Rangers add defenseman Anthony Bitetto and goalie Keith Kinkaid

It wasn’t a big day for the New York Rangers in the free agent marketplace, but they filled some roster holes

What a difference a year makes.  Last summer, on the first day of Free Agent Frenzy, the Blueshirts inked the top available player when they signed Artemi Panarin.  This year, it’s been much calmer as the New York Rangers filled a couple more depth holes on their roster, adding defenseman Anthony Bitetto and goalie Keith Kinkaid.  They are both 30-somethings with some NHL experience and oddly enough, they are both Long Island natives.

Who is Anthony Bitetto?

Anthony Bitetto is 31 years old and signed for two years at an Annual Average Value (AAV) of $737,500.   He is a hard hitting, physical left-shot defenseman who has played 183 NHL games over the last six years for Nashville, Minnesota and most recently, Winnipeg.   Bitetto is from Island Park in Nassau  County and was drafted in the sixth round of the 2010 draft by the Predators out of Northeastern University.  He spent extensive time in the AHL before making it to the NHL for good and has not been in the minors for the last two years.

In 51 games for Winnipeg, he had 145 hits and 50 blocked shots.  That hit total would have ranked third on the Rangers and was only 28 fewer than Jacob Trouba’s team leading 173 hits.  He has scored only two goals in his career and is on a two and a half year goal-less drought. .

After being a regular on the Winnipeg blueline, he will fit in to the Rangers as a depth and third pair defenseman and looks to battle Jack Johnson and Brendan Smith for ice time.

Who is Keith Kinkaid?

By signing Keith Kinkaid, Jeff Gorton gets one nagging need out of the way.   The Rangers needed to add a goalie to their roster who they can expose in the Seattle expansion draft and Kincaid fits the bill.

Kinkaid, 31,  signed a two year contract with an AAV of $875k.   He is from Farmingville in Suffolk County and was an undrafted free agent signed by the New Jersey Devils in 2011.  He had some really good years with the Devils posting a sub 2.81 Goals Against Average and a Save Percentage better than .904 for three straight years.

He split goaltending duties with Cory Schneider and led New Jersey to the post-season in 2017-18 with a 26-10-3 record, but when he had a chance to own the top slot in 2018-19, he was outplayed by Mackenzie Blackwood.  That led to an eventual trade to Columbus in February 2019.   Signed as a free agent by Montreal prior to last season as the backup to Carey Price, he was a disappointment and ended up on loan to the Charlotte franchise in the AHL.

Besides being a goalie the Rangers can expose in the draft, Kinkaid is also a veteran backup for the Rangers in case of injury.  He has played in 157 NHL games  compared to the 89 NHL games total experience for the other four netminders the Rangers have under contract.

Jesper Fast rumors

So far, there has been no confirmed signing of Jesper Fast though several Twitter sources have proclaimed him going to Toronto, Nashville and Philadelphia.   On Wednesday Jeff Gorton said that they would wait to see what kind of money he was offered before they decide what to do and that appears to be precisely what is happening.

That seems to be the theme of day one of Free Agent Frenzy.  Only seven of the Hockey News’ top 30 UFA’s have been signed with four of them goaltenders.  All of the top free agents are still unsigned including Alex Pietrangelo, Taylor Hall, Torey Krug, Mike Hoffman, Evgenii Dadnov, Tyson Barrie and Tyler Toffoli.

Center Erik Haula was seen as a potential Rangers target and he remains unsigned.  It’s looking more and more like the Blueshirts will move ahead with their existing set of defenders along with free agent signees Jack Johnson and Anthony Bitetto.   A major trade could still upend that strategy.