Free agent marketplace: Centers the Rangers could pursue
The New York Ranger have a shopping list. One need is a top six center though if Mika Zibanejad gets a new contract that need is less crucial. The Rangers also have Ryan Strome under contract for one more year before he becomes a free agent.
Perhaps a more important need is a bottom six center who is “hard to play against” and can win faceoffs. Another factor that hasn’t been mentioned much is that the current Rangers team has only one player, Chris Kreider, who has gotten as far as the Stanley Cup Final. The only members of the entire organization who have Stanley Cup rings are Drury and fringe contributors like Doug Risebrough, Adam Graves and Brad Richards. The team could use some playoff-hardened players with a winning pedigree to serve as role models for the young Rangers.
The free agent marketplace has some players who fit the bill. We’ll start with candidates for a top six role.
Top six centers
If the Rangers look to acquire a top six center, with their push for immediate contention, age is not that important a factor if they can sign someone for reasonable term. That said, there are not a lot of names on the UFA list that would be of interest.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins looks to be the class of the UFA centers. He is just 28 years old and has been a solid 20 goal scorer who will usually end up with about 60 points as he had for eight NHL seasons. He’s defensively responsible and is not great on faceoffs with a 44.4% lifetime winning percentage. He is coming off a seven-year, $42 million contract with an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $6 million.
He compares to Ryan Strome with very similar stats to the numbers that Strome has put up in his three years in New York. Nugent-Hopkins has similar possession figures to Strome, he has just been doing it more consistently for longer than the Ranger center.
The Rangers will be watching where Nugent-Hopkins ends up as it could set a bar for Strome when his contract expires after next season.
David Krejci is no youngster at age 35, but he still makes the grade as a top six center. He’s not the scorer that he was when he was younger, but he is an excellent two-way center and is very strong on faceoffs.
An important fact is that he has a winning pedigree with the Bruins where he has played his entire 15 year career. Whether he even wants to leave Boston is a big question and a lot hinges on the salary cap and what the Bruins do with Taylor Hall.
Krejci is coming off a six-year, $43.5 million contract with an AAV of $7.25 million so he won’t come cheap.
Paul Stastny is another senior citizen, turning 36 in December, but he was an important player for the Winnipeg Jets. He is one of the best faceoff men in the NHL with a lifetime winning percentage of 54% and he can still score, with 13 goals and 29 points in 56 games for the Jets.
He has always been a very solid possession player and an added bonus is he played for Gerard Gallant in Vegas. That’s where he signed his last contract, three years for $19.5 million at an AAV of $6.5 million. Despite his age he is durable, not missing a game the last two seasons.
That’s it for top six candidates. The Rangers my be better served checking out the bottom six UFA centers.
Bottom six centers who can win faceoffs
The likelihood is that the Rangers will be looking at the UFA ranks to find a bottom six center who can win draws. Kevin Rooney did an adequate job in that role this season, but his 45% faceoff number was not good enough. If the Rangers are willing to pay more than the league minimum $750k they paid him, they can do better.
Philip Danault has been the one player who has raised his profile and value this off-season. The 28-year old has become a favorite of the NBC broadcasters for his ability to win faceoffs and his defensive play. In doing so, they may have priced him out of the Rangers’ market.
The former first round pick (Chicago, 2011) is one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL and there is no denying his faceoff ability (53.1% lifetime). He has excellent possession numbers in six years in Montreal and he scored as many as 53 points three seasons ago.
He is coming off a three-year, $9.25 million contract with an AAV of $3.08 million and with the hype, he will be looking for a big raise that would make him too expensive as a third or fourth line center.
Nick Bonino checks off a lot of boxes as a bottom six forward target for the Rangers. He is 33 years old so he should have a few more useful years left. He is a top defensive forward who has gotten Selke Trophy consideration and he has a lifetime faceoff winning percentage of 50% and has been better than 50% his last four seasons. His 52.8% success rate led the Wild this season.
He has won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins so he has playoff experience as a winner and he can still contribute offensively. This season for the Wild, he played 55 of 56 games, scoring 10 goals and 26 points on the fourth line.
Bonino is coming off a four-year $16.4 million contract with an AAV of $4.1 million. Minnesota has to decide if they want to re-sign Bonino or Nick Bjugstad and indications are that they are leaning towards Bonino considering what he meant to the team.
Casey Cizikas is a very worthwhile target for the Blueshirts as he fills three big needs for the team. He can win draws with a lifetime winning percentage north of 50%, he is “hard to play against” and signing him would weaken their arch rival Islanders.
That said, would a player who has spent nine years on the other side of the rivalry be able to make the transition and would the Islanders allow him too leave? Cizikas is still fairly young at 30 and three years ago he actually scored 20 goals. Still, his value is what makes him so important to the Islanders’ fourth line, the perfect center for Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.
