2022 may be the perfect time for the New York Rangers to dive into the free agent marketplace.
With 2020 NHL Free Agency coming to a close, the New York Rangers are still a piece or two away from making a run at the Stanley Cup. That piece could potentially be available in the free agent marketplace after the 2021-22 season.
The free agent class of 2021 has a great deal of talent available and recently we took a look at some potential trade targets. Click here to see it.
However, there are few roadblocks preventing the New York Rangers from taking full advantage next summer. For starters, the league will more than likely still have a flat salary cap of $81.5 million. Dead cap space from buyouts will drop from $13 million to $4 million, but the team is facing a potential hit from performance bonus overages.
In addition, the entire league will rewrite itself in June of 2021 when, barring any more hurdles, the 32nd NHL franchise, the Seattle Kraken, will officially join the league. Expansion rules will allow teams to protect eight or ten players (depending on player’s positions and movement clauses). Judging off the Vegas expansion, there will be a swapmeet before and after the expansion draft and that could open up some potential acquisitions. It should also be noted that a Ranger today will be a Kraken tomorrow.
Rangers on Expiring Deals
Before the Rangers consider signing any free agents in 2022, they have to make some calls about their own talent. Next summer, decisions will need to be made about Filip Chytil, Pavel Buchnevich, Julien Gauthier, Brett Howden, Ryan Lindgren, and Igor Shesterkin. All of the aforementioned will be restricted free agents, which helps, but Buchnevich is arbitration eligible and could be used as trade bait. The Rangers do have a surplus of wingers…
However, after the 2021-22 season, the Rangers will have six pivotal names hitting the open market:
- Mike Zibanejad (UFA)
- Adam Fox (RFA)
- Kaapo Kaako (RFA)
- Vitali Kravtsov (RFA)
- Tony DeAngelo (RFA)
- Alexandar Georgiev (RFA)
Though the future is far from certain, it is beyond doubt that a lot of money will be dealt to these players. Depending on how the next two seasons go, Zibanejad will likely claim a contract in the $8-11 million range. Adam Fox will likely look for a deal similar to what DeAngelo just signed in the $4-5 million range. Kakko will likely look for a bridge deal for something between $3-6 million. Kravtsov needs to make the roster full-time first, but could be in line for a payday and Georgiev will be eligible for arbitration and may be trade bait with Adam Huska or Tyler Wall ready to step in as the backup goaltender.
There’s still plenty of time to see how things pan out, but major decisions surrounding the team’s core will ultimately need to be made yet again.
The good news is this, the 2022 free agent class is one of the deepest classes to date. If the New York Rangers have to let a player or two go, for whatever reason that might be, the 2022 free agency has plenty of replacement talent.
With that out of the way, here are ten players the New York Rangers should consider from the 2022 NHL free agency.