Breaking news: Two-year, $9 million deal for Ryan Strome

Ryan Strome has agreed to a two year contract extension with the New York Rangers, avoiding arbitration

As was expected, both side split the difference and Ryan Strome agreed to a two year deal with the Rangers for $9 million, an Annual Average Value (AAV) of $4.5 million.  In their arbitration filings, Strome had asked for $5.7 million and the Rangers had offered $3.6 million.

The deal was reported by Larry Brooks of the New York Post and hjas not been confirmed by the team yet.

The contract means that only Brendan Lemieux remains unsigned and he should get done in the next 24 hours.   Lemieux has asked for $2 million and the Rangers have countered with a two year deal worth $1.01 million annually.  They should come down somewhere in between.

Strome’s base pay for 2020-21 is $4 million and it jumps to $5 million in the second year.  It’s a decent raise on the $3.1 million that Strome made on a contract he signed with Edmonton in 2018.   He will be an Unrestricted Free Agent when this deal expires after the 2021-21 season.

The Rangers are now set at center on their top two lines as it is likely that Strome will continue as center for left winger Artemi Panarin. The question is who will replace Jesper Fast on the right side with numerous candidates including Kaapo Kako and Julien Gauthier and prospects like Vitali Kravtsov.

The deal leaves the Rangers with $8,483,201 in cap space.  If Lemieux signs for about $1.5 million they will have just under $7 million, but they have performance bonus exposure of almost $4 million so they have virtually no wiggle room.

With the 27-year old Strome under contract, it looks like the Rangers are done for this off-season and will go into the 2020-21 season with players on the current roster.  The big questions going  into the season will be how well rookies like Alexis Lafrenière, Vitali Kravtsov and K’Andre Miller play and who will break into a starting or starring role.

Strome will have two years to prove that his career year was not completely dependent on his teaming with Artemi Panarin.  If anything, he will want to prove that he helped Panarin to his career best season.   Strome could find himself exposed in next summer’s expansion draft or he could be trade bait at the next trade deadline if the team feels that they have better long term options at center.