Breaking news: Ryan Strome wants $5.7 million in arbitration filing

Ryan Strome is asking for a lot of money and the New York Rangers want to pay a lot less

With Ryan Strome’s arbitration hearing scheduled for this Thursday, it was revealed what the player is asking for and what the team is offering. There’s a wide gap between the two numbers.  Strome is asking for $5.7 million and the Rangers offer is $3.6 million.

We’ve covered the Strome restricted free agency ad nauseum as it is one of the only remaining storylines for the Rangers (along with Brendan Lemieux) so we don’t have to get into the details.

Let’s just say that it appears the two sides are far apart as they enter the stretch run of their negotiations.  Here are three things to remember about this arbitration:

1. The arbitrator doesn’t have to accept one or the other number. He can come down anywhere in between and in most cases he will split the difference.  In this case, that would mean an arbitration award of around $4.6 million.
2. As a result, Strome has to ask for more than he thinks he is going to get.  Just as the Rangers have to offer less than they are willing to pay.
3. The Rangers can walk away from the award if the sum is higher than $4,538,938.   That would make Strome a free agent, free to sign with any team.
4. If the award is less than $4,538,938, the Rangers have to honor it and pay Strome the money.
5. If the Rangers walk away, Strome has four days to decide if he wants to take the original $3.6 million offer from the Blueshirts.  He could choose to do that if in those four days there is an indication that he couldn’t get even that much in a depressed free agent marketplace.
6. Due to his age, this is a one-year contract.

The Blueshirts are hard against the cap ceiling with performance bonuses a key issue for the team.  While not guaranteed, they are on the hook for hefty performance bonuses for Alexis Lafrenière, Kaapo Kakko and Igor Shesterkin and if they have to pay them out they face a still carryover penalty next season along with an issue this season.

You can be sure that Strome’s camp and the Rangers are continuing to talk.   There’s still time to come to an agreement, though from these numbers, finding an agreeable number may be difficult.