Now that the trade deadline has passed and we have seen what the new acquisitions can do, it’s time to look at the salary cap situation next season and beyond and what it means for a New York Rangers future for Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte, Frank Vitrano and Jason Braun.
Although the salary cap is going up by $1 million to $82.5 million, it’s not a pretty picture. What it means is that the odds that any of them playing on Broadway next season are slim. They are the definition of deadline rentals.
According to Capfriendly.com, next season the Rangers will have a projected cap hit of $70,728,969. Of that total, they are committed to $50,284,524 in contracts with No Movement Clauses. Of those contracts, $47,784,524 are ironclad commitments to seven players (Fox, Goodrow, Kreider,Panarin, Shesterkin, Trouba, Zibanejad). Patrik Nemeth has a modified no trade clause with eight teams he cannot be traded to.
The team is still on the hook for $3,427,778 in dead cap space due to the buyouts of Dan Girardi, Tony DeAngelo and Kevin Shattenkirk.
So, that means that they are going into 2022-23 with $53,712,302 committed. That’s 65% of the salary cap.
The Rangers have a number of players under contract, without any kind of no movement clauses. Add them in and you get to the total projected cap hit for 2022-23 of $70,728,969.
The key number: $11,771,031
We can talk about committed dollars and players under contract, but the important number is the projected cap space. That number is $11,771,031 (per Capfriendly).
Here’s where it gets tricky. Here’s the list of the 16 players under contract for next season:
Forwards (9): Brodzinski, Chytil, Goodrow, Hunt, Kreider, Lafreniere, Panarin, Reaves, Zibanejad
Defense (6): Fox, Lindgren, Miller, Nemeth, Schneider, Trouba
Goal (1): Shesterkin
That means the Rangers need to get an additional six forwards, one or two defensemen, and one goalie, under contract and added to the roster. That’s where the $11.7 million goes.
There are players on the team this year that could be re-signed. Here’s the list:
Restricted Free Agents (no leverage when it comes to salary): Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov
Restricted Free Agents who are arbitration eligible: Sammy Blais, Julien Gauthier, Alexandar Georgiev, Libor Hajek
Unrestricted Free Agents: Justin Braun, Andrew Copp, Greg McKegg, Tyler Motte, Kevin Rooney, Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, Keith Kinkaid, Adam Huska
Let’s make some assumptions. The Rangers will extend Kaapo Kakko on a bridge deal comparable to what they gave Filip Chytil ($2.3 million). Because of his injury, they will extend Sammy Blais for one year at his current salary $1.5 million. They will make qualifying offers to Julien Gauthier ($775,000) and Libor Hajek ($874,125).
If they do that, it will eat up $5.45 million of their remaining cap space, leaving them with $6.3 million to spend.