Rangers Agree to Terms with Free Agent Forward Nick Bonino

For a team that had very limited cap space, the Rangers have sure been active as they announce the addition of veteran centerman Nick Bonino. This comes in the form of a one-year contract for the 35-year-old worth $800,000 for the Hartford native. This is a veteran who can play at the highest level and has multiple Stanley Cup rings to prove it. This is a player that the Rangers wanted at the deadline too.

Bonino played under Peter Laviolette when he was a Nashville Predator so there will be a relationship between the two already. A gritty, hard-nosed center that was a part of one of the best third lines in the league when the Pittsburgh Penguins won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. While that was more than 6 years ago now, there’s still something in Bonino to call him an effective player at the cap hit the Rangers are getting him at.

As a fourth-line center who can also kill penalties, this is a really good option for a defensive center that is inexpensive during one of the worst cap crunches in the NHL. While he is now 35, he’s got a ton of experience in the league that will be useful to help guide some of the younger Rangers. As another player who knows what it takes to capture the Stanley Cup, there should be plenty of young players trying to learn from Bonino.

Whether you think the Rangers going after older players is smart or not, this is a deal that you cannot really complain about. If he isn’t a fit at the NHL level, you can just send him down to Hartford where he will be going back to his hometown. While he is not the flashy scorer a lot of fans will want and he isn’t the hard-hitting forward some fans crave, there is still a really important part of this game that can be applied to Bonino and what he does well.