Breaking news: Zibanejad contract extension confirmed

The news everyone has been waiting for was confirmed Sunday morning.  The New York Rangers have extended Mika Zibanejad for eight more years at a reported Annual Average Value (AAV) of $8.5 million.  The contract kicks in next season (2022-23) and runs until 2029-30.

The signing has been in the works for weeks and there had been an embargo on any comments.  Obviously, they were close to a deal and Zibanejad published this through the Rangers’ Twitter account.

Ending the speculation

Adding Zibanejad’s heft cap hit puts a bullet in any more discussions about Jack Eichel and could also mean the end of Ryan Strome’s career as a Ranger.  In order for the Blueshirts to take on Eichel, it would mean the Sabres retaining as much as half of his $10 million salary and that is something that Buffalo ownership just will not do.

As for Strome, he is an unrestricted free agent after this season and he may have priced himself out of New York.  If Filip Chytil can keep playing like he has this preseason, that will lessen the blow of a Strome departure.

Signing Zibanejad does remove his status as a pending free agent from hanging over the team all season. As we have seen in the past, those contract situations can cast a long shadow over a team as it did with John Tavares and the Islanders and more recently, Chris Kreider and the Rangers.

Cap implications

The Zibanejad deal kicks in next season and that means that the team has committed over $62 million to 16 players with the need to sign both Adam Fox and Kaapo Kakko to their second contracts.   They have a projected $19 million in cap space if the salary cap remains at $81.5 million.

It’s not going to be easy to manage it.  We’ll have a full analysis of the cap implications in another post shortly.

Controversial?

This signing, particularly the term, will be controversial.   He will be 36 going into the last year of the deal and that could be a problem.  When it comes to the salary, if you consider that Zibanejad is one of the best players in the NHL, which he has been for 75% of the last two seasons, it is a bargain.  Aleksander Barkov signed for a $10 million AAV  this week.  Sean Couturier signed for $7.75 million .  The Caps are paying 32 year old Nicklas Backstrom $9.2 million for the next four years.

So far, there is no confirmation of the final terms and whether there is any kind of No Movement Clause.

So, the Rangers are set with their top center for the next nine seasons.  Let the debate begin.