Goodrow signs for six years, no other Ranger moves (yet)

As everyone in the hockey world expected, the New York Rangers signed forward Barclay Goodrow to a long term six year $21.85 million contract.  They had traded a seventh round draft pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the right to have an exclusive negotiating window and they used it, signing him before any other team could make an offer.

The contract will carry an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $3.64 million and it include a Modified No Trade Clause with a 15 team no trade list.  More on the contract in a bit.

With the NHL Entry Draft just hours away, there was a lot of anticipation of more dealings for the Rangers,  but by the end of business Thursday, the Goodrow deal was the only confirmed action.

Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff had the most to say about the Blueshirts, reviving the Strome trade rumors specifically involving either Seattle or Vegas.  He said the Rangers were looking to try to acquire a top ten pick that would be used in an Eichel deal.  Reportedly, the Rangers are dangling Alexandar Georgiev. He also speculated that Riley Smith and Jonathan Marchessault could be had from Vegas and  both are favorites of Gerard Gallant.

Seravalli did have the scoop on the Goodrow contract before anyone else, so these rumors have to have some semblance of reality.

Time is running out on Drury to make a deal involving the team’s first round pick.

The Goodrow contract

Barclay Goodrow is a solid addition to the Rangers’ roster.  He will fill a bottom six role on the right wing.  The question that remains is whether that $3.64 million AAV is too steep for a third or fourth line winger who has never scored more than eight goals and 26 points in a season.

Goals and points are not what is important about Goodrow.  He is a gritty player who personifies the “tough to play against” mandate and he was a crucial piece of the last two Tampa Cups.  This clip from Jon Cooper has been making the rounds.

With him in the fold, the Rangers now have a player on the roster who has gone through the playoffs wars and won a Stanley Cup.  Before this, the only frontline member of the organization with a Cup ring was Chris Drury.

Goodrow turns 29 midway through the next season meaning that he will be 34 when this contract ends.   Right now, he is the sixth highest paid New York Ranger.

If Chris Drury is looking to replicate the Islanders’ fourth line magic, that cap hit is similar to what Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck were making.  The risk in this signing is the term.

That Giordano rumor

There’s been no more information about the rumor that the Rangers are looking to flip Ryan Strome to Seattle to get back Colin Blackwell and defenseman Mark Giordano.  The Seattle Krakens showcased Giordano at their big expansion draft show and as a result, the rumor has been pooh-poohed uniformly by most hockey observers.

The logic is simple and was rather obvious to anyone who watched the show.  Why highlight Giordano if they intend to trade him? In fact, Kraken GM Ron Francis had this to say about Mark Giordano. “We get a chance to establish our culture from Day One, and that’s certainly a guy we want to be a part of that for everything he stands for, so we’re excited about that. As far as a captain, we have to have those discussions with Dave Hakstol and see if we want to pick a captain coming out of the gate or not, but if we do that, he would certainly be in the discussion, for sure.”

From comments like those, it’s far more likely that Giordano will be the first captain of the Kraken instead of wearing a Ranger uniform.

That 2022 fourth round pick

The Rangers get a fourth round pick from Vegas in the 2022 draft in exchange for Brett Howden. In one of hockey oddities, that’s the second time the Rangers have traded for that pick.  Here’s why.  In February 2019 when the Rangers traded Kevin Hayes to Winnipeg they got Brendan Lemieux and a first round pick from the Jets.  They also included this 2002 fourth round pick in the deal, conditionally.  The condition was that the Jets had to win the Stanley Cup  for the Rangers to get the pick. They didn’t so the pick never materialized.

Fast forward one year and Winnipeg traded that 2022 fourth round pick a second time, this time to Vegas in the deal for Paul Stastny.

And that’s how Vegas got the pick that they swapped for Brett Howden and why it was a pick that was included in two trades by the Rangers.

What’s next

The Rangers still have not bought out Tony DeAngelo’s contract.  If Drury is going to pull the trigger on a major deal it will have to include the team’s first round draft pick. That means he only has a few hours to figure it out.

The next few hours will be a real test of the new Rangers’ GM.  The Goodrow trade and signing was easy.   The big move he is trying to make to improve the roster is going to be tough.