The Islanders were wise to sign him in 2016 for five years and $16.75 million for an AAV of $3.35 million. That may seem steep for a fourth liner, but he has been worth every penny. But now, the Isles are in cap hell with no space left and with seven UFA’s and six arbitration-eligible RFA’s including Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelech and Ilya Sorokin. If anyone is willing to pay Cizikas comparable money to what he is making, the Islanders won’t be able to afford him.
Tyler Bozak just turned 35, but he was a key player for the Blues and having won a Stanley Cup, he may be ready to leave St. Louis. He’s a solid contributor who is willing to take on any role and he was outstanding in the faceoff circle, winning 56.8% of his draws. He’s been below 50% only once in his 12 years in the NHL.
He put up five goals and 17 points in 31 games and despite missing seven weeks after a high hit from Mark Stone, he came back strong after the injury with five goals and 15 points in 24 games, an unusual recovery for a 35-year-old.
He just finished a three year deal with the Blues for an AAV of $5 million. If he is willing to take less and would want to be part of an up and coming Rangers team, he’s not a bad option and would be a strong veteran presence with a Stanley Cup ring.
Erik Haula is a player we’ve talked about in the past. A free agent last summer, he signed a one-year deal with Nashville for $1.75 million, too much for the Blueshirts. He responded with a season typical for him, scoring nine goals and 21 points in 51 games. The key stat is his 55.1% win rate on draws. A player like Haula would have been very helpful to the Rangers this season, but the salary cap priced him out of their plans.
Tomas Nosek played for Gerard Gallant in Vegas, though that may be a negative factor as Gallant benched him a few times. Nosek won’t score a lot, but he is strong on draws (52.6% lifetime) and he just had his best offensive season at age 28. He’s big at 6’3″, 210 pounds, but played only 38 games this season due to injuries. He made $1.25 million on a one-year deal with Vegas.
Sean Kuraly will probably not be re-signed by the Boston Bruins and he is just a couple of seasons removed from his best work as a fourth liner. He is 28 years old and he wins more faceoffs than he loses. He was in and out of the B’s lineup this season and had a bout with COVID so he didn’t play his best. He does fit the “hard to play against” category and if he is not looking for much more than his $1.275 AAV, he could be a possibility in New York.
Next up, the old timers and whatever is left.
The old timers
There are three older players who could help on the fourth line as role players who can win draws, but it’s doubtful the Rangers would be interested.
Travis Zajac is 36 and played his entire 15 year career for the Devils until he was sent to the Isles at the trade deadline. He’s solid defensively and can win faceoffs, but the question is how much gas is left in the tank.
He will be taking a big paycut from his $5.75 million annual AAV, the question is how much.
Eric Staal has proven his worth as a depth center for the Montreal Canadiens in their run to the Final this season, but the Rangers have been down this road before. A complete bust in New York in 2016, he proved that he was still an excellent NHL player in Minnesota, but his numbers slipped this season after being traded to Buffalo.
He’s a character player, but he will turn 37 in October and his best days are behind him.
Ryan Getzlaf is an intriguing option, but the odds are that he will either re-sign for a hometown discount in Anaheim or he will retire. Never a big scorer, Getzlaf is a solid citizen who is excellent defensively and is good in on the faceoff dots. He has made over $8 million a year for the last eight years so money is not an issue. If he does leave Anaheim, he will want to go to a contender for a last crack at the Cup which he won in 2007.
Nate Thompson has played for six teams in the last five years meaning he is a player that teams like to have, but don’t keep. He’ll be 37 in October so he is aging out rapidly, but he still is outstanding on faceoffs and solid on the penalty kill. He signed for the league minimum $750k before the season with Winnipeg and will be looking to do the same this year.
What’s left?
There are still a lot of UFA centers out there, but we focused on the ones who are best on faceoffs and would bring character to the Blueshirts. That remaining list includes Alexander Wennberg of Florida, coming off his best offensive season and Darren Helm who is a solid defensive option, but overpaid in Detroit. Mikael Granlund had an excellent season in Nashville, but wouldn’t bring much to the Rangers and will be looking to get a raise on his $3.75 million salary.
It’s hard to get excited about centers like Derek Stepan, Nick Bjugstad or Jordan Martinook. They are fine NHL players, but compared to what the Rangers already have in Rooney, Colin Blackwell and Brett Howden, there wouldn’t be an improvement.
What will be interesting to watch is how much Chris Drury and Gerard Gallant mind meld on the kind of players the Rangers needs. How they handle the Zibanejad situation and how they approach free agents will be worth watching as will the decision on who they expose in the expansion draft.
Every coach has his favorites as well as his favorite kind of player and Gallant is no different. It appears that the timeline that ownership has set is to make the playoffs next season and contend for a Cup as soon as two years from now. The key question is whether Drury will let Gallant have a hands-on chance to assess his players or will they make the moves that they need to get there before the season even starts.
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