The Rangers’ cap situation is very, very bad

The 2021-22 season

Today, the Rangers have a cap hit of $59,624,802.  That is divided up among 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies as well as the dead cap space from the buyouts of Henrik Lundqvist, Tony DeAngelo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Dan Girardi.

That means that they have $21,875,198 in cap space. As noted, there could  be  carryover performance bonus hit that could affect that number, but for now, let’s assume that they have the total number.   With the roster limited to 23 players, that means they have almost $22 million to spend to fill out the roster.

It’s not that simple.  The Rangers still have to sign RFA goalie Igor Shesterkin who is eligible for arbitration and RFA’s Libor Hajek and Filip  Chytil.  Let’s make some projections.

Patrik Nemeth –  The team appear on the verge of giving defenseman Patrik Nemeth a two or three year contract with an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $2.5 million.

Igor Shesterkin –   There’s no doubt that the Blueshirts will try to lock up Shesterkin for at least  five years so we will estimate an AAV of $5 million.  That’s less than what a goalie like Jordan Binnington is paid, but more than Chris Driedger and Darcy Kuemper.

Filip Chytil – This is a tough one.  Our belief is that the team will give him a bridge deal with a modest increase from his entry level salary. While his cap hit was $834,000, with bonuses, he was actually paid $1.24 million so a bridge deal should come in for around $2.5 million.

Libor Hajek – As the seventh defenseman on the team, there’s no doubt that the team will give Hajek a contract similar to the deal that they gave to Julien Gauthier so we will estimate $800,000 for him.

If Morgan Barron is the last piece of the puzzle, you can add his $925,000 cap hit and that brings the Rangers actual cap hit to $71,349,82.   That means that they still have $10,150,198 in cap space.

What could change

The Rangers could still be active in the trade and free agency market, but they would have to be smart.  That’s why we are hearing rumors about a Ryan Strome trade.  Losing his cap hit of $4,500,00 would give the team almost $15 million in cap space if they were to go out and trade for a new second line center.

This also is a reason why they traded Pavel Buchevich.  The St. Louis Blues wasted no time in getting him to ink a four-year, $23.2 million deal with an AAV of $5.8 million.  If the Rangers had kept him and paid him that salary, he would have supplanted Sammy Blais on the roster, but it would have meant that their cap space would have dropped to $5.85 million and that doesn’t give Drury any cap space.  A $5.8 million AAV for Buchnevich would have even more of an impact in the future and that is not a pretty picture.

There’s still a question of how little the Rangers got in return for Buchnevich, but it is what we should be expecting in a flat cap world.

That’s what will make future seasons even more difficult.