm at the moment and Kevin Shattenkirk is at the very heart of most of those discussions.

We’re in the dog days of the offseason right now but there is no rest for the wicked as the New York Rangers are currently finding out. Despite enjoying a summer that the majority, if not all, of the 30 NHL franchises would be envious of, there is still work to be done.

After selecting Kaapo Kakko with the No.2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, trading for Adam Fox and Jacob Trouba in addition to winning free agency after landing one of the best playmakers the game has to offer in Artemi Panarin, the Blueshirts are now having to navigate the stormy seas of the salary cap.

As it stands, the Rangers are currently $4,156,466 over the cap ceiling of $81.5 million for 2019-20 and will obviously have to make some moves in order to get back under the salary cap. Those moves could come via trade with Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Vladislav Namestnikov having already been shopped around according to various reports.

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Then there of course is the good old buyout, which has probably been talked about on this site more in the last month than it has in the last three or four years combined. Brendan Smith and Marc Staal are also considered to be potential buyout candidates, but it is Shattenkirk that is gaining the most traction at the moment.

Now, our very own Steve Paulus has done a terrific breakdown of what a buyout of Shattenkirk’s contract will look like and why he doesn’t think it is a good idea. I strongly recommend that you give it a read.

As Steve has delved deeply into the complicated intricacies of a potential buyout of Shattenkirk’s contract, I am going to focus more on why I think hanging on to Shattenkirk for another year at least could be a good idea for the Rangers front office.

Granted, General Manager Jeff Gorton has to do something in order to ensure the Rangers are cap compliant for 2019-20 and, if trades or other buyouts of Smith or Staal aren’t possible, then Shattenkirk will have to go, but this is based on the scenario that other moves can and will be made.

We all know by now Shattenkirk’s backstory in New York and we won’t rehash every single detail, but it is fair to say that the defenseman’s homecoming has been anything but a triumph, with injuries, a clear regression in his game and a change of circumstances all hindering a player who was brought to Broadway to make a difference.

It obviously hasn’t panned out that way and many Rangers fans are ready to call Shattenkirk’s time in The Big Apple a bust and move swiftly on. Admittedly, it has been frustrating to watch the 30-year-old’s career implode and nose-dive, but not all of that has been of his own making.

You can’t plan for injuries and there is no doubt that the torn meniscus he suffered in October , 2017 had a bigger impact on Shattenkirk and his game than many could have predicted at the time it happened. He’s never been the same player since and it is also clear that his confidence has taken an almighty hit too.

Of course, expectations were high as soon as he signed his $26 million contract two years ago and his performances will always be compared to the high price of that deal. And it also didn’t help that the Rangers signed Shattenkirk, who at the time was the biggest prize of free agency, as the final piece of their Stanley Cup puzzle, only to decide to blow everything up and start over mere months later.

But it is also important to note that Shattenkirk hasn’t been a complete disaster and he did show flashes of returning to a top-four caliber defenseman in 2018-19. His 50.39 expected goals for percentage at 5-on-5 ranked first among Rangers blueliners, and he also finished the year with the 89th lowest PDO among 180 NHL defensemen who had logged at least 1,100 minutes of 5v5 ice time in 2018-19.

There’s no doubt that Blueshirts fans will point to Shattenkirk’s struggles on the power play after the defenseman tallied just seven points (one goal, six assists) on the man advantage last year. That is a poor return for a player who was known as a power play specialist prior to his move to New York after recording 146 of his 298 career points on the man advantage.

However, there could still be a role on this team for Shattenkirk who could certainly help during this stage of the rebuild. For starters, he has a wealth of experience and will be a wise old head on what will be one of the youngest rosters in the NHL for the second consecutive season.

Secondly, there is no doubt that Shattenkirk is now behind Jacob Trouba, Tony DeAngelo and Adam Fox on the depth chart in terms of right-handed defensemen, but that could almost be a blessing for Shattenkirk. The spotlight will be on Trouba in 2019-20 which should give Shattenkirk the opportunity to try and get his game back in order without having heaps of pressure loaded on his shoulders day in and day out.

Also, there are bound to be growing pains for Fox during his rookie year and he could benefit greatly from having someone like Shattenkirk around to help mentor him, talk to him immediately after games and help him learn his craft during practices. Shattenkirk is praised for being a great locker room guy and, as such, he would no doubt welcome the challenge of taking a young stud under his wing and helping to make the transition to the majors a smooth one.

And there’s another string to that bow too. Ryan McDonagh spent half a year in the AHL after leaving Wisconsin and that could be a path Fox has to tread at some point too. If that does happen then Shattenkirk would be a luxury you could slot in and out of the lineup as and when he’s needed.

Also, should he start to play at the peak of his powers again then that will only spark a surge in his trade value and make him a much more valuable commodity to move, which could give the Rangers some flexibility at next year’s trade deadline.

There is the looming caveat that shelling out $6,650,000 for what would ultimately be a glorified seventh-defenseman is one hell of a price to pay but, given the rather hefty implications of a buyout, what is there to lose at this point?

Shattenkirk has spoken of his desire to remain a Ranger and make this work and maybe altering his role could help to resurrect his career at Madison Square Garden. He would no doubt be willing to become a glue guy in the locker room, act as a mentor to the likes of Fox and Libor Hajek and work hard to become at least a solid player for the New York Rangers. Shattenkirk’s prime years may be gone but there shouldn’t be a rush to give up on him completely.

The Kevin Shattenkirk story in New York may have a happy ending in-store yet.