New York Rangers three worst contracts that will only get worse
As much as we all love the New York Rangers, this is a team that is far from perfect, they have their own blemishes, and they have their own struggles. So, the three worst contracts on the team can be justified in different ways. This isn’t always the worst player if the worst player on the team can be completely buried in the minors with no cap implications. That’s just a depth piece.
These are players that make more than they should or are making a justifiable amount for longer than they should. Age and decline affect everyone as father time is undefeated unless you’re Tom Brady and actually a cockroach even time can’t squash. Anyway, these exist on every team. Colorado had a defenseman that was drastically overpaid. Tampa moved one of their bad deals out this summer.
Now you may question the criteria I’m using to justify a bad contract. It’s a very valid question. A player’s age will be a factor, the amount of money they make will be another, the term left on that deal will be a third, and their production will be another. I’ll also be considering their style of play. That is to justify some of the veterans on the team on short-term deals that are playing depth roles that is worth it.
If there are players I do not mention that you think could be considered bad contracts, let me know. This is completely open to interpretation seeing as the only person whose opinion on this subject matters is Chris Drury. I can say whatever I want, but it will not change the opinion of the General Manager. They get paid far more than I do to talk about these things and decide if these players are worth their deal.
That is another thing I want to mention very quickly before I dive into this. Just because I have a player listed here doesn’t mean they are not worth that amount of money right now, it just means that their contract could be a little concerning when the player gets a little bit older. If you are thinking about who this refers to, I’m sure you know by now after the season he just had, so let’s start there.
Chris Kreider
This is going to draw a lot of hate from some of the major Kreider fans, but I stand by saying this contract isn’t great. It’s not because of Chris Kreider either, it’s not because he isn’t a good player at this point in his career and that he isn’t one of the most important members of the New York Rangers at this point in time. Kreider is a great second-line winger for the team and that’s a big piece of the Rangers roster.
Kreider is making $6.5 million annually for the next five years. That’s not a bad cap hit for a 50-goal scorer, but Kreider isn’t a 50-goal scorer usually. That was the best goal total of his career and it was not close. That was not only the first time Kreider passed the 50-goal mark, but it was also the first time he passed the 30-goal mark. That was a career year from someone that will go into the history books as a great member of the New York Rangers, but that doesn’t change his contract status.
At 31, Kreider is signed until he is 36. Just saying that the final years of his deal could be ugly. This isn’t to say anything bad about Kreider, but he’s going to take a step back this year you would expect, and having him making that much money for someone that is a typical 20-goal, 50-point guy is probably a little on the more expensive side. That isn’t enough to make this a bad contract.
The issue is that he is going to be slightly overpaid until he is 36. That’s a scary proposition, and it further combines with the dead cap problem the Rangers are about to see come to an end. New York cannot afford to keep signing more buy-out candidates when their contracts are over. That would hamper the team greatly. They need to either hope the cap goes up drastically so this is less costly, or find a way out of it before it turns into an anchor.
Jacob Trouba
New York’s new captain is number two on this list. Most of what I just said about Kreider can be applied here. Jacob Trouba at $8 million a year is overpaid. That’s not even a debate. Trouba has gotten to the 50 point mark once, that was in his final year as a member of the Winnipeg Jets. Yes, he’s a good leader and a great locker room guy, but you don’t pay that much money for the off-ice intangibles.
Trouba isn’t going to have the same age issues seeing as he is only signed for another 4 years and Trouba is just 28 years old. It’s not as if he’s likely to fall of a major cliff any time soon. But currently, he’s overpaid by about $3 million against the cap. That’s going to tie the Rangers valuable cap space up when they could have invested that money into someone that is going to make the team stronger.
With the Rangers captain, it won’t get worse. But unlike Kreider’s it isn’t fair value coming off the season he just had. 39 points in 81 games helps the team a lot, but it doesn’t earn most players that much money annually. It’s by far the worst contract on the team at this point in time and we all love what he does for the kids and in the dressing room, but 39 points for that is not good value.
Trouba is a very helpful defenseman for a Rangers team that needs their second pairing to come back strong after a year that saw them endure some incredibly rough stretches over the course of last season. While we can hope that Trouba plays up to his contract for the remaining four years, there is far from any certainty that he will ever get back to the level of play he found during his final year in the frozen tundra.
Mika Zibanejad
This is a painful one to put on here because everyone loves Mika Zibanejad and if you do not, you are doing hockey wrong. However, Zibanejad’s contract is just not without its risks. Every contract has risks obviously, but this one has a lot more than most others because of some of the same reasons I mentioned when talking about Trouba and Kreider.
Zibanejad has a long history of injuries, and that is a big worry when you are paying him $8.5 million a year. You can’t ignore the fact Ziba is already 29. Paying the Swede that much for the next 8 years. He’s well worth the money now, he’s a great player. Do not get that wrong, Mika Zibanejad is a top 15 center in the NHL, and you could make the case for top 10 when he truly at his best.
With the list of injuries Zibanejad has sustained, you have to be a little concerned about the latter stages of this deal. While that might be a problem down the line, it will still be a problem eventually. It’s really underlining that the Rangers, while they are a very young team, need to start winning soon because the older players are about to start to age into the regressive part of their careers.
I hate talking about Zibanejad like this. I want to talk about his next hat trick against Philadelphia, not the fact his contract is concerning. He’s more than worth his contract right now, he’s a point per game player. He’s a great Ranger and everything he does right now is well worth what he is paid. But at the end of that contract, there will likely be some pain to endure with this player.
Question for Blue Line Station readers: What is the worst contract on the Rangers roster?
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