The Rangers realistic salary cap situation

The 2022-23 Rangers

Here’s the magic number:  $71,491,469.  That’s how much the team is committed to paying for players who were on the active roster in 2021-22 as well as the three buyouts still hitting the bottom line.  Here’s the list:

• Forwards (9):   Sammy Blais, Filip Chytil, Barclay Goodrow, Dryden Hunt, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere, Artemi Panarin, Ryan Reaves, Mika Zibanejad,
• Defensemen (6):  Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, K’Andre Miller, Patrik Nemeth, Braden Schneider, Jacob Trouba
• Goalies (1):  Igor Shesterkin
• Buyouts (3):  Tony DeAngelo, Dan Girardi, Kevin Shattenkirk

That means that the team has $11,008,531 to spend to fill out the starting lineup.  That is a minimum of four more forwards, one goalie and one defenseman.

Options in the organization

There are players who were with the team who could be back as they are Restricted Free Agents (RFA).

• Arbitration eligible RFA’s:  Julien Gauthier,  Alexandar Georgiev,  Tim Gettinger, Libor Hajek
• RFA: Kaapo Kakko

Finally, there are a number of players under contract for next season who could make the jump to the varsity. Here are the most likely suspects:

• Forwards:  Jonny Brodzinski, Will Cuylle, Vitali Kravtsov, Brennan Othmann, Lauri Pajuniemi, Gustav Rydahl, Bobby Trivigno
• Defensemen: Zac Jones, Nils Lundkvist, Matthew Robertson, Brandon Scanlin, Hunter Skinner, Jarred Tinordi

Before you get your hopes up, of this group, there are only two players most likely to be on the team next season in Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov.  Kakko has a lot to prove and will likely be offered a bridge deal similar to the one that Filip Chytil signed before last season (2 years, $4.6 million).  Kravtsov already signed for one year at $875k.

To round out the defense, assume that it will be either Jones, Hajek or Lundkvist on the team, making about $900k.

That means adding Kakko, Kravtsov and one defenseman increases the payroll by an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $4.075 million.

That leaves $6,933,531 for the team to spend to fill whatever roster holes remain. Those holes include two more forwards and a goalie.

The center issue

The big problem facing the Rangers is the lack of a second line center. The easy solution is to re-sign Ryan Strome or Andrew Copp, but at what cost?

Copp will be highly sought after following his excellent post-deadline run with New York.  He made $3.64 million on a one year deal from Winnipeg and will be looking for $5 million or more and should get it.  At that cost, there is virtually no chance he will be a Ranger next season.

Strome made $4.5 million with the Rangers and is a possibility to stick around if he is not looking for a raise. The fact that he sustained a pelvis injury mid-season and aggravated it in the playoffs could raise some red flags among other teams.    Strome has said that he wants to stay, the question is whether anyone else is willing to pay a lot more than the Rangers can.

If Strome does take a short term flat salary deal, that leaves the Rangers with $2,433,531 in cap space.  And they still need one more forward and a goalie.

The goalie issue

The Rangers are not going to give Alexandar Georgiev a qualifying offer on his $2.425 million salary and unless they can find a taker for him for a mid-level draft pick, he will become a free agent.

That means that the Rangers need to find a netminder who can play 30 games a season and be the number one if Igor Shesterkin is injured.  And that goalie has to cost the Rangers as little as possible.

There are no in-house options for the Blueshirts.  The only other goalies under contract are 21-year-old Swedish prospect Olof Lindbom and 20-year-old Canadian prospect Dylan Garand.  Garand is the back-up of the future, but he needs to get some AHL seasoning.

Tyler Wall is an RFA, but had an unimpressive season, mostly in the ECHL.   The two top Hartford goalies are Keith Kinkaid and Adam Huska and they are both UFA’s.

That means that Chris Drury will be scouring the UFA list hoping to strike gold with a Ville Husso type netminder who made $750k for the Blues last season.

That said, it’s hard to assume that the Rangers will pay more than $1 million for a back-up netminder next season and at that number,  that drops their available cap space to $1,433,531.

That doesn’t bode well for their Unrestricted Free Agents.