Brendan Lemieux signs, Tony DeAngelo still waiting
By Steve Paulus
Brendan Lemieux signed a one year deal late Wednesday meaning the New York Rangers have one unsigned restricted free agent left in Anthony DeAngelo.
There’s nothing like writing an article speculating if Brendan Lemieux is worth anything close to what Pavel Zacha signed for and then he goes out and inks a one year deal with the New York Rangers for $925k. The Lemieux signing leaves Tony DeAngelo as the only unsigned Ranger and on the verge of the first holdout in years.
The Lemieux deal makes sense for the Rangers purely on a cap basis. The Blueshirts have absolutely no flexibility when it comes to the salary cap and they needed to get him signed for little as possible. He will be eligible for arbitration as a restricted free agent next summer and that’s where the deal makes sense for Lemieux.
The ball is completely in the 23 year old’s court this season. If he can build on his success last season and improve his numbers and continue to be a physical presence, he will be worth much more next year.
Last season he had 12 goals and five assists in 64 games in Winnipeg and New York. His 108 penalty minutes ranked fifth in the NHL. His nine goal total for the Jets was elevated by an unworldly 24.3% shooting percentage. He came down to earth with a 10% shooting percentage in New York, but was a more valuable player for the Rangers, nearly doubling his average playing time.
Lemieux was a favorite of coach David Quinn and he used him in on all four lines. His conditioning was an issue and he was clearly unable to keep up in some games when he had a lot of ice time.
Going into this season, Lemieux sits 11th or 12th on the forward depth chart. He is destined for a third or fourth line role, but his ability to play tough is in his favor. If anything, this one year contract will drive him to have a good season so he can hit paydirt next summer.
That’s the danger for the Rangers. They have 14 players under contract for the 2020-21 season and they are looking at just over $16 million in cap space to fill out the remaining eight slots. While some prospects like Vitali Kravtsov will fill those positions, they still have to sign RFA’s Alexandar Georgiev, Ryan Strome , Lemieux and potentially Tony DeAngelo and re-sign or replace Chris Kreider, Vlad Namestnikov and Jesper Fast. It will be tight.