Do the Rangers have the cap space they need to get better?

So we all got to watch Ryan McDonagh skate around the Amalie Arena with the Stanley Cup. Enough with the Lightning already, we’re grateful that they beat the Islanders, but two straight Cups is plenty.  One thing about Tampa, they know how to circumvent the salary cap, something the New York Rangers have never quite figured out.    We’ll get to Tampa and the salary cap later.

Now that Chris Drury can begin his remaking of the Rangers into a Stanley Cup contender, it’s time to look at the Blueshirts’ salary cap situation.  Every move that he makes will be determined by the salary cap, so understanding the implications is crucial.

Assumption #1 is the cap stays flat

The salary cap will not be going up in 2021-22.  It will remain $81.5 million as it was for the last two seasons.  While there had been hopes that there would be some movement considering the new U.S. national television contracts, the league will be holding the line on expenses as teams still recover from the the financial hit they took from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The exact terms of the television deals have not been revealed, but the ABC contract is believed to be worth around $400 million a year and the deal with Turner Sports is supposed to be worth about $225 million annually.  That’s over double the $300 million the league was making from NBC.

An additional revenue source that is just starting to percolate is from online sports betting. The American Gaming Association estimated the NHL could generate another $216 million from legalized sports betting.

That means good thing in the future when it comes to the cap, though even with a half a billion dollar increase in NHL revenue, the money still has to be divvied up among the 32 NHL teams.

So, the salary cap in 2021-22 will be $81.5 million.  What does that mean for the Rangers?