Arbitration hearings are looming for two New York Rangers. Will they sign before Friday?
23 NHL players who filed for arbitration had hearings scheduled, including four New York Rangers. So far, only one player, Tyler Bertuzzi, has actually had an arbitration hearing. 17 players settled on a contract before their hearings, including Tony DeAngelo and Alexandar Georgiev.
That leaves five players still waiting including Ryan Strome and Brendan Lemieux. Strome’s hearing is scheduled for Friday, November 5 and Lemieux’s is scheduled for Saturday, November 6. The other players awaiting arbitration are the Islanders Ryan Pulock (November 6), the Ottawa Senators Christian Jaros (November 7) and McKenzie Weegar of the Florida Panthers (November 8).
While Lemieux and Strome are forwards, the others are all defensemen so there won’t be much of a comparison if they do settle before their hearings. There were two forwards who just signed and it is worth looking at their deals.
Olofsson and Strome
Victor Olofsson of the Buffalo Sabres signed a two-year, $6.1 million deal on Thursday and that was a signing that could impact the Strome negotiations. With an Average Annual Value of $3.05 million, it’s not the $3.1 million Strome made this year with the Rangers.
Olofsson, a right winger, has only played one year in the NHL. He made his debut as an older rookie last season at age 24. He scored 22 goals and totaled 42 points in 54 games and was an early contender for the Calder Trophy. He had one 30 goal season in the AHL after coming to North America from Sweden in 2018-19.
While statistically Olofsson and Strome are similar in goal scoring totals, the fact that Strome is a veteran center who is the pivot for Artemi Panarin means that the $3 million for Olofsson raises Strome’s bar a little higher. The question is how much.
Foegele and Lemieux
The other player who was headed for arbitration who signed was forward Warren Foegele of the Carolina Hurricanes. Ranger fans will remember him for his series clinching goal against the Blueshirts in the Stanley Cup Qualifier. He signed a one-year deal on Sunday for $2.15 million, avoiding a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
There are some similarities between Foegele and Lemieux. Foegele is a 24 year old left winger who has played two full seasons in the NHL He established career highs with 13 goals and 17 assists for 30 points. Foegele is known as a high energy player who is an important bottom six player for the Hurricanes. He was coming off an Entry Level Contract that paid him $800k a year.
Lemieux, also 24 and a left winger, fills much the same role for the Rangers. He was paid $925k on a one-year deal he signed last season. He has also played two full seasons in the NHL, last season scoring six goals and adding 12 assists for 18 points. He dropped from 12 goals in his rookie season, but doubled his assist total.
One major difference is penalty minutes. Lemieux spends a lot more time in the sin bin than Foegele with 111 minutes in penalties last season compared to 34 minutes for the Carolina forward. Foegele was also a regular on the penalty kill and had three shorthanded goals.
So, can Lemieux point to the Foegele contract as a deal comparable to what he should be making? Not according to Evolvinghockey.com who estimated a Lemieux contract at $1.32 million while they estimated a Foegele deal at $2.26 million.
Claude Lemieux is the President of the 4Sports & Entertainment talent agency and is representing his son in his negotiations with the Rangers and that could make it a bit more complicated. It may not mean anything related to Brendan’s negotiations, but Claude had a contentious relationship with all of the teams he played for. He is remembered for taking the New Jersey Devil to arbitration after he contended that a contract that he had signed with the team was invalid because it was a faxed copy and not the original.
This week
The Rangers are going to do everything they can to avoid an arbitration hearing. The last time a Ranger player had a hearing was in 2009 when the team walked away from the $3.9 million contract awarded to forward Nikolai Zherdev. After a 23 goal, 58 point season with the Blueshirts, he spurned an offer of $3.25 million and took the team to arbitration. When the Rangers rejected the arbitration, it allowed him to be come an Unrestricted Free Agent. He went on to play in the KHL the rest of his career except for one season with the Flyers.
The Rangers can walk away from an arbitration award for Strome, only if it exceeds $4,538,958. If the award is lower than that, the team has to accept it. This year there is an additional one-time only wrinkle. If a team elects to walk away from an award, the player can elect to accept the sum the team filed for.
So, if Strome asks for $5.5 million and the team offers $4 million and the arbitration award is for $4.7 million, the Rangers can elect to walk away. At that point, Strome has four days to decide if he wants to take the original Ranger offer or test free agency.
It can go down to the wire when it comes to both Strome and Lemieux and there is no reason to believe that it won’t. Both players have made it clear that they want to remain in New York, but considering the cap situation the Rangers are facing, the team will make every effort to save money. It’s going to be an interesting week.