Rangers sign Patrik Nemeth, Jarred Tinordi…more to come?

The worst kept secret for the New York Rangers became a reality when they signed Swedish defenseman Patrik Nemeth to a three-year for an Annual Average Value (AAV) of $2.5 million.  He fills one need for the Rangers, a veteran defenseman who can be a steadying influence on one of the youngest blueline corps in the NHL.

The Blueshirts also signed big defenseman Jarred Tinordi to a two-year, $1.8 million deal with an AAV of $900k.  He split last season between Nashville and Boston, coming to the Bruins as a depth defender at the deadline in a waiver claim.

Meet Patrik Nemeth

Nemeth is a 29 year old left shot defenseman who has played for Dallas, Colorado and Detroit.  He’s big at 6’3″, 228 pounds.  He was drafted in the second round of 2010 Entry Draft, making it to the NHL in 2013-14 for eight games.  He played parts of three seasons after that in Dallas before being claimed on waivers by the Colorado Avalanche in October 2017.

He became a fixture on the Colorado defense in 2017-18 and spent two years with the Avalanche as a regular.  In 2018-19 head131 blocked shots and 137 hits and he was in the top 27 among NHL defensemen in per game average for both.    With the arrival of Cale Makar, he became a victim of the numbers game in Colorado and they let him escape via free agency.

As a free agent in 2019 he signed with the Detroit Red Wings for two years at an AAV of $3 million and was traded back to the Avalanche at the deadline this season.  His numbers this season were three goals and 10 points in 52 games with a plus/minus rating of +5 and 20 penalty minutes.  He was a minus one on a bad Detroit team that had half of their regular defenseman minus 13 or worse.

The common consensus is that he will be teamed with Nils Lundkvist on the third defense pairing. A veteran Swedish partner can’t hurt the highly touted rookie.  If Lundkvist needs more seasoning in the AHL, Zac Jones is another option on the blueline with Braden Schneider a dark horse candidate to make the team.

Nemeth’s contract

Nemeth is taking a pay cut off the $3 million AAV he was making in Detroit.  As first reported by Larry Brooks of the New York Post, he is signing for three years with an AAV of $2.5 million.

That increases the Rangers’ cap hit to $62,124,802. That leaves them $19,375,198 in cap space to sign Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil and Libor Hajek.  Add Morgan Barron and subtract Keith Kinkaid and the cap hit remains virtually the same.

Meet Jarred Tinordi

Jarred Tinordi is a depth signing for the Rangers.  He is a 29-year-old left shot blueliner who is 6’6″, 205 pounds.  A first round draft pick by Montreal in 2010, he played part of four seasons for Montreal before a trade to Arizona in 2016.  He signed as a free agent, but never played for the Penguins and subsequently signed with the Predators.  He was waived by Nashville and picked up by the Bruins and he played in four of Boston’s 11 playoff games.

In 21 games for Nashville and Boston he had one assist,  a plus/minus rating of -6 and 11 PIM.

He won’t win any scoring trophies as he has scored only one goal in 102 NHL games in his career.  In 2016, he was suspended 20 games by the NHL for violating the league’s NHL/NHLPA  Performance Enhancing Substances Program.  At the time he took responsibility for unknowingly take a banned substance.

He is the son of former Ranger Mark Tinordi, who played  24 games on defense for the Rangers in 1987-88 before being traded to the North Stars in a deal the team would regret.

Jarred Tinordi’s $900k AAV is an increase over the $700k AAV he had signed for with the Predators in 2019.

Other teams’ signings

The Rangers rumor mill had been working overtime, but there are some names mentioned as potential targets that are off the table.

Goalies: One-year deals were the norm as Martin Jones signed with the Flyers and Braden Holtby with the Stars ($2MM AAV).   The rumor had been that the Rangers were looking to deal Alexandar Georgiev and  were considering both veterans as potential backups to Igor Shesterkin.

Defensemen:  Alec Martinez had been everyone’s favorite defender heading to New York,but he re-signed with the Golden Knights ($5.25MM AAV). If the Rangers had an interest in Ryan Suter, forget it as he signed a four-year deal with the Stars ($3.65MM AAV).

Forwards:  Columbus re-signed center Boone Jenner for four years ($3.75MM AAV). He was one of the available centers who can win draws, with a lifetime winning percentage of 54%.

If anyone though that Gabriel Landeskog was a possible Ranger, he signed an eight-year $56 million extension with Colorado with an AAV of $7 million. The salary is the interesting factor here as he could have probably made more somewhere else. It could be the basis for a Zibanejad extension with the Rangers.