On July 10 in Rangers history: Lundqvist’s first real contract

What happened on July 10 in the history of the New York Rangers

On this date in 2007, the New York Rangers signed Henrik Lundqvist to his first contract after his Entry Level Contract. It was a one year deal for $4.25 million,  a big increase from his salary of $817k.   Why a one year deal?  Because, as usual, the Rangers were in big cap trouble.

Earlier that summer, the Rangers committed $14 million to Scott Gomez and Chris Drury and added a $2.5 million payout to Brendan Shanahan.   With the salary cap at $50.3 million, the big salaries made it impossible for the Rangers and Lundqvist to negotiate a longer deal.

The Rangers actually filed for arbitration with Lundqvist, who was a Restricted Free Agent and could have been given an offer sheet from another team. The arbitration filing prevented that.

The team ended up signing him to a six-year, $41 million extension in February 2008 when they knew they would have the cap space.

One consequence of their cap issues was that they were only able to ink Lundqvist for the one year.   They subsequently gave him that six year deal and then signed him to a seven-year deal before the 2014-15 season.   The issue was that Lundqvist was 32 when he signed that final contract and it took him to age 39.  As we all know, the Rangers were forced to buy out the last year of that deal and the cost of the buyout handcuffed the Rangers this season.   If they had been able to sign him to that six year deal in 2007 and then do the seven year deal, Lundqvist’s contract would have expired after 2019-20 with no buyout this season necessary.

The Rangers raid the Devils

The Rangers have made a habit of trying to cripple their cross-river rivals by signing some of their best players as free agents.  On this date in 2000, they went that route for the first time, signing defenseman Vladimir Malakhov from the Devils.

Malakhov had been acquired by New Jersey at the trade deadline from Montreal and he was an important member of the Devils that won the 2000 Stanley Cup.  Malakhov signed a four-year, $14 million contract with the Rangers and played for them from 2000 to 2004 when he was traded at the deadline to Philadelphia.

Malakhov was the first of three high profile free agents signed away from New Jersey by the Rangers.  In 2002, the Blueshirts inked center Bobby Holik and in 2007 it was center Scott Gomez.  None of the signings paid off for the Rangers as all three players never reached the heights they had achieved before coming to New York.

Today’s birthdays

19 NHL players have been born on July 10 and guess how many played for the New York Rangers?  None.